Apollo+Introduction

William Guzman July 1, 2010 Final Proposal Thesis Statement
 * Apollo the sun God and the deliver of good health and wisdom to mankind **

Thesis statements should be declarative assertions. That is, a thesis should strongly assert something. You might want to rephrase your statement like this: "Apollo (for ancient Greeks) was the sun god and the deliverer of good health and wisdom to mankind." [Now the statement is historical and cultural and in the past tense.] But this statement statement of fact is not enough to make a strong thesis.

The re-phrase still lacks something that a good strong thesis needs: __provocative argument__. A thesis should provoke, engage, and spark argument. Would anyone argue with this statement about Apollo? Probably not.... So you need to tweak the statement to add that spice of argument. For example, you could say add something about Apollo as an enemy or opponent of Dionysos the wine god - the sun of rationality as opposed to the moon of mystery and ecstasy. See if you can find some angle of controversy about Apollo and explore that in your paper.

Here is a tip **about Apollo as sun**:

Church Father Clement of Alexandria wrote a "Protrepticus" (aka "Exhortation to the Greeks"). He often begins by quoting pagan religious sources that connect to later Christian ideas. In chapter VIII of the Protrepticus, he looks to pagan prophets as a first stage in preparing people for biblical faith. The first prophet he cites (chapter VIII) is the pagan Sibyl, a female oracle of Apollo who could reputedly see into the future. Clement then goes on to cite Jeremiah and other Hebrew prophets. The quote Clement chooses from the Sibyl refers to the divine Apollo as the sun, the bright light that dispels dark clouds. Here gnosis is compared to the sun, and knowledge (gnosis) of God drives away the clouds of false beliefs. Then Clement goes on to quote Jeremiah and other Hebrew prophets. You can find this at the beginning of Clement's __Protrepticus__ (Exhortation to the Greeks) chapter VIII, in the Loeb edition, p. 175.


 * Another tip:** The Meyer source book glossary under "Apollo" states that the god is often equated with the Egyptian god Horus. How so? Who or What is Horus? What's the connection?.

**Another tip:** The cult of Mithras referred to him as "the unconquered sun" (//sol invictus//) and the soldiers who made up the majority of this sun cult regarded the sun as their hero. Does this sun worship connect to Apollo the Olympian god? What aspect of Apollo would resemble Mithras? How do these different aspects of the solar power relate to one another?

The following books will be a part of my resarch with more to come as my study of Apollo continues.
 * Edith Hanmilton ( Mythology )
 * Jacquetta Hawkes ( MAN AND THE SUN )
 * Mary Lefkowitz ( Greek Gods, Human Lives )
 * Reinach ( Apollo an illustrated manual of the history of art throughout the ages )
 * James ( The Ancient Gods )
 * Walter Burkert ( Ancient Mystery Cults )
 * Marvin W. Meyer ( The Ancient Mysteries )
 * Robert Turcan ( The Cults of the Roman Empire )

**All great sources and certainly more than enough to work with!**

**Apollo (Greek //Apollôn//, Latin //Phoebus// and/or //Apollo//).** Apollo was the son of Zeus and Leto and twin brother of Artemis. He was a god of prophecy, music, archery, purification, and healing, and was sometimes associated with the sun. **Apollo the sun God and the deliver of good health and wisdom to mankind** His most famous cults were at Delphi and the island of Delos; his oracles were frequently consulted concerning important civic or personal decisions. Various myths described his love for Coronis (mother of Asclepius), Cassandra, the Cumean Sibyl, Daphne, and Hyacinthus. He had cults, both state and private, throughout Greece. Until recently it was thought that Apollo's origin was entirely non-Greek, but, according to the scholar Walter Burkert, the Apollo of the Classical Period (480-323 b.c.e.) is a composite of at least three prehistoric components: Dorian/Northwest Greek, Cretan/Minoan, Syro/Hittite.