Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality among the GreeksRohde, Erwin
Religion
Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality among the Greeks
Rohde, Erwin
Greece -- Religion
[99\4: An oracle "_Sarpedonis in Troade_" is mentioned in a cursory
enumeration of oracular sites by Tert., _An._ 46. It is difficult to
imagine how Sarpedon, the Homeric one--no other can be meant
here--whose body had been so ceremoniously brought to Lykia, can
have had an oracle in the Troad. It may be merely a slip of the pen
on Tertullian's part.--At Seleucia in Cilicia there was an oracle of
Apollo Sarpedonios, D.S. 32, 10, 2; Zos. 1, 57. Wesseling on D.S.
ii, p. 519, has already called attention to the more detailed
account in the _Vit. S. Theclae_ of Basilius bishop of Seleucia; see
the extracts given by R. Köhler, _Rhein. Mus._ 14, 472 ff. There the
oracle is described {152} as a dream-oracle of Sarpedon himself who
was consulted at his grave in Seleucia. It is also certain, as
Köhler remarks, that Sarpedon, the son of Europa and brother of
Minos, is meant. (This Cretan Sarpedon appears first in Hesiod and
is quite distinct from the Homeric one: Aristonic. on ~Z~ 199.
Indeed, Homer knows no other brother of Minos except Rhadamanthys:
~X~ 322. In spite of this he was often regarded as the same as the
Homeric Sarpedon who came from Lykia [cf. the name Zrppädoni on the
Obelisk of Xanthos: _Lyc. Inscr._ tab. vii, l. 6]; acc. to
[Apollod.] 3, 1, 3, he lived through three ~geneai/~, cf. Schol. V.,
~Z~ 199: which seems a marvellous feat much in the manner of
Hellanikos. Others made the Cretan Sarp. into the grandfather of the
Lykian: D.S. 5, 79, 3.) The oracle belonged properly to Sarpedon;
Apollo seems merely to have been an intruder here and to have taken
the place of the Hero as he did with Hyakinthos at Amyklai. That
Sarpedon, however, was not therefore quite forgotten is shown by the
Christian notice of him. Perhaps Apollo was regarded as merely the
patron of the oracle whose real guardian was still Sarpedon. It
certainly indicates community of worship when Ap. is there called
~Apo/llôn Sarpêdo/nios~; so too in Tarentum--brought thither from
Sparta and Amyklai--there was a ~ta/phos para\ me/n tisin
Huaki/nthou prosagoreuo/menos, para\ de/ tisin Apo/llônos
Huaki/nthou~ (in which no alteration is necessary), Plb. 8, 30, 2.
In Goityn there was a cult of Atymnos (Solin. 11, 9, p. 73 Mom.),
the beloved of Apollo (or of Sarpedon): he too was worshipped as
Apollo Atymnios (Nonn., _D._ 11, 131; 258; 12, 217).]
[100\4: The inhabitants of Gadeira sacrificed to Men.; Philostr.,
_VA._ 5, 4, p. 167, 10 K. ~to\ Menesthe/ôs _mantei=on_~ on the
Baetis is mentioned by Str., p. 140. How it got there we do not
know.]
[101\4: Str. 546. Autol. came there as a sharer in the expedition of
Herakles against the Amazons and with the Argonauts. A.R. ii,
955-61. Plut., _Luc._ 23.]
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