On Homeric Hymn 21

To Apollo

Phoibos, of you even the crying swan sings to flopping wings
as it swoops down upon the bank of the eddying river
Peneios. And of you the sweet-singing bard ever sings
first and last with his high-tuned lyre.

And so hail to you, o Lord! I propitiate you with my song.

This is how Athanassakis brilliantly translates the Homeric Hymn number 21 “To Apollon” (Eis Apóllona). It is a simple yet beautiful image, that of a singing swan swooping down, his voice paired with the sweet song of an ever singing bard. However, there is much more to the hymn than one may first see. Let’s read it sentence by sentence and discuss a little.

ΦΟΙΒΕ, ΣΕ ΜΕΝ ΚΑΙ ΚΥΚΝΟΣ ΎΠΟ ΠΤΕΡΥΓΩΝ ΛΙΓ’ΑΕΙΔΕΙ
ΟΧΘΗ ΕΠΙΘΡΩΣΚΩΝ ΠΟΤΑΜΟΝ ΠΑΡΑ ΔΙΝΗΕΝΤΑ
ΠΗΝΕΙΟΝ:

Assuming Phoibe as the epithet of Apollon (Brilliant One), let’s see the last few words of the first line, widely analysed. “Of you even the swan sings loudly to the sound of his wings” or “as it flaps its wings”. Actually, ΎΠΟ can mean both “at the sound of” or “towards” or “from below”, so this could theoretically be read as “of you even the swan sings loudly from bellow its flapping wings”. Either way the effect would still be the same: the sound of the song of the swan blends with the sound of its wings.

This reminds us of the myth of Marsyas, whom competed with the God by playing the flute. Both Marsyas and Pan are wonderful musicians, however Apollo wins them both because not only can he play the lyre as he can sing at the same time, just like the swan plays with its wings and sings with its voice.

There is also certain equivalence to the sound of the grasshopper, sacred to Apollo. The Ancients assumed, correctly, that the song of the insect was produced by his wings.

In truth, common believe in Ancient Greece was that what this line meant was that the sound of the swan came from his wings. Only a few of the intellectual elite compared it to singing and playing at the same time.

Whatever the case, there is a certain epiphany-like image of the God descending upon the banks of the river Peneios, a famous cult place of Apollo, and singing.

ΚΥΚΝΟΣ means swan but it is also the name of a son of Ares said to have sacrificed pilgrims on their way to Delphi in order to build a temple out of their skulls and dedicate it to Apollo. As is common in Ancient myth, it is possible that Kyknos eventually became mixed with Apollo, as if he was a part of Apollo, until later, when the myth was changed to Kyknos wanting to build a temple to Ares out of the myth being incompatible with the sparkly Apollo.

So, in a rather huge leap that any scholar would frown upon I have reached the conclusion that this can also be a form of evocation of the shiny aspect of Apollon in the sense that “of the Brigh One even Kyknos, the killer, sings loudly”. This is to say that Apollo’s light can change and purify anything.

It is also curious to note that Peneus was the river-God said to be either father of Daphne or to have changed her into a bay tree. I also find the suggested sound of the eddying (ΔΙΝΗΕΝΤΑ) waters blending with the song of the swan and his wings a lovely image.

ΣΕ Δ’ΑΟΙΔΟΣ ΕΧΩΝ ΦΟΡΜΙΓΓΑ ΛΙΓΕΙΑΝ
ΉΔΥΕΠΗΣ ΠΡΩΤΟΝ ΤΕ ΚΑΙ ΎΣΤΑΤΟΝ ΑΙΕΝ ΑΕΙΔΕΙ.

Of Apollo the bard sings without stopping in an ever flowing song (ΑΙΕΝ ΑΕΙΔΕΙ), first and last or from the beginning to the end (ΠΡΩΤΟΝ ΤΕ ΚΑΙ ΎΣΤΑΤΟΝ). This line can also be understood as “all his songs are yours”.

In fact, the bard that holds his whistling lyre (ΦΟΡΜΙΓΓΑ ΛΙΓΕΙΑΝ) is very similar to both the God and the swan. It is fun how all the hymn seems to focus solely on Apollo as the God of Music, repeating the marvel of the song, but actually can be taken much further to include other aspects of Apollo not so evident in the text.

In fact the sweet tong of the bard may either be singing of Apollo from the beginning to the end or just at the beginning and the end. If we identify the bard with Apollo, than this means that Apollo may only be a singer at the beginning and the end, because in between he has far darker aspects than that. The swan that sings loudly at the sound of its wings only as he descends upon the river Peneios also reminds us that either the swan or Kyknos did not sing before. Kyknos too had a far darker aspect before the singing passion.

Peneus, the river God, seems to have this transforming power. When he turned Daphne into a tree he also tamed Apollo’s raging passion that made him hunt the nymph without consideration for her feelings. When she was shape shifted, Apollo’s darker aspect apparently became lighter and the God no longer was a hunter – he took a laurel crown and, becoming a grower, declared it to be sacred to him.

ΚΑΙ ΣΥ ΜΕΝ ΌΥΤΩ ΧΑΙΡΕ, ΑΝΑΞ, ΊΛΑΜΑΙ ΔΕ Σ’ΑΟΙΔΗ

This is the traditional type of ending where the bard hopes to have pleased Apollo and salutes him. Particularly interesting here is anax, ΑΝΑΞ, which translates as master or lord, a title attributed, for example, to Agamemnon. This was a very common epithet of Apollo and, keeping in mind that it was the bards that used it, it probably means he is the lord or master of bards, again a reference to his musical characteristics.

So, I hope the next time you sing this Hymn to Apollo you keep in mind how profound simple works can actually be.

~Miguel

There is no medicine for love [...] other than the Muses - Theocritus