--- In cybalist@..., "Glen Gordon" <glengordon01@...> wrote:
> Cort:
> >The article mentions that Apollo's favorite number is 7, a rather
> >unusual Hellenic number. So I propose that this Hyperborean name is
> >referring to Apollo's identification with the primeval male
> >principle, Ophion.
>
> Hold on. "Six" and "seven" must have had some importance from early
> on since these two numerals have been borrowed from a Semitoid
> language into IE. They also are borrowed into other languages
> like Kartvelian and Basque. However, I'm skeptical of a specific
> connection between serpents and "seven"... Can you further
> substantiate that association? Am I missing something?
I was more referring to 7 as being connected to Ophion. This was the
number of times that he coiled about the egg laid by Eurynome. Apollo
being connected with seven as well is one of the things that lead me
to believe that Hyperborean Apollo corresponds to Ophion.
Apollo was connected to serpents, as was Ophion. Not only did Apollo
kill serpentine Python, he took over its oracle, assuming the role.
Apollo's other attributes, as the god of music, prophecy, plague,
healing, are all(to me at least) connected with the serpent and the
phallic god, hence Ophion.
What little we know of Ophion connects him with the north, and then
we have the poorly explained Hyperborean name for Apollo.
Ophion was born of the north wind, in another version of the story, by
the god Boreas and Eurynome. Boreas was worshipped by the Athenians,
I understand.
Cort Williams