The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Vol. 1 of 2Müller, Karl Otfried
History
The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Vol. 1 of 2
Müller, Karl Otfried
Dorians -- History; Greece -- Antiquities, Dorian; Greece -- History -- Dorian Invasions, approximately 1125-1025 B.C.
Lastly, the origin of the Delphinian expiatory festival from Delphi and
Crete is as evident as its introduction by the Ionian princes; for Ægeus
dwelt in the Delphinium, and was there buried. To him was also ascribed
the establishment of the Delphinian tribunal. Theseus, previously to his
expedition to Crete, here placed the olive-branch, bound with wool, on the
sixth day of Munychion,(1050) and purified himself from the murder of the
Pallantidæ.(1051)
15. The political situation of the worship of Apollo at Athens still
requires to be noticed. From our previous observations it is clear that
the Ionians had adopted it from the Dorians; hence Ion himself is called
the son of the Pythian god. The paternal deity of Athens was, as
Demosthenes says, no other than the Pythian Apollo.(1052) We may then
assert, without hesitation, that the Ionians were the only race who had
gentilitious rites of Apollo, and that they alone could properly be called
γενῆται Ἀπόλλωνος πατρῴου. Thus, when the archons at the scrutiny swore,
that besides Zeus Herceus, the household god, they worshipped also Apollo
πατρῷος;(1053) this form of oath originated at a time when the Eupatridæ,
that is, the noble Ionic and Hellenic families, were alone eligible to the
dignity of the archonship. Nor was it till, by the timocracy of Solon and
democracy of Aristides, the richer class in general and the whole people
were admitted to this office, that Apollo πατρῷος was considered as a
deity common to all families.(1054) The democratical judges of Athens also
yearly took an oath before this deity:(1055) this ceremony was at first
perhaps only required of the criminal judges of aristocratical descent,
viz., the Ephetæ. It is however clear that originally the religion of
Apollo was adapted for the military caste alone, the ancient Hopletes;
hence he was not a god of artisans and husbandmen, but of warriors. Hence
also Ion or Xuthus adopted him as the Athenian god of war (πολέμαρχος) at
the festival of Boedromia,(1056) the name of which is derived from the
onset of armed troops in battle.
As originally the Eupatridæ alone cultivated the worship of Apollo, they
alone possessed the ceremony of purification, which is here, as elsewhere,
mixed up with the rites of the Cretan worship. According to
Plutarch,(1057) Ion had instructed the Athenians in religion, _i.e._, in
that of Apollo; and the same author relates,(1058) that Theseus
established the Eupatridæ as administrators of the government, judges, and
interpreters of the sacred rites (ἐξηγηταὶ ὁσίων καὶ ἱερῶν).
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