Polymnia. Studi di Archeologia n.14

This paper presents findings related to the cult and depictions of Apollo in the territory of Salona, in the Roman province of Dalmatia. An analysis of inscriptions on two altars suggests that Apollo was worshipped in Salona both publicly and privately. The image of Apollo in a mosaic, as part of the floor decoration of a Roman residence, further attests to the popularity of his iconography for decorative purposes. As for the statues identified in the literature as depictions of Apollo, there is no definitive conclusion yet regarding whether they indeed represent the deity, or what their intended function was.

L’iconographie du putto apparaît dans différents contextes, en présence prédominante de Vénus ou avec les attributs divins de Bacchus ou d’Héraclès et de Mars, tandis que d’autres cas échappent à une classification spécifique. Les scènes de jeu ou d’activité des petits erotes, de manière parfois librement imaginative ou plus conforme à la réalité, sont alors classées dans la catégorie des scènes de genre ou parodiques en raison de l’aspect comique intrinsèque qu’elles expriment. Moins mis en avant sont les exemples dans lesquels les putti apparaissent comme des serviteurs du dieu alors qu’ils s’affairent autour du trépied apollinien, ou organisant peut-être un concours musical en l’honneur du dieu, comme le montrent les principaux attributs de la lyre et de la couronne florale comme prix ou alors qu’ils conduisent le char d’Apollon tiré par paires de Grifi jouant de la cithara, comme on le voit notamment dans les peintures murales des sites vésuviennes.

This paper sets out to explore a well-known myth from the ancient world, that of Apollo and Daphne. Specifically, after a brief introduction concerning the literary sources of the myth, the focus is on the Pompeian pictorial production of this theme. The paintings are analysed, dwelling in particular on the manner in which the nymph’s ‘capture’ is depicted, which, in some specific cases, seems to suggest an approach that is not totally hostile towards Apollo.

Caesar’s list of the major deities of the Gauls mentions Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Minerva, but also Apollo, ‘who drives away disease’. However, unlike Tacitus, who, a century and a half later, equates the Alci with Castor and Pollux (and this is the only explicit attestation of interpretatio romana), Caesar mentions only Roman theonyms, without letting us know what they represent. It would be methodologically incorrect to look for a single ‘hidden god’ behind Caesar’s Apollo, because the Gallic religion was multiple. Conversely, hypothesising a multitude of local gods, all different from each other, converging in Roman times under the name of Apollo would explain nothing. The truth probably lies somewhere in between: we can identify some recurring deities, as well as multiple phenomena of attraction. In the Celtic world, two deities with non-Latin theonyms correspond preferentially to Apollo, with complementary areas of distribution: Belenos in the south and Grannos in the north. There are about twenty epicleses of Apollo in the north-western provinces, but most are simply qualitative epithets (Apollo Anextlomaros, Atepomaros, Mogetimaros, Vatumaros, etc.) or topic. The self standing theonyms equated with Apollo (apart from Belenos and Grannos) are Maponos, Borvo, Vindonnus and Moritasgus. These are deities associated with springs, as are their consorts, Sirona and Damona. That’s not to say that Apollo in Gaul should be mechanically and universally linked to spring waters. The reality is more nuanced, as shown by the case of Apollo Moritasgus in his sanctuary at Alesia. Although the cult site is characterised by the presence of springs and numerous water-related features, the theonym Moritasgos is nevertheless linked to the sea and is in fact located on the great road that crosses Gaul towards the Ocean.