Apollo and Divination

[David19]

I was wondering if anyone can help me, I'm looking for any information on Apollo and divination methods associated with him, the reason I'm asking is 'cause, I'm interested in developing a relationship with Utu, the Sumerian God of the Sun, Law, and other things, and I was told to look into divination methods of Apollo, as Utu was the main influence on Apollo (I'm not saying they're the same God, just similar), I'd really appreciate any help you can give me on this, as I don't know too much about other divination methods associated with Apollo, other than the Oracle of Delphi.

Thanks for any help you can give me at all.

[Fiamma]

I was wondering if anyone can help me, I'm looking for any information on Apollo and divination methods associated with him, the reason I'm asking is 'cause, I'm interested in developing a relationship with Utu, the Sumerian God of the Sun, Law, and other things, and I was told to look into divination methods of Apollo, as Utu was the main influence on Apollo (I'm not saying they're the same God, just similar), I'd really appreciate any help you can give me on this, as I don't know too much about other divination methods associated with Apollo, other than the Oracle of Delphi.

Thanks for any help you can give me at all.


Apollo is more associated with oracles and prophecy than with other means. Divination involving means of chance- dice, casting lots, cards, heck, coin-tossing is more Hermes's realm.

In the Homeric hymn #4 (the long hymn to Hermes,) he wanted Apollo to teach him the art of prophecy, which he either would not or could not (I forget which offhand) do, but he did give him the art of divination by chance- I think they refer to it as casting pebbles.

[David19]

Apollo is more associated with oracles and prophecy than with other means. Divination involving means of chance- dice, casting lots, cards, heck, coin-tossing is more Hermes's realm.

In the Homeric hymn #4 (the long hymn to Hermes,) he wanted Apollo to teach him the art of prophecy, which he either would not or could not (I forget which offhand) do, but he did give him the art of divination by chance- I think they refer to it as casting pebbles.

Thanks for the reply, you've given me a few things to look into, what type of Prophecy was Apollo associated with?, was it more things like possessing someone (like the Delphic Oracle), or was it some other kind?.

Thanks for the help :).

[*~Amora~*]

There are two ways (that I am aware of) to be an oracle of Apollon [note that the Romans nixed the 'n' on His name, making it 'Apollo'. The Greek manner of pronunciation implies 'Apollon']. The first is to put yourself into a trace (traditionally sitting upon a tripod) and allowing Him to speak through you to others. The second is by dreaming if Him and His messages. Say a prayer beefore bedtime, give a sacrifice, and He may grace you with a divinatory dream.

[Fiamma]

There are two ways (that I am aware of) to be an oracle of Apollon [note that the Romans nixed the 'n' on His name, making it 'Apollo'. The Greek manner of pronunciation implies 'Apollon'].

That's how it's spelled too (well, transliterated anyway) :-)

[David19]

There are two ways (that I am aware of) to be an oracle of Apollon [note that the Romans nixed the 'n' on His name, making it 'Apollo'. The Greek manner of pronunciation implies 'Apollon']. The first is to put yourself into a trace (traditionally sitting upon a tripod) and allowing Him to speak through you to others. The second is by dreaming if Him and His messages. Say a prayer beefore bedtime, give a sacrifice, and He may grace you with a divinatory dream.

Thanks for those methods, I really appreciate it.

BTW, this may be a bit OT for the thread, but, do you, or Fiamma (or anyone else) know of any good books (or even sites) on Apollo, as well as Prophecy in ancient Greece (e.g. the Delphic Oracle, etc), I'd really love to learn more about those topics.

Thanks again, to both of you, I really appreciate it.

[*~Amora~*]

Read Homer and Hesiod for the myths. If you want to learn how to practice, read Greek Religion and Old Stones, New Temples (the latter is out of print, but available of you join Hellenion (http://www.hellenion.org). Our organization is an excellent community for those interested in serious study and worship.

[Halstrom]

Thanks for those methods, I really appreciate it.

BTW, this may be a bit OT for the thread, but, do you, or Fiamma (or anyone else) know of any good books (or even sites) on Apollo, as well as Prophecy in ancient Greece (e.g. the Delphic Oracle, etc), I'd really love to learn more about those topics.

Thanks again, to both of you, I really appreciate it.

I can't help you with the prophecy, but if you want info on Apollon, then a really good website is Theoi (http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Apollon.html). In fact I would recommend Theoi for research on any of the Greek gods and goddesses.

[David19]

Read Homer and Hesiod for the myths. If you want to learn how to practice, read Greek Religion and Old Stones, New Temples (the latter is out of print, but available of you join Hellenion (http://www.hellenion.org). Our organization is an excellent community for those interested in serious study and worship.


I can't help you with the prophecy, but if you want info on Apollon, then a really good website is Theoi (http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Apollon.html). In fact I would recommend Theoi for research on any of the Greek gods and goddesses.

Thanks for the info, I've got Greek Religion, and I really like Theoi, just to mention, I'm not really looking to practice the Greek religion, I'm just interested in learning more about Apollo (just out of interest, right now anyway).

Thanks again :).

[Fiamma]

Thanks for those methods, I really appreciate it.

BTW, this may be a bit OT for the thread, but, do you, or Fiamma (or anyone else) know of any good books (or even sites) on Apollo, as well as Prophecy in ancient Greece (e.g. the Delphic Oracle, etc), I'd really love to learn more about those topics.

Thanks again, to both of you, I really appreciate it.

I might need to wait til next week to answer this more fully (I'm currently traveling for the holidays, will be home late Monday night)

There is a short list of links to sites on Apollo on my blog (linked in my signature, I'm too lazy to go copy them :-P), it includes the link to his Theoi.com site, as well as several others.

Hmm...books coming to mind-

The Oracle: Ancient Delphi And the Science Behind Its Lost Secrets by William J Broad - this one is pretty easy to find, and inexpensive. it's actually more of a scientific search for an explaination of how the oracle functioned, there's a lot of geology and scientific process involved, but it's absolutely fascinating and there is plenty of historical and mythological information scattered within- some is a bit shaky, but it's not entirely painful, and it's much more understandable when you keep in mind that the author is a scientific writer, not historical or mythological- and most of it really is decent. One of the things that I really like about this book is that it offers the scientific explaination without discounting the religious/spiritual value of the gods and the oracle (one of the scientists quoted in the book actually speaks of how he is so dismayed by those who hear that it's been explained scientifically and see that as their license to brush it off as worthless.)


Apollo: The Wind, The Spirit and The God by Karl Kerenyi is a really good one (however, it is long out of print and usually prohibitively expensive...though I actually have a PDF copy of this one. I could send you a copy when I get home if you send me a PM to remind me. I also have a decent little collection of articles from various academic journals in PDF form if you're interested.)

http://www.kolonospress.com/gods_remain_chapters/gods_rem_oidipous.html- this is a link to a chapter in a book called The Gods Remain by Thomas Sefton which is about Apollo and some of his darker, more irrational aspects- a lot of what I see of him. There are actually several full chapters from this book available on the site, and it's a great read. There is also a bit mor about him in the next chapter: http://www.kolonospress.com/gods_remain_chapters/gods_rem_jadar.html

Walter Burkert's Greek Religion and Karl Kerenyi's Gods of the Greeks are two books not specificlaly on Apollo, but offering a good bit of information on him.

Some good ancient writings include the Homeric, Orphic and Callimachean hymns, Euripides's Ion, Ovid's Metamorphoses

I have a nice little list at home of books that I haven't read myself, but want to get- either on Apollo, or on ancient oracles and mysteries.

I've also found a good bit about Apollo when researching Hermes and Dionysus.

Okay...I'm gonna leave it at that for now. More later...it's my bed time!

[David19]

I might need to wait til next week to answer this more fully (I'm currently traveling for the holidays, will be home late Monday night)

There is a short list of links to sites on Apollo on my blog (linked in my signature, I'm too lazy to go copy them :-P), it includes the link to his Theoi.com site, as well as several others.

Thanks, I'll definitely check your blog out.


Hmm...books coming to mind-

The Oracle: Ancient Delphi And the Science Behind Its Lost Secrets by William J Broad - this one is pretty easy to find, and inexpensive. it's actually more of a scientific search for an explaination of how the oracle functioned, there's a lot of geology and scientific process involved, but it's absolutely fascinating and there is plenty of historical and mythological information scattered within- some is a bit shaky, but it's not entirely painful, and it's much more understandable when you keep in mind that the author is a scientific writer, not historical or mythological- and most of it really is decent. One of the things that I really like about this book is that it offers the scientific explaination without discounting the religious/spiritual value of the gods and the oracle (one of the scientists quoted in the book actually speaks of how he is so dismayed by those who hear that it's been explained scientifically and see that as their license to brush it off as worthless.)

I'll definitely check this book out, I'll, probably, be able to get it soon, as I got some money for Christmas.



Apollo: The Wind, The Spirit and The God by Karl Kerenyi is a really good one (however, it is long out of print and usually prohibitively expensive...though I actually have a PDF copy of this one. I could send you a copy when I get home if you send me a PM to remind me. I also have a decent little collection of articles from various academic journals in PDF form if you're interested.)

That would be really cool, if you could send it, and any others you feel like, to me :).


http://www.kolonospress.com/gods_remain_chapters/gods_rem_oidipous.html- this is a link to a chapter in a book called The Gods Remain by Thomas Sefton which is about Apollo and some of his darker, more irrational aspects- a lot of what I see of him. There are actually several full chapters from this book available on the site, and it's a great read. There is also a bit mor about him in the next chapter: http://www.kolonospress.com/gods_remain_chapters/gods_rem_jadar.html

Walter Burkert's Greek Religion and Karl Kerenyi's Gods of the Greeks are two books not specificlaly on Apollo, but offering a good bit of information on him.

Some good ancient writings include the Homeric, Orphic and Callimachean hymns, Euripides's Ion, Ovid's Metamorphoses

I have a nice little list at home of books that I haven't read myself, but want to get- either on Apollo, or on ancient oracles and mysteries.

I've also found a good bit about Apollo when researching Hermes and Dionysus.

Okay...I'm gonna leave it at that for now. More later...it's my bed time!

Thanks for those, I've got Greek Religion, I might get Gods of the Greeks soon too, I've seen it in Borders, and flicked through it, it seemed quite cool.

I'll check out the others too, hope you've enjoyed Christmas, and are still enjoying the Holiday period :).