on the god Apollo and the changes inflicted upon him by Augustus and Ovid

Augustus, Ovid, and the

Apollonian Dichotomy

Who is Apollo?

In contemporary understanding, Apollo is most commonly understood as the Greek god of light, healing, archers, poetry, prophecy, and music

He is associated with Delphi and the Delphic Oracle

He appears frequently in the works of Homer, and consequently appears in poetry (and, to a lesser extent, verse) from the time of the ancient Greeks until modern day

He is mostly represented as a kouros, or long-haired adolescent

The Apollo of Homer and the Greeks

Each polis had a different understanding of each deity, and Apollo was no exception

Different versions of gods would have their own epithets; Apollo Pythius, for example, is the Apollo who defeated Python

Homer popularized a warlike version of Apollo, or Apollo Far-Shooter, in his Iliad; he is connected with plague, healing, and the archery of the warrior

Homer’s Hymn to Apollo shows two cultic understandings of Apollo—Apollo Pythius and Apollo Delius (from Delus, his supposed place of birth)

The Hymn stresses his connections with music, the Muses, and prophecy

The Apollo of Pre-Augustan Rome

Before Augustus, Rome had only one temple to Apollo, the Temple of Apollo Medicus, also called the Apollinar

In Rome, Apollo was seen primarily as healer, though also somewhat as a provider of victory

Ludi Apollinares held yearly from 208 BCE until Rome’s adoption of Christianity

Apollo was a minor god in Rome, not a major one, and his characteristics were not as well-known as those of Venus or Mars or Jupiter

Augustus and Apollo Augustus fashioned Apollo into his personal

patron deity Adopted the Sphinx, which was associated

with Apollo, as his seal Began to wear laurel wreaths, culled from

Apollo’s sacred tree, with frequency Shortly after Caesar’s death, attended an

Olympian-themed party dressed as Apollo

Apollo had an already-existing sanctuary near Actium Augustus co-opts the Actian Apollo, naming

him the reason for his victory against Antony

Temple of Apollo Palatinus

Vowed by Augustus in 36 BCE after his defeat of Sextus Pompey Site struck by thunderbolt soon after;

construction viewed as being under the auspices of the god

Marble temple in Corinthian style

Highlighted Augustus’s connection with Apollo Temple was connected to Augustus’s house Gilded copies of Sybylline books were under

Augustus’s care in the Palatine Library Statue of Augustus as Apollo in Palatine

Library

Ovid and Apollo

Ovid frequently subverted Augustus’s values on marriage, sex, etc., and his representations of Apollo were no less offensive to the princeps

In Ars Amatoria, the portico of the Danaids at the Temple of Apollo is recommended as a site for picking up girls

Apollo in the Metamorphoses is a childish, almost subhuman character, self-important and utterly controlled by his own whims

“Apollo and Daphne”

You don't know who it is you run away from,That must be why you run. I am Lord of DelphiAnd Tenedos and Claros and Patara.Jove is my father. I am the revealerOf present, past and future; through my powerThe lyre and song make harmony; my arrowIs sure in aim—there is only one arrow surer,The one that wounds my heart. The power of healingIs my discovery; I am called the HealerThrough all the world; all herbs are subject to me.

Ov. Met. 1.514-523.

Conclusions

Apollo’s relatively empty personality in Rome before the Augustan era allowed for his visage and name to be co-opted

Augustus used Apollo for his own purposes by highlighting his own connection to Apollo as his protector and showcasing the god’s reason, moral uprightness, and association with victory

Ovid subverted Augustus’s Apollo by presenting the capricious and weak nature of Apollo and by demystifying his behaviors

Sources Augustus of Prima Porta. C. 20 BCE. Marble. Vatican, Rome.

http://www.skidmore.edu/classics/courses/2009fall/hi363r/primaporta2.jpg

De Isaac, Jasper. Portrait of Ovid. 17th C. CE. Engraving. Bibliotèque Nationale, Paris, France. http://www.scholarsresource.com/browse/work/2144595532

Hercules and Apollo struggling for the Delphic tripod. 28 BCE. Terracotta. Antiquario del Palatino, Rome. http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/roman/htm/lecture/kampen_l6_50.htm

Ovid. Metamorphoses. Trans. Rolfe Humphries. Bloomington: Indiana, 1955.

Schiavone, Andrea. Archer. 16th C. CE. National Gallery of Scotland. http://www.nationalgalleries.org/media_collection/6/D%201764.jpg

Waterhouse, J. W. Apollo and Daphne. 1908. Oil on canvas. Private collection. http://www.johnwaterhouse.com/view.cfm?recordid=93