Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Pythagoras as Apollon reborn 225
with some assurance conclude that the Crotoniates knew of a myth
in which Apollon Hyperboreos was slain, boiled in a caldron, and
pieced together again—the missing portion being replaced in gilded
ivory. Pythagoras, who claimed to be the god come to life once
more, must needs make good his claim by displaying a golden thigh.
Seven centuries later Alexandros the impostor of Abonou
Teichos^ aped the pretensions of Pythagoras and provided a butt
for the satire of Lucian-
'The torch ceremony with its ritual skippings often enabled him to bestow
a glimpse of his thigh, which was thus discovered to be of gold ; it was presumably
enveloped in cloth of gold, which glittered in the lamp-light. This
gave rise to a debate between two wiseacres, whether the golden thigh meant
that he had inherited Pythagoras's soul, or merely that their two souls were
alike; the question was referred to Alexander himself, and King Glycon^
relieved their perplexity with an oracle*:
Waxes and wanes Pythagoras' soul :
the
seer's
Is from the mind of Zeus an emanation.
His Father sent him, virtuous men to aid,
And with his bolt one day shall call him home.'
But, if Pythagoras posed as Apollon resurgent, resurrection implies
a previous death and burial. When did Apollon die ? Where
The great crisis of his life had been his contest
was he buried .''
with Python. Pythagoras not unnaturally asserted that Apollon had
been slain by Python® and buried in the Delphic tripod. His fol-
lowers probably felt it to be significant that the principal coin-type
of Kroton was, from first to last, a txii^o^-lebes (figs. 155— 157)".
1 Itifra Append. L.
'^ Loukian. Alex. 40 trans. H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler.
^ Jnfra Append. L.
* Wvdaybpov \pvxv ttot^ iji,^v (pdlvei, dWore 5' ai)|er |
aTTOppu)^. 1 KaL
fxiv i-jreixipi Trarijp a.'yadwv avSpQjv iirapu)ybv •
(iXrideiaa K€pavi'(^ (Cougny Anth. Pal- Appe7id. 6. 310).
ij 8i TrpocprjreiT] Aii]i (ppei>6s eariv
| /cat ttoKlv is Atos tlci. Atos
^ Yet Iambi, v. Pyth. 52 states that Pythagoras told the boys assembled in the Pythion
at Kroton rhv ...YVvQ^hv {sc. a.-^Qiva, re^Tjcat) Kp