Apellai

This article is about Ancient Greek festival. For the Spartan assembly sometimes called the apella, see Ecclesia (Sparta).

The Apellai (Ancient Greek: ἀπέλλαι), was an ancient annual family-festival of the Northwest Greeks, at least at Delphi, similar to the Ionian Apaturia. The festival was apparently spread by the Dorians as inferred by the use of the month name Apellaios in various Dorian localities. Sacrificial animals, called apellaia, seem to have been offered at the Apellai on the occasion of a youth becoming an adult. It is thought to have been a festival of Apollo.

Usage, meaning, and etymology

The word apellai occurs only in the plural,^[1] with all known uses of the word coming from Doric speaking regions of Greece.^[2] It occurs in the Labyad inscription (late fifth to fourth century BC) of Delphi, as well as two first-century BC inscriptions from Sparta's seaport town of Gytheion.^[3]

Hesychius explains the meaning of the word apellai with the gloss: sekoi, ekklesiai, archairesiai.^[4] The word sekos (plural sekoi) can refer to various kinds of enclosures,^[5] while ekklesiai refers to official public assemblies,^[6] and archairesiai refers, more specifically, to public assemblies for the election of magistrates.^[7] In light of Heschius's explanation of the apellai in terms of such assemblies, Heschius's sekoi might be interpreted as referring to either the entire enclosure within which such assemblies were held, or the subdivisions of such assemblies into precincts (e.g. voting precincts).^[8] The derived denominal verb infinitive apellazein (ἀπελλάζειν) occurs in the Lycurgean Great Rhetra (c. 700 BC) of Sparta, which Plutarch explains as meaning the same as ekklesiazein (ἐκκλησιάζειν) 'to conduct an assembly'.^[9]

The etymology of the word apellai is unknown. According to Robert Beekes, "a connection with IE *h₂pel- would be the most easy solution, but there are no obvious cognates for such a root."^[10] Another Hesychius gloss explains the (related?) word apellein with the word apokleiein, a form of the verb apokleio (ἀποκλειω) that means 'shut out', 'close', 'shut away'.^[11] According to Beekes this "may well provide the original meaning of ἀπέλλαι, 'enclosed space, meeting place'."^[12]

Festival

The only explicit mention of a festival called the Apellai occurs in the Labyad inscription, which records the law of the Ladyadai, a familial group at Delphi assumed to be similar to an Ionian phratry.^[13] The first month of the Delphic calendar was called Apellaios (Ἀπελλαῖος),^[14] and the inscription mentions an Apellai festival at Delphi held during that month at which the Labyaidai feasted.^[15] The inscription regulates the procedures for admission of members into the Ladyadai (as overseen by certain officials called the tagoi), which required the formal approval, of both the entire Ladyadai, and the particular subgroup (patria) to which the new member would belong, and which seem to have involved three points of admission, marriage, the birth of a (probably male) child, and passage into adulthood.^[16]

In particular the inscription regulates the "offerings of sacrificial victims and of cakes".^[17] The "sacrificial victims" were animal sacrifices called apellaia (ἀπελλαῖα),^[18] which are to be brought and received only on the day of the Apellai, and the inscription prescribes that if the presiding Labyad officials (tagoi) were to "receive them on a day other than the Apellai, each of them is to pay a fine of 10 drachmas",^[19] while the cake offerings (called daratai)^[20] were to be made by Ladyadai "on the occasion of marriages or children".^[21] From this it has been concluded that the Apellai were the Delphic equivalent of the Ionian festival of the Apaturia, at which the formal admission of new adult members of a phratry occurred.^[22]

The Apellai, as the name of a festival, is only attested for Delphi, however the month name Apellaios was widespread among the Dorians, from which it has been inferred that the Apellai was also widespread.^[23] In addition to Delphi, localities where the month name Apellaios is attested include, in Central Greece, Ozolian Locrian Chaleion,^[24] Oianthea,^[25] and Tolophon,^[26] and Phthiotic Lamia^[27] and Oitaia,^[28] in the Peloponnese, Argos^[29] and Epidaurus,^[30] the island of Tenos^[31] in the Aegean, Olus^[32] on Crete, Heraclea^[33] in the Lucanian region of Southern Italy, Tauromenion^[34] in Sicily, and Bithynian Chalcedon^[35] in Anatolia.

Although Apellaios is not one of the eleven attested month names of the Spartan calendar,^[36] the Apellai is generally thought to also have been a festival celebrated at Dorian Sparta.^[37] Plutarch's use of the verb apellazein in his description of the Great Rhetra, has been understood to mean that the Spartan political assembly, called the ecclesia (ἐκκλησία), was held during the festival of the Apellai.^[38]

Apollo

The festival of the Apellai is widely thought to have been a festival of Apollo.^[39] In 1912, Jane Ellen Harrison argued that Apollo was intimately associated with the Apellai and the sacrificial apellaia, concluding that Apollo was "the projection of these rites".^[40] However, Martin P. Nilsson, more than fifty years later would assert that Apollo played only a minor role (geringe Rolle) in the Apellai, and that there was no reason to assume that the festival really belonged to Apollo.^[41]

Harrison's argument (revived and elucidated by Walter Burkert in 1975)^[42] is based partly on etymological grounds. From the fact that "Apollo’s name had an earlier form Apellon", Harrison concluded that the theonym Apollo was derived from the word apellai.^[43] Which would make the name 'Apollo' mean something like 'he of the apellai', and thus from Hesychius' gloss, 'he of the assembly'.^[44] Given that, based upon the Labyad inscription, the apellaia, were "the offerings made at puberty initiation" at the Delphic Apellai,^[45] Harrison further concluded that Apollo was a projection of the central figure in these rites—the initiate—that Apollo was "the arch-ephebos, the Megistos Kouros".^[46] That Apollo was typically depicted as a long-haired adolescent (kouros) provides "powerful" support for Harrison's conclusion.^[47] However—while not ruling out that the Apellai was a festival of Apollo—Beekes argues that the derivation of 'Apollo' from apellai "is linguistically and historically impossible".^[48]

See also

• Apella
• Ancient Macedonian calendar

Νotes

1. Welwei, s.v. Apella, Apellai; Ste. Croix, p. 347.
2. Beekes 2003, p. 9.
3. Welwei, s.v. Apella, Apellai; Burkert 1975, pp. 9–10; Labyad inscription A 31–32, 36, B 7, 8, D 3, 44 (Rhodes, and Osborne, pp. 2, 4, 6); IG V,1 1144.20–21, 1146.40–41 (Gytheion inscriptions).
4. Welwei, s.v. Apella, Apellai; Burkert 1975, p. 9; Hesychius, s.v. apellai (Latte, p. 272, 5994): "ἀπελλαι· 'σηκοί, ἐκκλησίαι, ἀρχαιρεσίαι".
5. The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, s.v. σηκός (p. 1263); LSJ, s.v. σηκός.
6. The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, s.v. ἐκκλησία (p. 447); LSJ, s.v. ἐκκλησία.
7. The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, s.v. ἀρχαιρεσίαι (p. 224); LSJ, s.v. ἀρχαιρεσία.
8. Per Versnel 1993, p. 321 n. 106. While one meaning of the word sekos is 'sacred enclosure, precinct', the first meaning of the word sekos is as an enclosure for sheep, goats or cattle (see The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, s.v. σηκός (p. 1263); LSJ, s.v. σηκός), and some scholars (according to Versnel, scholars attempting to connect Apollo with herding) have interpeted Heschius's sekoi as enclosures of this type (i.e 'pens' or 'folds'), an interpretation rejected by Burkert 1975, p. 12.
9. Welwei, s.v. Apella, Apellai; The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, s.v. ἀπελλάζω (p. 168); LSJ, s.v. ἀπελλάζω; Beekes 2009, s.v. ἀπέλλαι (p. 115); Plutarch, Lycurgus 6.2.
10. Beekes 2009, s.v. ἀπέλλαι (p. 115). According to Nilsson 1967, pp. 204, 558, Solders (Der ursprüngliche Apollon, AfRw. XXXII, 1935, pp. 142ff), has suggested a derivation of apellai from the Macedonian word pella ('stone'), an etymology which Nilsson repeats without endorsing, and Beekes ignores.
11. Hesychius, s.v. ἀπελλαῖν (Latte, p. 272, 5945); The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, s.v. ἀποκλειω (p. 183); LSJ, s.v. ἀποκλείω.
12. Beekes 2009, s.v. ἀπέλλαι (p. 115); Versnel 1993, p. 321 n. 106.
13. For the text, and translation of the Labyad inscription, with commentary, see Rhodes, and Osborne, pp. 2–13; for discussions see Burkert 1975, p. 10; Nilsson 1967, p. 556; Harrison 1927, p. 440; Nilsson 1906, pp. 464–465. For Ladyadai as a phratry, see Rhodes, and Osborne, p. 8.
14. Samuel, p. 74; LSJ, s.v. Ἀπελλαῖος.
15. Labyad inscription, D 3, 43–44 (Rhodes, and Osborne, pp. 6, 7).
16. Rhodes, and Osborne, p. 9.
17. Labyad inscription, A 4–5 (Rhodes, and Osborne, pp. 2, 3).
18. Rhodes, and Osborne, p. 9.
19. Labyad inscription, A 31–38 (Rhodes, and Osborne, pp. 2, 3). In lines A 31–32 the verb describing what happens to the apellaia is a form of the verb ἄγω, commonly used, of a living creature, meaning lead or bring (LSJ, s.v. ἄγω), see also Burkert 1975, p. 10.
20. Rhodes, and Osborne, p. 9.
21. Labyad inscription, A 24 (Rhodes, and Osborne, pp. 2, 3).
22. Cartledge, s.v. Apellai (2); Rhodes, and Osborne, p. 9; Nilsson 1906, p. 464; Harrison, p. 441; Burkert 1975, p. 10.
23. Burkert 1975, p. 8; Nilsson 1967, p. 556; Nilsson 1906, pp. 464–465.
24. Samuel, p. 77.
25. Samuel, p. 77.
26. Samuel, p. 77.
27. Samuel, p. 80; IG IX 2 76.12.
28. Samuel, p. 82; GDI 1529 = IG IX I 227.6, 229.5, 230.5.
29. Iverson, p. 168; Samuel, p. 90.
30. Samuel, p. 91; IG IV² 108.97, 117.10.
31. Samuel, p. 102; IG XII,5 872.15.
32. Samuel, p. 135; IC I xvi 4*.58–59.
33. Samuel, p. 138; 645.
34. Samuel, p. 137; IG XIV 426.12.
35. Samuel, p. 131; Syll.³ 1011.9 (Dittenberger, p. 147 1011) = IK Kalchedon 10.8.
36. Samuel, p. 93.
37. Cartledge s.v. Apellai (1); Welwei, s.v. Apella, Apellai; ; Burkert 1975, p. 8 n. 31.
38. Kennel, pp. 46–49; Gomme, Cadoux, and Rhodes, s.v. ekklēsia.
39. E.g. Cartledge s.v. Apellai (1), s.v. Apellai (2); Welwei, s.v. Apella, Apellai.
40. Harrisson, p. 441.
41. Nilsson 1967, p. 556.
42. Versnel 1986, p. 143; Jameson, p. 56; Burkert 1975, pp. 11–12.
43. Harrisson, p. 439.
44. Nagy, p. 139.
45. Something Nilsson 1906, p. 465, in his discussion of the Apellai, had already concluded: Die ἀπελλαῖα sind also die Opfer, die bei der Aufnahme des Jünglings als vollherechtigten Mannes in die Geschlechts- und Opfergenossenschaft dargebracht wurden.
46. Harrisson, p. 441.
47. Jameson p. 56. According to Versnel 1986, p. 143, Apollo "was conceived and depicted, nearly always and everywhere, as a youthful, mostly beardless, naked or lightly clad kouros, with long hair as it becomes an ephebos."
48. Beekes 2003, p. 1. This etymology, which seems to have occurred first in Plutarch, was already dismissed by Lewis Richard Farnell in 1907, pp. 98–99. Blažek 2017, in proposing a "new solution" to the problem of providing an etymological explanation for the theonym Apollo (p. 643), summarizes chronologically the "at least 25" previous attempts at an etymology (pp. 644–649). Concerning Harrison and Burkert's proposed etymology, Blažek says simply (p. 646): "Burkert (1975, 1–21) and Peeters (2002, 369) develop the idea of etymological relation of the theonym with Doric ἀπέλλαι. It was sharply rejected by Beekes 2003." Blažek further notes (pp. 648–649) 10 different subsequent attempts at a solution: Dowden 1979, Papanikolaou 1986, Van Windekens 1986, Bernal 1991, Otkupščikov 1998, Carruba 2002, Brown 2004, Rosół 2008, Witczak 2015, and Oettinger 2015, before proposing his own.

References

• Beekes, Robert (2003), "The Origin of Apollo", in Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions (JANER), 3.1 2003, pp. 1-21. doi:10.1163/1569212031960384.

• Beekes, Robert (2009), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2009. Internet Archive.

• Blažek, Václav, "Apollo the Archer", in Ancient Greek Linguistics: New Approaches, Insights, Perspectives, De Gruyter, Berlin, 2017, 2017. ISBN 9783110548068.

• Burkert, Walter (1975), Apellai und Apollon, RhM 118, 1975, pp. 1-21. JSTOR 41244803.

• Burkert, Walter (1985), Greek Religion, Harvard University Press, 1985. ISBN 0-674-36281-0.

• The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, edited by J. Diggle et al, Cambridge University Press, 2021 ISBN 978-0-521-82680-8.

• Cartledge, Paul, s.v. Apellai (2), published online 22 December 2015, in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by Tim Whitmarsh, digital ed, New York, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5.

• Dittenberger, Wilhelm, Sylloge inscriptionum graecarum, vol. 3, Leipzig, 1920 (3rd edition). Internet Archive.

• Farnell, Lewis Richard, The Cults of the Greek States vol 4, Clarendon Press Oxford, 1907. Internet Archive.

• Gomme, Cadoux, and Rhodes, s.v. ekklēsia, published online 22 December 2015, in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by Tim Whitmarsh, digital ed, New York, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5.

• Harrison, Jane Ellen, Themis: A study to the Social origins of Greek Religion, Cambridge University Press, 1927 (revised edition of the original 1912 edition). Internet archive.

• Iverson, Paul A., "The Calendar on the Antikythera Mechanism and the Corinthian Family of Calendars", in Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, January-March 2017, Vol. 86, No. 1, pp. 129-203. JSTOR 10.2972/hesperia.86.1.0129.

• Jameson, Michael H., Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society, Cambridge University Press, 2014. ISBN 978-0-521-66129-4.

• Kennell, Nigel M., Spartans: A New History, Wiley Blackwell, 2010. ISBN 978-1-4051-2999-2.

• Latte, Kurt, Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon, Vol. I (Α–Δ), Ian C. Cunningham (ed.), De Gruyter, 2018. ISBN 978-3-11-054281-3.

• Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie, Clarendon Press Oxford, 1940. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.

• Nilsson, Martin (1906), Griechische Feste von religiöser Bedeutung, mit Ausschluss der attischen, Leipzig, B. G. Teubner, 1906. Internet Archive.

• Nilsson, Martin (1967), Geschichte der griechischen Religion, München Beck, 1967 (1955). ISBN 3-406-01370-8. Internet Archive

• Plutarch, Lycurgus, in Plutarch: Lives, Volume I: Theseus and Romulus, Lycurgus and Numa, Solon and Publicola, translated by Bernadotte Perrin, Loeb Classical Library No. 46, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1914. ISBN 978-0-674-99052-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.

• Nagy, Gregory, Homer's Text and Language, University of Illinois Press, 2004.

• Rhodes, P. J., Robin Osborne, Greek Historical Inscriptions, 404-323 BC, Oxford University Publishing, Oxford, 2004. ISBN 9780191518430.

• Samuel, Alan E., Greek and Roman Chronology: Calendars and Years in Classical Antiquity, C. H. Beck, Munich, 1972. ISBN 3-406-03348-2. Internet Archive.

• Ste. Croix, G. E. M. de, The Origins of the Peloponnesian War, Duckworth, London, 2001 (1972). ISBN 0-7156-1728-1.

• Versnel, Henk S. (1986), "Apollo and Mars one hundred years after Rosch", in Approaches to Iconology, Leiden, Brill, 1985–1986. ISBN 90-04-07772 3.

• Versnel, Henk S. (1993), Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion, Volume 2: Transition and Reversal in Myth and Ritual, Brill, 1993 (1990). ISBN 90-04-09267-6.

• Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm, s.v. Apella, Apellai, in Brill's New Pauly Online, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and, Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry, published online: 2006.