Apollo

Apollo. The Greek and Roman god of music, poetry, prophecy, sometimes of medicine, and, with the epithet ‘Phoebus’, of the sun. By the pattern of interpretatio celtica (see GAUL), the colonized Celts adopted him into their own pantheon, often combining his solar and healing powers. As in the instances of Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter, Apollo's name often appears with those of indigenous gods. Sometimes this can mean that the cult of Apollo subsumed that of another god, so that the Graeco-Roman god with a recurring epithet or surname, such as Apollo Grannus, appears almost a distinct persona. In other instances Apollo may be closely linked with a native deity, particularly Belenus, who retained some independent worship of his own. Or, third, the local deity may only be an aspect of Apollo whose name is not seen discretely. Without epithet or surname, Apollo is linked with at least two female cult-partners of native origin, Damona in eastern France and Sirona at the sanctuary of Hochscheid near Trier, Germany.

The cult of Apollo Grannus, a healing spring deity, was known widely on the Continent, from Brittany to what is now Hungary, even in Rome itself, with citations in Scandinavia and at Musselburgh, near Edinburgh. Important shrines called Aquae Granni are found at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) and the Vosges of eastern France. Sirona was his usual cult-partner.

The Roman historian Dio Cassius (2nd–3rd cent. AD) records that the emperor Caracalla vainly sought a cure from Grannus as well as from his Roman and Egyptian counterparts. The name Grannus/-os apparently corresponds to the ancient name for Grand in the Vosges. Speculative attempts to link the name philologically with the Irish Gráinne or Grian [sun] are insupportable.

Two shrines in Gaul depicting Apollo Atepomarus [Gaul. epo, horse; i.e. great horseman, possessing a great horse] link the power of sun and horse, as are often united by the Continental Celts. Apollo is portrayed next to the Continental Celtic god Cernunnos in a stele at Reims. The epithet Canumagus/Cunomagus [hound lord] exists on a shrine of Apollo found at Nettleton Shrub, Wiltshire. Apollo Citharoedus is Apollo the harp- or cithern-player. The Romano-Gaulish Apollo Moritasgus patronized a healing shrine at the provincial town of Moritsagus, coextensive with Mont Auxois, near Dijon, in north-eastern France; Damona is his cult-partner. At Essarois, near Châtillon-sur-Seine in eastern France, Apollo Vindonnus [light, clear, white] presided over a temple made of oak and stone, presumably promising a cure for eye afflictions. The enigmatic Apollo Virotutis [benefactor of humanity (?)] also had two shrines. Elsewhere he is equated with Angus Óg, Belenus, Lug Lámfhota, and Maponos.

Bibliography

See Jan de Vries , La Religion des Celtes (Paris, 1963), 82–3 and passim;
W. J. Wedlake , The Excavation of the Shrine of Apollo at Nettleton, Wiltshire, 1956–1971 (London, 1982)

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