1 00:00:04,780 --> 00:00:08,520 From the meter, we move on to the story of Apollo. 2 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:13,784 The Homeric Hymn to Apollo, the one we are going to read a longer more extended one 3 00:00:13,784 --> 00:00:18,818 is interesting, when one looks at it right just looking at its, its very outlines. 4 00:00:18,818 --> 00:00:23,913 You'll see that our translator, Sarah Ruden has decided to actually have two 5 00:00:23,913 --> 00:00:29,008 separate means inside of this Homeric hymn to Apollo, one of which is the Homeric 6 00:00:29,008 --> 00:00:32,970 Hymn to Delian Apollo. The other is the Homeric hymn to Pythian 7 00:00:32,970 --> 00:00:35,549 Apollo. Those are legitimate moves by our 8 00:00:35,549 --> 00:00:39,323 translator, but they're not there in the original manuscript. 9 00:00:39,323 --> 00:00:44,292 We don't know for sure that these were thought of as two separate hymns, but it 10 00:00:44,292 --> 00:00:49,010 probably is the case that they were. What we've got is a story about Apollo 11 00:00:49,010 --> 00:00:54,957 that begins, has a lot of action in it. And then seems to end after a couple of 12 00:00:54,957 --> 00:00:58,310 hundred lines where the poet says, Goodbye, Apollo. 13 00:00:58,310 --> 00:01:03,772 Then all of a sudden, we jump into a new story about Apollo that begins, moves 14 00:01:03,772 --> 00:01:08,320 through here a more extended story about Apollo, and then we hear a goodbye Apollo 15 00:01:08,320 --> 00:01:11,426 come out again. From this, most of us have concluded that 16 00:01:11,426 --> 00:01:15,808 this Homeric, single Homeric Hymn to Apollo is actually two hymns sewn together 17 00:01:15,975 --> 00:01:20,190 this is a decision that Ruden has expressed in a very legitimate move in 18 00:01:20,190 --> 00:01:22,797 getting the two pieces of this separate titles. 19 00:01:22,797 --> 00:01:25,404 But remember, in the manuscript, they're all one. 20 00:01:25,570 --> 00:01:29,896 It's helpful for us to remember that, because there's some explaining that has 21 00:01:29,896 --> 00:01:33,668 to do for a poet that would present this as a single hymn to Apollo. 22 00:01:33,668 --> 00:01:38,136 And I think that, that, well, that question will be interesting for us to 23 00:01:38,136 --> 00:01:42,841 answer in just a few moments. But let's take a look at this first piece of it and 24 00:01:42,841 --> 00:01:47,412 see how this Hymn to Apollo works. Apollo is a very powerful god. 25 00:01:47,412 --> 00:01:51,162 He is frightening. So, frightening that when Leto is trying 26 00:01:51,162 --> 00:01:55,353 to find a place to give birth to him, most places turned her down and say no, we 27 00:01:55,353 --> 00:01:57,740 don't want that god to be associated with us. 28 00:01:57,740 --> 00:02:00,127 It's a terrifying god that's about to emerge. 29 00:02:00,127 --> 00:02:04,318 We hear of Leto's journey as she goes place to place to place trying to find a 30 00:02:04,318 --> 00:02:08,297 place to give birth to Apollo. We talked about lists in our introduction 31 00:02:08,297 --> 00:02:11,851 to the Homeric Hymns. We've talked about them already in respect 32 00:02:11,851 --> 00:02:14,940 to Hesiod. Its interesting to note that the locations 33 00:02:14,940 --> 00:02:20,101 that get mentioned in this Homeric Hymn to Apollo has points where Leto is trying to 34 00:02:20,101 --> 00:02:25,079 find a birth place for him, all are places that give cultic worship and have cultic 35 00:02:25,079 --> 00:02:29,011 connections with Apollo. So, the hymnic author is giving us a way, 36 00:02:29,011 --> 00:02:33,865 All of us out there in the Greek world, to understand, yes, that's the connection 37 00:02:33,865 --> 00:02:38,413 that this place has with Apollo. It, it harkens back to them being a place 38 00:02:38,413 --> 00:02:42,530 that Leto considered as a place to try to give birth to her son. 39 00:02:42,530 --> 00:02:48,199 We have some further reference that gets built into this of Leto trying to find 40 00:02:48,199 --> 00:02:53,276 this spot for her to give birth. Artemis emerges from her at the same time. 41 00:02:53,276 --> 00:02:58,022 The twins come out of her. Apollo is the one that we hear about in 42 00:02:58,022 --> 00:03:01,582 this story. But the linkage between Apollo and Artemis 43 00:03:01,582 --> 00:03:06,000 and Leto is strong, rich and well-attested throughout the tradition. 44 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:11,157 When Apollo arrives after he's or sorry, when Leto has found her birth place for 45 00:03:11,157 --> 00:03:14,876 Apollo to arrive Delos. She has to make kind of bribery and 46 00:03:14,876 --> 00:03:17,575 promises. Listen, Delos, you're going to be famous, 47 00:03:17,575 --> 00:03:21,953 we're going to do good things for you so please just let me have birth here. 48 00:03:21,953 --> 00:03:25,552 Delos then, relents after the, the promise of riches and fame. 49 00:03:25,732 --> 00:03:28,491 And allows that the birth should happen there. 50 00:03:28,491 --> 00:03:34,100 The island being personified. At that point Leto enters into nine days 51 00:03:34,100 --> 00:03:36,233 of labor. Nine days of labor. 52 00:03:36,233 --> 00:03:40,546 The number nine showing up again as indicative of a very long time. 53 00:03:40,546 --> 00:03:45,695 We'll recall that nine showed up in our Homeric and in the Demeter again in the 54 00:03:45,695 --> 00:03:51,167 context of something very long connected to the Eleusinian mysteries the rites of 55 00:03:51,167 --> 00:03:55,287 the Eleusinian mysteries. Here the labor stretches out over nine 56 00:03:55,287 --> 00:03:56,446 days. Unbelievable. 57 00:03:56,639 --> 00:04:01,788 Apollo then emerges, declares his purview. He's going to say what he's all about and 58 00:04:01,788 --> 00:04:06,230 what his specialties are. He has the overlook the overview over 59 00:04:06,230 --> 00:04:09,430 prophecy. One of the important pieces of the world 60 00:04:09,430 --> 00:04:14,543 that Apollo keeps an eye on is prophecy. He's careful to say, though, he will be a 61 00:04:14,543 --> 00:04:18,888 prophetic view, or he will have a prophetic view of the will of Zeus. 62 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,084 Apollo's relationship with Zeus is interesting. 63 00:04:22,084 --> 00:04:27,197 Apollo's extremely strong, powerful god. There's some aspects in, in the tradition 64 00:04:27,197 --> 00:04:32,501 that suggest that Apollo may have been, at some point, thought of as the very top of 65 00:04:32,501 --> 00:04:33,779 all the gods. The, 66 00:04:33,779 --> 00:04:38,253 They're very small and very subtle, built into this Hymn to Apollo. 67 00:04:38,253 --> 00:04:43,143 One of them is his def, his, his explicit mentioning of Zeus as he's declaring his 68 00:04:43,143 --> 00:04:45,477 purview and talking about himself as, yeah, 69 00:04:45,477 --> 00:04:48,096 I'm going to fit right there beneath this God. 70 00:04:48,096 --> 00:04:51,853 He's declaring, he's being careful not to make a challenge of Zeus. 71 00:04:51,853 --> 00:04:55,494 No, no such thing ever exist, that we hear a direct challenge of Zeus. 72 00:04:55,494 --> 00:04:59,790 But we'll pull out as we see some of the aspects of Apollo that lead us to think, 73 00:04:59,790 --> 00:05:00,292 well, Wow, 74 00:05:00,292 --> 00:05:04,476 He really was extremely powerful in the Pantheon and maybe even suggest so 75 00:05:04,476 --> 00:05:07,600 powerful that he could have been the most important one. 76 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:11,295 He then jumps right into it. Initiation of, of his cultic practice, 77 00:05:11,295 --> 00:05:14,762 finding his place in the world and having humans worship him. 78 00:05:14,762 --> 00:05:17,491 This is what I'm going to want. Lays things down. 79 00:05:17,491 --> 00:05:21,356 We hear about the famous Delian maidens and the song that they sing. 80 00:05:21,356 --> 00:05:26,230 That gets us a right up to speed on we, What we, Greeks, would know of as a very 81 00:05:26,230 --> 00:05:29,835 famous ritual activity that happens on the Island of Delos. 82 00:05:29,835 --> 00:05:32,586 The Delian maiden singing in Apollo's honor. 83 00:05:32,769 --> 00:05:38,086 That gets us to this beautiful site. Thank you to one of our co-teachers who's 84 00:05:38,269 --> 00:05:43,097 figured out who's, who's helped us with beautiful photos that she's taken. 85 00:05:43,097 --> 00:05:45,114 Caitlin Gillespie. Here's Delos. 86 00:05:45,114 --> 00:05:49,503 I mean, can you imagine? Beautiful. there are beautiful wild 87 00:05:49,503 --> 00:05:52,800 flowers. Apollo's birthplace being here 88 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:58,339 immortalized in natural beauty. So, we make it to Delos things are we hear 89 00:05:58,339 --> 00:06:04,088 about this establishment of a cult there. We've got the, what seems very much like a 90 00:06:04,088 --> 00:06:07,865 conclusion. Goodbye and off we go be nice to me, gods. 91 00:06:07,865 --> 00:06:12,154 These, this is the way hymns end. Now, as I said, in the, in the, in the 92 00:06:12,154 --> 00:06:17,148 tradition the manuscript that appears in the Greek, there is no distinction, 93 00:06:17,148 --> 00:06:20,541 between these two. One line flows right into the next. 94 00:06:20,541 --> 00:06:26,250 We've drawn from the clear motif of ending here and then into what seems like a new 95 00:06:26,250 --> 00:06:29,396 beginning. The conclusion what we got here is two 96 00:06:29,396 --> 00:06:33,312 hymns put together. Most likely that what's happened. we've 97 00:06:33,312 --> 00:06:38,770 got these two hymns put together but it could also be the case that we, we have to 98 00:06:38,770 --> 00:06:41,723 [UNKNOWN] when did that sewing together happen. 99 00:06:41,723 --> 00:06:47,180 It could be the case that it happened well after any performent of context so that we 100 00:06:47,180 --> 00:06:51,885 had a, a one hand from one religious festival survived, another hymn did. Over 101 00:06:51,885 --> 00:06:55,042 many generations copying the manuscript happened. 102 00:06:55,042 --> 00:06:59,716 And the two hymns just got sewn together by a copyist at a much later period. 103 00:06:59,716 --> 00:07:04,209 It could also be the case that a single hymnist decided to take what were 104 00:07:04,209 --> 00:07:08,884 traditionally two hymns to Appollo. Sew them together and present them as one 105 00:07:08,884 --> 00:07:13,497 single Hymn to Apollo to an audience. Some of what would have presented some 106 00:07:13,497 --> 00:07:18,475 difficulties are over are, are papered over. So, for example, what is the most 107 00:07:18,475 --> 00:07:22,277 important location that Apollo has a connection with? 108 00:07:22,277 --> 00:07:27,120 Well, some will say it's Delos. We've got a huge and very wealthy temple 109 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,789 that's located there. Others are going to say, my gosh that's 110 00:07:30,789 --> 00:07:34,825 crazy, it's not Delos. Apollo clearly is most associated with 111 00:07:34,825 --> 00:07:39,350 Delphi, this very famous site where we have the Delphic shrine to Apollo. 112 00:07:39,350 --> 00:07:43,590 Now, a hymnus that wanted to kind of make both parties happy, some of whom claim 113 00:07:43,590 --> 00:07:47,610 that Delos was the rightful place to understand as Apollo's main site of 114 00:07:47,610 --> 00:07:51,574 connection in his in, in his life, and some wanted to claim the Delphi was. 115 00:07:51,574 --> 00:07:54,603 Well, this hymnus gives us a way to think, well, both are. 116 00:07:54,603 --> 00:07:58,898 We've got the birth happening at Delos, that's very important, and then we have 117 00:07:58,898 --> 00:08:03,414 the long, extended establishment of himself much more extended establishment 118 00:08:03,414 --> 00:08:07,929 of himself happening at Delphi in the second part of this hymn, as a way to make 119 00:08:07,929 --> 00:08:11,288 sure that those at Delphi feel like they're included as well. 120 00:08:11,453 --> 00:08:15,989 I think what's. Probably, or what's, what's possible in 121 00:08:15,989 --> 00:08:21,707 this in this double hymn to Apollo is that we've got a hymnist who's very skilled at 122 00:08:21,707 --> 00:08:25,633 making sure his audience think that, thinks that this hymn, his hymn is going 123 00:08:25,633 --> 00:08:28,905 to be the best. He's trying to give us both together so 124 00:08:28,905 --> 00:08:33,485 that all parties feel like they've done something that contributed to Apollo's