Apollo Sminthius

A Coin depicting Apollo Sminthius (Apollo lord of the mice) with his plague causing bow and a mouse/rat at his feet. Minted in Alexandria, Troas/Troad. Around 300 AD. Currently in The British Museum, Department of Coins. London...

The worship of Apollo Smintheus (or Apollo Sminthius) extended only to Asia Minor and not the Greek mainland.  Alexandria in Troas was the center of this cult. This is one of the strongest arguments for the thesis that the origin of the Apollo cult was Asia minor...

We of course know that Apollo originated much further East, in Mesopotamia...If you don't know what I am talking about check my article "Apollo, the great archer".  

In it I ask and answer the question: Why was Apollo armed with bow and arrows? Why was he "Apollo who shoots afar"? And why "as he goes through the house of Zeus, the gods tremble before him and all spring up from their seats when he draws near, as he bends his bright bow"?

In it I also talk about Apollo's link to pestilence and plagues and I explain why Apollo "was a god who could bring...deadly plague with his arrows". And I also talk about Apollo's link to Nergal, the Mesopotamian god of pestilence and plague...

It all has to do with the fact that Sirius and the surrounding stars, which were in Mesopotamia known as bow and arrow, rose with the sun (Apollo/Nergal, destructive side of Shamash), in Jul/Aug, the main season for epidemics in Mesopotamia...

I talked about this here in my post "The lord of flies" about Beelzebub, the lord of the flies, who was identified by Jews and Christians with Satan...I will in this article like to show that behind this nickname hides the old Mesopotamian God of Death, Nergal, The Destructive Summer Sun...

And not just in Mesopotamia. Every disease that either started or peaked in Jul/Aug in Mesopotamia, also started or peaked in Jul/Aug in Turkey...Including the area of Troas/Troad...And guess what's in the area of Troas/Troad? Troy. 

And guess where the Apollo Sminthius is first mentioned? At the very beginning of the Homer 's Iliad I, 39.

There, Apollo 's priest, Chryses, after Agamemnon had kidnapped his daughter, prays to Apollo Sminthius to punish the Greeks "with his silver bow and arrows" (the ones that bring pestilence and plague). And Apollo obliged...

So what was the disease that Apollo Sminthius stroke the Greeks with? Well, considering that it was the "Apollo, the lord of the mice", most people, me including, believe that it could have been a black plague...

Black plague is caused by a bacteria, Yersinia pestis, which is transmitted to people by flees which live on rats, mice and other small rodents...

I talked about it in my post "Burned house horizon", in which I asked the question: Why did Neolithic Central Europeans often burn their settlements down to the ground only to rebuild them again? Well, apparently "it could be a ritual" (read: no one knows)...But interestingly, until recently, people did exactly that to get rid of black plague.

Now, mice breed during the summer and autumn, and the peak breeding season for harvest, wood and house mice in Europe and  is in Jul/Aug...

Right after the grain harvest. In Leo. Apollo/Nergal time of the year...Rats also mostly breed during summer and autumn...

According to historical records 1, 2, 3, the main black plague season in Mediterranean especially in the area near Istanbul, which is where Troy is located, was summer, the hottest and driest time of the year...

What about the plague that Iliad says Apollo had unleashed on the Greeks? When did that plague happen? Well, we don't really know. We know that the whole Iliad story unfolded over 45 days, and that the plague happened at the very beginning.

Now half way through the story, in the book 12, during the fierce battle between Trojans and Greeks in front of the Greek camp, a warning was sent from Zeus that can help us determine when the story told in Iliad took place...

I talked about it in my post "Lakonian snake eagle kylix", about this Black-Figure Kylix depicting a snake eagle flying to the left, gripping the neck of a snake in its beak and clutching the serpent's long, undulating body in its talons. 530 BC...

In which I said: The snake eagle is a migratory summer visitor in Western Anatolia, where Troy is located...So the only time when the Trojans could have seen a snake eagle flying over the battlefield carrying a snake in its beak was during the summer, Apr/May - Sep/Oct...

Significant? 🙂 I asked in this post...

Well, yes, as it turns out. Cause that would mean that the story from Iliad takes place during the summer, the hottest time of the year, the Apollo/Nergal, mice/rats, plague time of the year...

And so silver arrows rained down on the Greeks fired by Apollo from his silver bow...Silver...Much better colour for star constellation bow and arrow (Sirius and surrounding stars), which rises in the morning with the sun, Apollo/Nergal, during the mice/rat/plague season...

While shooting stars rain down bringing plague. Or so the ancients believed...But some people don't agree that the plague that Apollo unleashed on the Greeks was black plague, or that rats were in any way involved. Like the authors of "The Sminthian Apollo and the Epidemic among the Achaeans at Troy"...

These are their arguments: "Homer gives no symptoms of the pestilence which killed the Greeks at Troy but states that the mules and dogs died before the men. The disease therefore cannot have been black plague. Man is susceptible to it but equines and dogs are not..."

"The disease which is the best candidate for killing is equine encephalomyelitis which at the present time kills equines 7 to 14 days before symptoms appear in man. The death of dogs in modern epidemics is unusual but, experimentally, young dogs are susceptible..."

"In the epidemic at Troy rodents played no part. The arrows were the direct transmitter of the disease. Mosquitoes, as we now know, can transmit a number of diseases including equine encephalomyelitis...And there are plenty of swamps with mosquitoes around Troy..."

"Since mosquitoes are the usual vectors for equine encephalomyelitis it is possible that the terrifying sound of Apollo's bow is a metaphor for the terrifying sound of myriads of mosquitoes..."

Love this. Again, remember "Lord of the Flies" (and other flying biting insects which swarm during the hottest part of the year), Nergal, Apollo?

Interestingly, equine encephalomyelitis peak season is...Jul/Aug...So even if the Apollo's plague was equine encephalomyelitis, the timing is still very auspicious 🙂

The problem with their theory is that their first argument, that black plague only kills people, is wrong.

Byzantine author Nicephorus Gregoras, who died in 1360, reported that during the second plague:

"The calamity did not destroy men only, but many animals living with and domesticated by men. I speak of dogs and horses...even the rats that lived within the walls of the houses...". You can read about it in "Scientific Facts about the Black Death"

So, it could have been the black plague that Apollo unleashed on the Greeks or it could have been equine encephalomyelitis (although we don't know if that disease affected humans before 1939). It doesn't change anything...

Apollo lord of the mice, rats, flies, mosquitoes, plagues of all kinds, unleashed the plague on the Greeks most likely during the hottest time of the year, Jul/Aug, when silver bow rises with the sun and silver arrows rain down on earth...

That's it. Animal calendar markers to the rescue, again, I think...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Lakonian snake eagle kylix

Lakonian Black-Figure Kylix depicting a snake eagle flying to the left, gripping the neck of a snake in its beak and clutching the serpent's long, undulating body in its talons. 530 BC. Currently in the Getty Villa.

From the Getty page: "In the Iliad, the poet Homer described an omen seen by the Trojans as they were attacking the Greek forces. Signifying the eternal conflict of the forces of the earth and the sky, the motif of the battling eagle and snake was used throughout antiquity"...

The eagle fighting a snake can of course be seen as the depiction of the fight between the forces of earth and sky. But is this the only meaning of this image?

Eagle-Snake struggle mosaic from the palace of the Emperor Justinian I  (527-565), Istambul.

This is a complex animal calendar marker for the thunderstorm season in Europe Apr/May -  Sep/Oct...

when migratory snake eagles can be seen in Europe...

I talked about this in my post "Eagle snake struggle"...

The snake eagle is also a migratory species in Western Anatolia, where Troy is located...So the only time when the Trojans could have seen a snake eagle flying over the battlefield carrying a snake in its beak was during the summer, Apr/May - Sep/Oct...Significant? 🙂

The same animal calendar marker, snake eagle carrying a snake in its beak, used for the same time of the year, on this complex Mesopotamian calendar encoded using animal and plant calendar markers. 

I talked about it in my post "Adda seal"...

The same symbol (animal calendar marker), eagle fighting snake, depicted on this gold plaque excavated from the Majiayuan cemetery in Zhangjiachuan, Gansu Province, China and dated to 5th-3rd c. BC. 

I talked about this beautiful object in my post "Snake eagles from Inner Mongolia"...

That's it. To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Apollo and Python

Drawing after a lost Apulian red figure amphora showing Leto with Apollo and Artemis pursued by Python (early 4th century BC). 

It is interesting that according to the Delphian tradition, Apollo was born on the 7th day of the month of Bysios (Jan/Feb). Interesting why ?

Remember this post, "The marble throne of Apollo" in which I talked about why Apollo is actually a deified Serpent/Dragon, deified symbols of sun's heat...

Marble Throne of Apollo, Roman, late 1st c. AD.

Whoever made this, knew who Apollo really was and wanted to show Apollo in his true shape (serpent, dragon), sitting on his throne. 

In this post I mentioned that Apollo's (Python's) oracle  in Delphi only gave prophecies during the nine warmest months of the year. During winter months, Apollo was said to have deserted his temple. Why?

Cause snakes (including Python) are in our world when sun (god Apollo) is here (day, hot half of the year) and they are in the underworld when sun (god Apollo) is there (night, cold half of the year)...

In Greece, snake season is Feb/Mar - Oct/Nov

Feb/Mar is just after Apollo's birthday, Jan/Feb, beginning of spring. Spring which is brought by the re(birth), return of the sun (god Apollo) from the land of the dead...

So snakes again follow sun (god Apollo) to our world. Just like Python does on the above Apulian vase. BTW, did you notice that Apollo is stretching his arms towards Python? As if he wants to play with the serpent/dragon, his alter ego, and is saying: "Can we keep it?! Please!"🙂

Now I wrote about the birth of Apollo before in several of my posts. Like for instance "Cygnus"... 

When Apollo was born, "swans circled Delos seven times"...Young Sun God is born on winter solstice...And during second millennium BC, the formative period of the Greek mythology, Cygnus (Swan) constellation rose with the sun around winter solstice. The same time which migratory singing swans from Northern Europe spent in Greece...

I still believe that like all sun gods, Apollo was also born on Winter Solstice, Dec/Jan, beginning of the new Solar Year, and that what Delphian tradition calls Apollo's birthday is actually the day of his arrival from the land of the dead (end of winter, beginning of spring)...

Another interesting thing about Delphic version of the Apollo's birth is that he was born on the 7th day of the month of Bysios. Also, while usually Greek festivals were celebrated at the full moon, all the feasts of Apollo were celebrated on the 7th day of the month...

Why? No one knows, but "the emphasis given to that day (sibutu) indicates a Babylonian origin"...

That's interesting...BTW, when Apollo was born, swans circled above the new born god 7 times...Why? As a sing that he will be playing 7 string lyre? Why? No one knows...

BTW, I talked about Animal and plant calendar markers embedded into the story about the birth of Hermes, particularly the part related to him making the first lyre, which he later swapped with Apollo for the caduceus in my post "Lyre of Apollo". 

And I just realised by Apollo is dragging the lyre with him everywhere...It again has to do with Mesopotamia. Will write about it soon...If I don't forget 🙂

Anyway, Apollo and number 7...Hmmmm....

Apollo-Helios wearing a crown with 7 rays of light and a halo, fresco from Pompei, currently in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, Campania, Italy.

So what's with number 7 and Apollo, who, (I proposed) is a no other than deified Serpent/Dragon, deified destructive sun's heat? Remember this?

In Mesopotamia, summer lasted seven (hot) months...Which is why local dragon (dragon = symbol of summer), had seven snake heads (snake = symbols of sun's heat)...Oh, and look, we also have dragon killer(s) and the princess 🙂. I talked about this in my post "Seven headed dragon"...

For the same reason we have this...

Vedic Sun God Surya was usually depicted riding a chariot harnessed by seven usually white horses. Or by a white horse with seven heads...I talked about this in my post "Hayagriva"...

And finally this. A reminder of the last apocalypse...Please count the heads...From my post "Apocalypse"...

Soo...I think we all learned few interesting things here 🙂 BTW, Apollo is the seven headed dragon...If you want to know what I am talking about check these posts: "Palil", "Lord of the flies", "Lions of Delos", "Apollo and dolphins", "Marble throne of Apollo", "White raven", "Threshing floor of Apollo", "Apollo the great archer"...More coming...

That's it. To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Cygnus

When Apollo was born, "swans circled Delos seven times"...Young Sun God is born on winter solstice...And during second millennium BC, the formative period of the Greek mythology, Cygnus (Swan) constellation rose with the sun around winter solstice. Source: Stellarium app

The Swans of Apollo were "Singing swans" which "when the singers would sing hymns to Apollo, would join the chant in unison"...The only swans that "sing" are whooper swans...

These are migratory birds, which spend warm, sunny half of the year (Mar/Apr/May-Oct/Nov) in the northern regions of Eurasia, and cold, dark half of the year (Oct/Nov-Mar/Apr/May) in the southern (Greece) and western (Ireland) regions of Eurasia...

Which is why in Greece we find "Singing swans" linked to the birth of the Young Sun God Apollo at winter solstice...I talked about this in my post "The singers of Apollo"...

And why "swans always hovered over the head of Aengus", The Young God, who is said to reside "for one night and one day" inside Newgrange, Neolithic temple built in Ireland to capture the rising sun on day of the Winter Solstice. I talked about this in my post "The young one"...

This is also why the Old Sun God (which became The Devil) from Neolithic Karelia (North of Russia) was depicted standing between swans arriving from the land of the dead in the Spring and departing to the land of the dead in the autumn...

Land of the dead, according to the local folklore, being "somewhere south-west"...Where migratory whooper swans spend winters...I talked about this in my post "Bes"...

That's it. To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Apollo the Great archer

Apollo armed with bow and arrows. Why?

"I will remember and not be unmindful of Apollo who shoots afar. As he goes through the house of Zeus, the gods tremble before him and all spring up from their seats when he draws near, as he bends his bright bow..."

"Leto...then...unstrings his bow, and closes his quiver, and takes his archery from his strong shoulders in her hands and hangs them on a golden peg against a pillar of his father's house..."

This is an excerpt from "Homeric hymn to Apollo".

So, ever wandered why Apollo was known as the "far shooting" and why "bow and arrow" were his main symbols? Like for instance, on this Marble Throne of Apollo, Roman, late 1st c. AD. 

BTW, whoever made this, knew who Apollo really was and wanted to show Apollo in his true shape (serpent, dragon), sitting on his throne. With his bow and arrows. You can find the full analysis of this object and the explanation why Apollo is the Serpent/Dragon in my post "Marble throne of Apollo"...

Anyway, I did wander, and I couldn't figure it out. Until yesterday. Let me explain: 

I knew that Apollo "was a god plague and pestilence" just like Nergal. I wrote about this in my post "Lord of flies", about Beelzebub, the lord of the flies, who was identified by Jews and Christians with Satan...In this article I showed that behind this nickname hides the old Mesopotamian God of Death, Nergal, The Destructive Sun of Jul/Aug, Leo, the time of droughts, flies and epidemics...

Leo, which was also the time of the year dedicated to Apollo. I talked about this in my post "Threshing floor of Apollo" about Halos, the sacred threshing floor of Apollo in Delphi. And about Apellaios, Jul/Aug, the sacred month of Apollo...

But I couldn't understand why Apollo "was a god who could bring...deadly plague with his arrows". I couldn't connect the plague and arrow(s) in any way.

And then I read this paper "The Best of the Olympians: The Character of Apollo in the Homeric Epics and Hymns"...

And in it there was a bit about how Apollo persuaded Cretans to go to Crisa and become priests in his temple. He first turned himself into a dolphin (important) and jumped on their ship. I talked about it in my post "Apollo and dolphins" about this  490 BC Etruscan hydria from Vulci, which shows Apollo in the centre, holding his lyre, seated on the Delphic tripod...with a dolphin to either side of the tripod...

But then we reed that: "There, from the ship the far-working lord Apollo leapt, seeming like a star at mid-day: many sparks flew from him, and the beam reached to heaven"...

The author of the paper says that "We may contrast this image, where Apollo is like a star at mid-day, with the similes that describe Achilles at the peak of his antagonism toward this god at the end of the Iliad..."

"Where the beam from the flame emitted from his head reaches the sky, and where an image of asterism later compares the hero to the brightest star in the night sky, a baneful signifier of Troy’s eventual destruction and perhaps his own..."

"It is the most brilliant light, but it produces a deadly sign and brings much fever to wretched mortals." 

Wow. Apollo was actually directly linked to Sirius?

Now remember that I proposed that Apollo was actually Nergal,  the Mesopotamian god of war, pestilence and death, the personification of the destructive sun's heat in Leo, Jul/Aug?

I explained why Apollo was so terrible, and why everyone was so scared shitless when he was around, in my post "Lions of Delos" about the lions from the 600 BC Temple of Apollo from Delos and about why Apollo was linked to lions, and Leo, Jul/Aug...

Guess which star rises with the sun in Leo, Jul/Aug? Sirius...The morning star in Leo. Hence Inanna/Ishtar (personification of Sirius), also known as the lioness of heaven, standing on a lion, with sun above the lion, in Leo... I talked about it in my post "Inanna and Sukaletuda"...

Interestingly, in Mesopotamia, Sirius was seen as an arrow and the surrounding stars were seen as a bow...And they were stars of Jun/Jul/Aug...

I already talked about this in my post "The brightest star" about the link between Sirius and Inanna...

So Jul/Aug, the time of the year ruled by Nergal/Apollo, is the time when Sirius (bow and arrow) rises with the sun. Now I know why Ishtar, the lady that rides on lions, is armed with bow and arrows...BTW, Jul/Aug was also start of date harvest...Hence palm tree...

I talked about palms and lions in my post "Cylinder seal with a monster", about this Elamite seal (Iran), ca. 11th–9th century BC. 

See the Shamash cross above the lion? That is the sun cross. I talked about this in my post "The cross of Shamash"...

But why did Mesopotamians see Sirius as arrow? Remember my post "Invisible archer"? If arrows are shooting down from the night sky, there must be an [invisible] archer shooting them from up there...  

This article was about Orion and Orionids meteorite shower. Orionids shoot down on earth during Sep/Oct/Nov. But there is another meteroite shower that rains light arows down on earth in Jul/Aug. Perseid Meteor shower...

And guess when this meteor shower is most intense? When the most light arrows are being shot down on earth? Right before dawn. You can even see them at dawn, together with Sirius and the sun...Destructive sun of Leo, Nergal, Apollo...

And guess what coincides with the time when the far shooting Apollo is rising in the east, with his "bow and arrow" (Sirius) while his golden arrows rain down on earth? The pestilence season...As I explained in my post about the lord of the flies...

Interesting, right? So this is why Apollo was the feared archer whose arrows brought plague...

Also, remember this? Artemis was also armed with bow and arrows...

Also Artemis, of the original, archaic type, before people forgot her real meaning, from the Artemis temple in Corfu...She is the twin sister of the sun god, Apollo 🙂 

Gorgon...Interesting name...🙂 In Slavic languages it means "The burning one"...Check my post "Ognjena Marija", About the special incarnation of virgin (goddess) Mary, Burning Mary, which is celebrated in...Jul/Aug...

Ko razume shvatiće...🙂

Will write more about this soon...

That's it. To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...