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Home , Styx, Tartarus, Theogony, Typhon

APPENDIX 2

THE COSMOLOGICAL HIERARCHY AND 'S TIMAI Implicit in the Hymn to Apollo is an ontological hierarchy comprising three levels or realms: the divine, the human, and the monstrous or demonic. Each has its proper locus in the physical world. The region assigned to the is the superterrestrial, whether "steep Olympus" (109 8£wv t8o~ ocl1tuv "O)..uµ1tov) or "broad " (325 &8ocva'tOLaLV 01. oupocvov £upuv lxouat). Mankind belongs on the "grain-giving soil" itself (69 8vT)'tOfotv ~po'tofow l1tl ~£(8wpov apoupocv), "eating the fruit of the much­ nourishing " (365 yoc(T)~ 1t0Aucp6p~ou xocp1tov laovn~). The subterra­ nean regions "around great " are, if not the proper habitation of monsters like the and , then at least their point of emana­ tion into the world of men. 's oath to and 's for a son, both utterances of great solemnity and power, embrace all three realms at once, Leto swearing by "earth and heaven and the dripping water of " (84-85) and Hera invoking "earth and heaven and the Titan gods who dwell under the earth around great Tartarus" (334-336). In certain respects the divine and the human realms form a common society that stands apart from the monstrous/demonic; thus Delos speaks of the yet-unborn Apollo as destined "to lord it mightily over immortals and mortal men'' (68-69 µlyoc 8! 1tpu't0tv£uatµ£v &8ocva'tOLatv xocl 8vT)'tOtaL ~po'toiaw), the sing of the "immortal gifts of the gods and the suf­ ferings of men'' ( 190-191 8£wv 8wp' aµ~pO'tOt 1)8' &v8pw1twv 'tAT)(J.Oauvoc~), and the "terrible and grievous Typhon," who "resembles neither gods nor mortals'' (351 oun 8£0I~ lvoc)..(yxtov oun ~po'tofot), is produced by Hera as an enemy both of mankind (306, 352 1tijµoc ~po'tofotv) and of himself (338-339). As a conceptual framework this hierarchy of ontological levels is of course not unique to the Hymn to Apollo in the archaic period. 's , for example, is from one perspective largely concerned with the slow differentiation and eventual permanent separation of the upper and lower realms, the divine and the monstrous, so as to make room for and thereafter maintain as distinct the intermediate realm occupied by humanity (which is Hesiod's subject in the ). The points of particular interest in the use that our poet makes of the schema are, first, his articulation of significant distinctions and subdivisions within the central human realm, and second, his superimposition upon the fully articulated hierarchy of yet another conceptual scheme, namely the three timai (, bow, ) that define the dimensions of Apollo's nature. APPENDIX 2 119

As represented in the Hymn the human realm is not only open to intru­ sion from above (e.g. Apollo's epiphany to the Cretans) and from below (e.g. the serpent's depredations at Pytho) but itself approaches the divine and the monstrous/demonic at its extremes. On the one hand the har­ mony and perfect order of Olympian existence, where discord and violence are banished by festal decorum and a spirit of play rules ( cf. 201 1tcx((oua', 206 1tcxt(O\rtcx), has its earthly counterpart in the Delian panegyris, where the Ionians gathered to honor their through sport and dance and music appear to an impartial observer as ''immortal and ageless forever" ( 151 &0cxvcx"tou~ xcxi &-y~pw~ EfLfLEVCXL cxlt(). On the other hand the hypothetical pirates who wander over the sea ''bringing evil to people of other lands" ( 455 xcxxov &Uo8cx1totaL q>tpovn~) are committing, though ad­ mittedly in a less spectacular way, the same deeds of misanthropic destruction as the serpent (302-303 Tl xcxxdt 1toAA.0t &v0pw1tou~ F'.p8taxtv E1ti x0ovt) and Typhon (355 0~ XCXXOt 1t6U' F'.p8taXE XCX"tOt XAIJ"tOt q>GA' &v0pw1twv), while Typhon's rebellious defiance of Zeus as the patron of cosmic order has a human analogue in the Phlegyan hubristai who '' have no respect for Zeus'' (278 ALO~ oux &At-yovn~)- When the distinction between the spheres of leisure and of practical action that was established by our analysis of the Pytho-narrative is also taken into account, the following hierarchical scheme emerges:

I. The Divine Realm: harmony, perfect order; play purely for play's sake (the Olympian festivals) II. The Human Realm: Al. playful activity tending toward a transcendence of the human condition and the assimilation of society to the harmonious condition of the divine (the Delian festival) A2. leisure ( schole), i.e. freedom from the practical concerns and material needs inherent in the human condition, benefiting society through the alleviation of other aspects of that condition, e.g. contingency, ignorance (Pytho) Bl. "business" (ascholia), i.e. immersion in practical con­ cerns, benefiting society directly through the satisfaction of material needs and indirectly through the subsidizing of schole (Telphusa, the Cretan merchants, the cpuA' &v0pw1twv who visit Pytho) B2. destructive activity tending toward the deterioration of the human condition and the assimilation of society to the chaotic condition of the monstrous/demonic (the Phlegyans, the pirates) III. The Monstrous/Demonic Realm: , absolute disorder; destruction purely for destruction's sake (the serpent, Typhon)