#I appreciate the glimpse of cosmic Apollo in the hymn

[my-name-is-apollo]

Found a translation of hymns to Apollo and Dionysus where their epithets have been arranged in alphabetical order and this might be my new favourite thing because

- Book 9 of the Greek Anthology, translated by W.R. Paton

Look at the contrast between some of their epithets (Apollo and Dionysus respectively):

"hater of lies, giver of the soul" - "liar, tearer of the soul"

"soft speaking" - "noisy" (lol)

"sober" - "Deep drinker"

"Sweet-spoken, sweet-hearted, gentle-handed" - "Prone to anger, stout of heart"

"Gentle, sorrowless, giver of wealth, saviour from trouble" - "Jealous, very wrathful, envious, bestower of envy"

"father of fruits" - "eater of raw flesh" (BRUH)

"father of light" - "God of the night"

"Cheerer of the spirit" - "Disturber of the soul"

BUT they still have a lot in common:

"stiller of grief - healer of sorrow", "strong hearted - lion hearted", "soft haired - tender haired", "dweller on the hills - dweller in the woods" "thousand-shaped", "desirable" and my favourite, "common to all".

And it really does encapsulate the relationship between Apollo and Dionysus so well (and the duality of Apollo and Dionysus as individual gods too)

I'm also a sucker for epithets that describe appearance and I'm absolutely delighted with Apollo being "rose-coloured", "golden, golden-complexioned" and "glittering" (but is anyone surprised? XD)

Dionysus on the other hand, a bit concerning cause "slender, wrinkled"? And also he's "liquid"?? (idk what that's even supposed to mean. A reference to wine?) But "golden-filleted" and "Golden-horned" sound lovely <3

Also the fact that Dionysus is called "Satyr" and Apollo "Titan" is very interesting to me. Apollo - Titan makes sense when you consider the conflation between him and Helios. But Dionysus is a surprise. Are there any myths where he's syncretised/conflated with Pan (since he's the only Satyr god I can remember)? Of course it could be to show his chthonic nature, or that he's mostly around satyrs. But this piqued my curiosity.