Apis, one of the ancient kings of Peloponnesus, son of Phoroneus and Laodice. Some say that Apollo was his father, and that he was king of Argos, while others call him king of Sicyon, and fix the time of his reign above 200 years earlier, which is enough to show he is but obscurely known, if known at all. He was a native of Naupactum, and descended from Inachus. He received divine honours after death, as he had been munificent and humane to his subjects. The country where he reigned was called Apia; and afterwards it received the name of Pelasgia, Argia, or Argolis, and at last that of Peloponnesus, from Pelops. Some, amongst whom is Varro and St. Augustine, have imagined that Apis went to Egypt with a colony of Greeks, and that he civilized the inhabitants, and polished their manners, for which they made him a god after death, and paid divine honours to him under the name of Serapis. This tradition, according to some of the moderns, is without foundation. Æschylus, Suppliant Maidens.—Augustine, City of God, bk. 18, ch. 5.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 5.—Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 1.——A son of Jason, born in Arcadia; he was killed by the horses of Ætolus. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 1.——A town of Egypt on the lake Mareotis.——A god of the Egyptians, worshipped under the form of an ox. Some say that Isis and Osiris are the deities worshipped under this name, because during their reign they taught the Egyptians agriculture. The Egyptians believed that the soul of Osiris was really departed into the ox, where it wished to dwell, because that animal had been of the most essential service in the cultivation of the ground, which Osiris had introduced into Egypt. The ox that was chosen was always distinguished by particular marks: his body was black; he had a square white spot upon the forehead, the figure of an eagle upon the back, a knot under the tongue like a beetle; the hairs of his tail were double, and his right side was marked with a whitish spot, resembling the crescent of the moon. Without these, an ox could not be taken as the god Apis; and it is to be imagined that the priests gave these distinguishing characteristics to the animal on which their credit and even prosperity depended. The festival of Apis lasted seven days; the ox was led in a solemn procession by the priests, and every one was anxious to receive him into his house, and it was believed that the children who smelt his breath received the knowledge of futurity. The ox was conducted to the banks of the Nile with much ceremony, and if he had lived to the time which their sacred books allowed, they drowned him in the river, and embalmed his body, and buried it in solemn state in the city of Memphis. After his death, which sometimes was natural, the greatest cries and lamentations were heard in Egypt, as if Osiris was just dead; the priests shaved their heads, which was a sign of the deepest mourning. This continued till another ox appeared, with the proper characteristics to succeed as the deity, which was followed with the greatest acclamations, as if Osiris was returned to life. This ox, which was found to represent Apis, was left 40 days in the city of the Nile before he was carried to Memphis, during which time none but women were permitted to appear before him, and this they performed, according to their superstitious notions, in a wanton and indecent manner. There was also an ox worshipped at Heliopolis, under the name of Mnevis; some suppose that he was Osiris, but others maintain that the Apis of Memphis was sacred to Osiris, and Mnevis to Isis. When Cambyses came into Egypt, the people were celebrating the festivals of Apis with every mark of joy and triumph, which the conqueror interpreted as an insult upon himself. He called the priests of Apis, and ordered the deity itself to come before him. When he saw that an ox was the object of their veneration, and the cause of such rejoicings, he wounded it on the thigh, ordered the priests to be chastised, and commanded his soldiers to slaughter such as were found celebrating such riotous festivals. The god Apis had generally two stables, or rather temples. If he ate from the hand, it was a favourable omen; but if he refused the food that was offered him, it was interpreted as unlucky. From this Germanicus, when he visited Egypt, drew the omens of his approaching death. When his oracle was consulted, incense was burnt on an altar, and a piece of money placed upon it, after which the people that wished to know futurity applied their ear to the mouth of the god, and immediately retired, stopping their ears till they had departed from the temple. The first sounds that were heard, were taken as the answer of the oracle to their questions. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 22.—Herodotus, bks. 2 & 3.—Pliny, bk. 8, ch. 38, &c.—Strabo, bk. 7.—Plutarch, Iside et Osiride.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 7; bk. 2, ch. 1.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 9.—Pliny, bk. 8, ch. 39, &c.—Strabo, bk. 7.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bks. 4 & 6.—Diodorus, bk. 1.
Apisāon, son of Hippasus, assisted Priam against the Greeks, at the head of a Pæonian army. He was killed by Lycomedes. Homer, Iliad, bk. 17, li. 348.——Another on the same side.
Apitius Galba, a celebrated buffoon in the time of Tiberius. Juvenal, satire 5, li. 4.
Apollināres ludi, games celebrated at Rome in honour of Apollo. They originated from the following circumstance. An old prophetic poem informed the Romans, that if they instituted yearly games to Apollo, and made a collection of money for his service, they would be able to repel the enemy whose approach already threatened their destruction. The first time they were celebrated, Rome was alarmed by the approach of the enemy, and instantly the people rushed out of the city, and saw a cloud of arrows discharged from the sky on the troops of the enemy. With this heavenly assistance they easily obtained the victory. The people generally sat crowned with laurel at the representation of these games, which were usually celebrated at the option of the pretor, till the year A.U.C. 545, when a law was passed to settle the celebration yearly on the same day about the nones of July. When this alteration happened, Rome was infested with a dreadful pestilence, which, however, seemed to be appeased by this act of religion. Livy, bk. 25, ch. 12.
Apollināris, Caius Sulpitius, a grammarian of Carthage, in the second century, who is supposed to be the author of the verses prefixed to Terence’s plays as arguments.——A writer better known by the name of Sidonius. See: [Sidonius].
Apollinīdes, a Greek in the wars of Darius and Alexander, &c. Curtius, bk. 4, ch. 5.
Apollĭnis arx, a place at the entrance of the Sibyl’s cave. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6.——Promontorium, a promontory of Africa. Livy, bk. 30, ch. 24.——Templum, a place in Thrace,——in Lycia. Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 6, ch. 9.
Apollo, son of Jupiter and Latona, called also Phœbus, is often confounded with the sun. According to Cicero, bk. 3, de Natura Deorum, there were four persons of this name. The first was son of Vulcan, and the tutelary god of the Athenians. The second was son of Corybas, and was born in Crete, for the dominion of which he disputed even with Jupiter himself. The third was son of Jupiter and Latona, and came from the nations of the Hyperboreans to Delphi. The fourth was born in Arcadia, and called Nomion, because he gave laws to the inhabitants. To the son of Jupiter and Latona all the actions of the others seem to have been attributed. The Apollo, son of Vulcan, was the same as the Orus of the Egyptians, and was the most ancient, from whom the actions of the others have been copied. The three others seem to be of Grecian origin. The tradition that the son of Latona was born in the floating island of Delos, is taken from the Egyptian mythology, which asserts that the son of Vulcan, which is supposed to be Orus, was saved by his mother Isis from the persecution of Typhon, and entrusted to the care of Latona, who concealed him in the island of Chemmis. When Latona was pregnant by Jupiter, Juno, who was ever jealous of her husband’s amours, raised the serpent Python to torment Latona, who was refused a place to give birth to her children, till Neptune, moved at the severity of her fate, raised the island of Delos from the bottom of the sea, where Latona brought forth Apollo and Diana. Apollo was the god of all the fine arts, of medicine, music, poetry, and eloquence, of all which he was deemed the inventor. He had received from Jupiter the power of knowing futurity, and he was the only one of the gods whose oracles were in general repute over the world. His amours with Leucothoe, Daphne, Issa, Bolina, Coronis, Clymene, Cyrene, Chione, Acacallis, Calliope, &c., are well known, and the various shapes he assumed to gratify his passion. He was very fond of young Hyacinthus, whom he accidentally killed with a quoit; as also of Cyparissus, who was changed into a cypress tree. When his son Æsculapius had been killed with the thunders of Jupiter for raising the dead to life, Apollo, in his resentment, killed the Cyclops who had fabricated the thunderbolts. Jupiter was incensed at this act of violence, and he banished Apollo from heaven, and deprived him of his dignity. The exiled deity came to Admetus king of Thessaly, and hired himself to be one of his shepherds, in which ignoble employment he remained nine years; from which circumstance he was called the god of shepherds, and at his sacrifices a wolf was generally offered, as that animal is the declared enemy of the sheepfold. During his residence in Thessaly, he rewarded the tender treatment of Admetus. He gave him a chariot drawn by a lion and a bull, with which he was able to obtain in marriage Alceste the daughter of Pelias; and soon after, the Parcæ granted, at Apollo’s request, that Admetus might be redeemed from death, if another person laid down his life for him. He assisted Neptune in building the walls of Troy; and when he was refused the promised reward from Laomedon the king of the country, he destroyed the inhabitants by a pestilence. As soon as he was born, Apollo destroyed with arrows the serpent Python, whom Juno had sent to persecute Latona; hence he was called Pythius; and he afterwards vindicated the honour of his mother, by putting to death the children of the proud Niobe. See: [Niobe]. He was not the inventor of the lyre, as some have imagined, but Mercury gave it him, and received as a reward the famous caduceus with which Apollo was wont to drive the flocks of Admetus. His contest with Pan and Marsyas, and the punishment inflicted upon Midas, are well known. He received the surnames of Phœbus, Delius, Cynthius, Pœan, Delphicus, Nomius, Lycius, Clarius, Ismenius, Vulturius, Smintheus, &c., for reasons which are explained under those words. Apollo is generally represented with long hair, and the Romans were fond of imitating his figure, and therefore in their youth they were remarkable for their fine heads of hair, which they cut short at the age of 17 or 18. He is always represented as a tall, beardless young man, with a handsome shape, holding in his hand a bow, and sometimes a lyre; his head is generally surrounded with beams of light. He was the deity who, according to the notions of the ancients, inflicted plagues, and in that moment he appeared surrounded with clouds. His worship and power were universally acknowledged: he had temples and statues in every country, particularly in Egypt, Greece, and Italy. His statue, which stood upon mount Actium, as a mark to mariners to avoid the dangerous coasts, was particularly famous, and it appeared to a great distance at sea. Augustus, before the battle of Actium, addressed himself to it for victory. The griffin, the cock, the grasshopper, the wolf, the crow, the swan, the hawk, the olive, the laurel, the palm tree, &c., were sacred to him; and in his sacrifices, wolves and hawks were offered, as they were the natural enemies of the flocks, over which he presided. Bullocks and lambs were also immolated to him. As he presided over poetry, he was often seen on mount Parnassus with the nine muses. His most famous oracles were at Delphi, Delos, Claros, Tenedos, Cyrrha, and Patara. His most splendid temple was at Delphi, where every nation and individual made considerable presents when they consulted the oracle. Augustus, after the battle of Actium, built him a temple on mount Palatine, which he enriched with a valuable library. He had a famous colossus in Rhodes, which was one of the seven wonders of the world. Apollo has been taken for the sun; but it may be proved by different passages in the ancient writers, that Apollo, the Sun, Phœbus, and Hyperion, were all different characters and deities, though confounded together. When once Apollo was addressed as the Sun, and represented with a crown of rays on his head, the idea was adopted by every writer, and from thence arose the mistake. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, fables 9 & 10; bk. 4, fable 3, &c.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 7; bk. 5, ch. 7; bk. 7, ch. 20; bk. 9, ch. 30, &c.—Hyginus, fables 9, 14, 50, 93, 140, 161, 202, 203, &c.—Statius, bk. 1, Thebiad, li. 560.—Tibullus, bk. 2, poem 3.—Plutarch, de Amore Prolis.—Homer, Iliad & Hymn to Apollo.—Virgil, Æneid, bks. 2, 3, &c.; Georgics, bk. 4, li. 323.—Horace, bk. 1, ode 10.—Lucian, [♦]Dialogi Deorum.—Propertius, bk. 1, poem 28.—Callimachus, Hymn to Apollo.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, chs. 3, 4, & 9; bk. 2, ch. 5; bk. 3, chs. 5, 10, & 12.——One of the ships in the fleet of Æneas. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 171.——Also a temple of Apollo upon mount Leucas, which appeared at a great distance at sea; and served as a guide to mariners, and reminded them to avoid the dangerous rocks that were along the coast. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 275.
[♦] ‘Dial. Mer. & Vulc.’ replaced with ‘Dialogi Deorum’
Apollocrătes, a friend of Dion, supposed by some to be the son of Dionysius.