Apollodorus Library 1.2.1

ed. Sir James George Frazer

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Library. Apollodorus. ed. Sir James George Frazer. Cambridge, MA. 1921.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Library (English) (Apollodorus. The Library, Vol 1-2. Frazer, James George, Sir, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.)

Editions (1)
Βιβλιοθήκη Perseus (Apollodorus. The Library, Vol 1-2. Frazer, James George, Sir, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.) — 1.2.1 focus

Notes on the current edition

Library

1. As to the disgorging of his offspring by Cronus, see Hes. Th. 493ff. , who, however, says nothing about the agency of Metis in administering an emetic, but attributes the stratagem to Earth (Gaia).
2. As to the war of Zeus on the Titans, see Hes. Th. 617ff. ; Hor. Carm. 3.4.42ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 118 .
3. The most ancient oracle at Delphi was said to be that of Earth; in her office of prophetess the goddess was there succeeded by Themis, who was afterwards displaced by Apollo. See Aesch. Eum. 1ff. ; Paus. 10.5.5ff. It is said that of old there was an oracle of Earth at Olympia, but it no longer existed in the second century of our era. See Paus. 5.14.10 . At Aegira in Achaia the oracles of Earth were delivered in a subterranean cave by a priestess, who had previously drunk bull's blood as a means of inspiration. See Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxviii.147 ; compare Paus. 7.25.13 . In the later days of antiquity the oracle of Earth at Delphi was explained by some philosophers on rationalistic principles: they supposed that the priestess was thrown into the prophetic trance by natural exhalations from the ground, and they explained the decadence of the oracle in their own time by the gradual cessation of the exhalations. The theory is scouted by Cicero. See Plut. De defectu oraculorum 40ff. ; Cicero, De divinatione i.19.38, i.36.79, ii.57.117 . A similar theory is still held by wizards in Loango, on the west coast of Africa; hence in order to receive the inspiration they descend into an artificial pit or natural hollow and remain there for some time, absorbing the blessed influence, just as the Greek priestesses for a similar purpose descended into the oracular caverns at Aegira and Delphi. See Die Loango Expedition, iii.2, von Dr. E. Pechuel Loesche (Stuttgart, 1907), p. 441 . As to the oracular cavern at Delphi and the inspiring exhalations which were supposed to emanate from it, see Diod. 16.26 ; Strabo 9.3.5 ; Paus. 10.5.7 ; Justin xxiv.6.6-9 . That the Pythian priestess descended into the cavern to give the oracles appears from an expression of Plutarch (De defectu oraculorum, 51 , κατέβη μὲν εἰς τὸ μαντεῖον). As to the oracles of Earth in antiquity, see A. Bouche-Leclercq, Histoire de la Divination dans l'Antiquité, ii.251ff. ; L. R. Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States, iii.8ff.
4. Compare Hes. Th. 501-506ff.
5. Compare Hes. Th. 717ff.
6. Compare Hom. Il. 15.187ff. ; Plat. Gorg. 523a .