--- In cybalist@..., "Joseph S Crary" <pva@...> wrote:
> It also appears that the Etruscan Apulu-Apulun was a god of sudden
> death and plague.
>
> Tarchon the brother of Tyrrhenus who was the leader of the
Tyrrhenian
> migration from Anatolia. Tarchon was the son of Telephus and the
> founder of the principal Etruscan city state Tarquinia (in Latin).
> The name of the father figure, Telephus, is very similar to the
> Hittite-Luwians hero god Telepinus.
>
>
>
> JS Crary
I have also mused on the Telephus-Telepinus connection. The latter
was, IMO, a dying-and-resurrecting god most probably of Near Eastern
origin. His classical era type seems to have been found in Dionysus
and Attis.
As for Appaliunas, I think that the lion-bull imagery is based on
convoluted evidence. Firstly, the lion was associated with the
Anatolian great GODDESSES - not gods. It was not a totemic animal of
Apollo. It was a sun symbol. It had nothing to do with the moon.
How about breaking Appaliunas' name down this way: -nas is a common
suffix found with Silvanus, Silenos, Neptunas, Ouranos, and so on,
with feminine form found with Athena and so on. That leaves
appa, 'lord', + liu, 'light'? Thus he is the lord of light. So was
Mithra. Both Apollo and Mithra became recognized as sun-gods in the
historic periods. If you study Mithra, however, you can see that he
was probably associated with the 'realm of eternal light' that seems
to have existed beyond the 'dome of heaven' or above the 'world
tree'. Sun, stars, and moon all derived their light from this source,
so it seems to me.