Homeric Hymn to Apollo, 201-253

hAp 201-253. Leto and Zeus delight in Apollo playing the kithara. The narrator wonders: how should he hymn Apollo? With an erotic story? No, with how he founded the first oracle. Apollo wanders from Olympus, down through Euboea and Boeotia (digression on horses and chariots at Onchestus), before finally arriving at Telphousa; he asks Telphousa if he can found his oracle there.

lots of interest here. but quickly:

1) some words here are hapaxes that only recur in learned later poetry, including euklostos (recurring 1x in Grk. Anth.) and anakteria (1x in Apollonius Rhod.). Presumably learned poets mined this poem like they did Homer. 

2) lots of interesting stuff with woods here. Thebes is uninhabited and lacks paths and wheat-bearing fields because it's a forest. but Apollo seems to be seeking that kind of place -- as with Delos, he's interested in establishing a temple and wooded grove, repeated several times here. is Apollo in particular associated with remote, uninhabited, wooded areas?

3) Apollo promises Telphousa that his oracle will be visited by those who hold the Peloponnese, Europe, and the islands -- the omission of Asia Minor is striking, especially since we just had a whole celebration of the Asiatic Ionians and praise of Miletus. Maybe archaizing?

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