The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

apocryphal
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apocryphal (bpokrbfbl) Of dubious authenticity
or authorship; sham. <strong>The</strong> word refers to the Apocrypha,
the books appended to the Old Testament
but not forming part of the Hebrew canon and not
included in the Protestant Bible. It comes from the
Greek apokryptein (meaning “to hide away”). <strong>The</strong>
story that it was here that the conquistadores held their
fi rst mass is probably apocryphal. <strong>The</strong> apocryphal books
are also know as the deuterocanonical (secondarily
canonical) books. For many centuries, they
were read as part of the Latin (Vulgate) Bible, having
been included in the Septuagint, or Greek
translation of the Old Testament, but not the
Hebrew Bible; despite their inclusion, their value
was regarded as somewhat ambiguous. At the
Reformation, however, the Roman Catholic
Church fi xed their number at twelve and included
them in their editions of the Bible, whereas the
Protestant denominations formally excluded
them. <strong>The</strong>y include some additions to the books
of Esther, Daniel (including the history of Susanna
and the Song of the Three Holy Children), and
Jeremiah, as well as a number of historical works
(1 and 2 Maccabees and 1 Esdras), an apocalyptic
book (2 Esdras), three short stories (Tobit, Judith,
and Bel and the Dragon), two wisdom books
(Ecclesiasticus, or Sirach, and the Wisdom of Solomon)
and three other works of various kinds
(the Prayer of Manesses, the Letter of Jeremiah,
and Baruch). <strong>The</strong>y have been preserved in Greek
but many were probably written originally in
Hebrew or Aramaic (Selman and Manser, <strong>The</strong>
Hearthside Bible Dictionary).
Apollonian (apbloneebn) Serene, harmonious,
ordered. <strong>The</strong> word alludes to the Greek sun god
Apollo, the son of Zeus and Leto, who represented
such positive attributes as light, music, poetry,
healing, and prophecy. He was conventionally
depicted as a handsome youth, and even today a
beautiful young man may be termed an apollo.
Nietz sche contrasts the Apollonian need for light, order,
and harmony with the Dionysian urge for darkness, wild
passion, and destruction.
Apollyon See abaddon.
apostle (bposbl) A devoted follower of a partic
u lar belief, faith, movement, etc. From the
Greek apostolos (meaning “a messenger”), the word
acquired new signifi cance through the work of
Christ’s apostles—originally the 12 disciples
(Matthew 10:2)—who were chosen by Christ to
preach the gospel. It is also used to refer to Paul,
commissioned to be an apostle by the risen Christ.
<strong>The</strong> apostles’ basic qualifi cation was that they had
been with Jesus during his earthly ministry and
had witnessed his resurrection. <strong>The</strong> apostles were
recognized as the found ers of the church. <strong>The</strong>
word apostle is also used more generally to refer
to a representative or messenger of a par tic u lar
church. Subsequently the term came to be applied
to any individual who sought to spread Christianity
around the world and more generally to anyone
publicly espousing a par tic u lar cause or
movement. Over the last two years he has emerged as a
leading apostle of the po liti cal Left.
appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober To seek
a decision or complete some other task at a more
favorable time. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to a legendary incident
in which a Macedonian noblewoman sought a
legal ruling from Philip II of Macedon (382–336
b.c.), but found her petition refused by the king,
who was in a drunken, unsympathetic mood. <strong>The</strong>
woman announced her intention to appeal against
the decision. When the outraged king demanded
to whom she intended to make her appeal, she