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Back to The development of the cult in Rome
*Many of the links lead to the corresponding segments in the background articles.
Sulla had a little golden image of Apollo from Delphi which he always carried in his bosom when he was in battle [Battle of Colline Gate], but that on this occasion he took it out and kissed it affectionately, saying: "O Pythian Apollo, will you, who have brought Cornelius Sulla Felix greatness and glory in so many battles and who have guided him to the gates of his native city, now cast him down here to perish most shamefully in the midst of his fellow citizens?" [1]
Perhaps the above passage is one of the most obvious reasons why historians often associated Apollo with Sulla. “Sulla made much of his family’s special relationship with Apollo (the cognomen, adopted by his great-grandfather, was supposed to be a contraction of ‘Sibylla’), personally visited Delphi and always thereafter carried about a small image of Apollo, to which he attributed his victories” [2]. The head of Apollo was on the obverse side of some of his coins [3]. Why then, after he became the master of Rome, was Apollo not honoured? Sulla founded games in commemoration of his victory, the ludi Victoriae, and built a temple for Venus, his chief goddess, but Apollo was almost forgotten again [4]. Was that because Apollo was never Sulla’s patron deity?
from http://janusquirinus.org/
Before ~110 BCE, most Roman silver coins, the denarii, have on their obverse side the images of “Roma” (e.g. Syd 410). But then, other deities and legendary heroes became popular. Some were regulars, like Jupiter, Juno and Mars, as can be expected, but the images of Apollo were concentrated in a single period: 92-82 BCE [5]. Is there a significance?
from http://janusquirinus.org/
That was a period of turmoil, with the Social War, coups d’état and civil wars. There was also a plague at Rome in 87. Numerous hypotheses are been suggested for the appearance of these Apollo coins in this decade: that in times like these, Apollo had a special appeal to the Romans [6]; Apollo was well-suited in reconciling the Romans and their allies [7]; Apollo’s popularity might have been boosted by the frequent and often ominous oracular predictions and by the many and violent portents which occurred throughout the decade [8]; as Apollo was a healer, the plague might have also played a role. But if one looks back that period of history, there was something else going on: the feud between the Optimates and Populares. T. J. Luce suggests that Apollo was used in political propaganda for the Marian faction [9].
from http://janusquirinus.org/
Luce’s evidence mainly comes from correlation of Apollo coinage to the fortunes of the Marian faction, from its revival in the late nineties through its defeat in 82. Of some thirteen moneyers who issued silver coins between 92 BCE and the surrender of Rome to the Marian forces late in 87, seven featured Apollo on one or all of their obverse types. Between late 87 and 82, when the Marian faction were in control in Rome, Apollo appeared on almost every silver coin on which it was possible for him to appear. Before 92 and after 82, Apollo seldom appeared [10].
from http://janusquirinus.org/
More fantastically, it was a statue of Apollo that prophesied the death of Cn. Octavius, Cinna’s optimate consul colleague in 87: Octavius realised that his death was imminent because the head from a statue of Apollo broke off and fixed itself in the ground, and it could not be moved. Only when Octavius died could Apollo’s head be unfixed [11]. Probably untrue, but it shows that people from antiquity thought that Apollo was involved in this conflict.
from http://janusquirinus.org/
Is this hypothesis of Apollo representing Marian faction plausible? Perhaps. Three of the moneyers who issued Apollo types were firm supporters of the Marian cause—one died fighting at the Colline Gate in 82 [12], one accused Sulla of extortion [13] and one was proscribed [14]. Another one, if some scholars are right, also died in the Battle of Colline Gate [15], and another was a popularis and hostile to Sulla [16].
from http://janusquirinus.org/
The choice of Apollo as a factional symbol would definitely be eminently suitable. The Marians needed all the support they could muster, from the Senate, Roman plebs and from the Italians. For the Senate, the choice of Apollo, the austere Apollo who was the god of order, justice and legality, perhaps reminded them that Cinna was the leader of the legitimate government between 86 and 82. For the plebs, he was a healer and the god of prophecy, and they celebrated his games. Moreover, Apollo was not tainted with optimate connections as none of the nobiles traced their ancestry back to him. And as for the Italians, the cults of Apollo were found everywhere and had a long history. Above all, he was a symbol of concordia and conciliation [17].
from http://janusquirinus.org/
In short, “in Apollo they had a deity whose worship was widespread and popular, unhampered by optimate associations or regional particularism. He was a god whose youth and good looks were particularly appealing: the patron of peace, culture, safety, and superstition. It is difficult to imagine a more deserving candidate, or one capable of being so many things to so many people, and offensive to none” [18].
from http://janusquirinus.org/
The Apollo coinage of the Marian faction, if Luce is right about his choice of coins and interpretations, shows the trend over the years. At first, the issues had subject matters which were peaceful, like a laureate head of Apollo on the obverse and on the reverse, Ceres, the goddess of grain, agriculture and fertility, holding torch in each hand and a pig before her (Syd 683b). But increasingly, as the Marians had to raise an army and train it, the coins show military themes, like Minerva in a quadriga on the reverse (Syd 684). Then the thunderbolt, the symbol of power, made its debut in ~86 on the obverse beneath Apollo’s chin (Syd 723). Toward the end, the Marians “fell back on open threats of punishment and annihilation” [19] and Apollo took on his “most awesome and terrible" role [20], brandishing the thunderbolt in his hand (Syn 732) or flaying alive an upstart challenger (Syn 737) [21].
from http://janusquirinus.org/
Venus was Sulla's answer to the Marian Apollo. In fact, to the Greeks, he was Lucius Cornelius Sulla Epaphroditus, the “favourite of Venus” [22]. Sulla appeared to be a rebellious proconsul, with an army of seasoned veterans, attacking the constitutional government. Thus, he needed to calm fears and showed that all he wanted to do was to recover what had been taken unjustly from him. He did not want to flaunt his military strength. Thus, most of the early Sullan coinage were gentle and pacific: Venus and her son, Cupid, as well as the double cornucopiae [23].
from http://janusquirinus.org/
But the gods were in the public domain. No faction could claim a deity exclusively as its own, and when it tried, the other side tried to appropriate the favour. The Romans had a practice of evocatio, whereby the Romans tried to summon away the tutelary deities of any enemy city by offering them a new home in Rome itself [24]. In the same way, the tutelary deities of an enemy could by persuaded to desert the enemy. Thus, a Marian supporter featured Venus on the obverse of his coinage (Syd 739, Syd 740) while Sulla appealed to Apollo and ostentatiously prayed to the little figurine of Apollo he appropriated from Delphi at the Battle of the Colline Gate. As obvious from the outcome, Apollo abandoned the Marians and it was in the holy water of Apollo that the man who brought the head of Marius Gratidianus to Sulla washed his hands [25].
from http://janusquirinus.org/
But Sulla was not done with Apollo just yet. As he proscribed the Marians, he was blunt and uncompromising to the atasthalos Apollo: the reverse of a issue shows Cupid breaking the thunderbolt over his knee (Syd 730). A later issue shows a laureate head of Apollo with his lyre and a star on the obverse and on the reverse, a cornucopiae superimposed on the thunderbolt with a surrounding wreath with a ear of barley, a ear of wheat and assorted fruits (Syd 718). The familiar Apollo, who symbolised concordia [26], a bright future [27], and perhaps more importantly to the future Republicans, libertas [28], was back.
from http://janusquirinus.org/
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Delphi, home of Apollo.
Plato calls it "the very navel of the earth" (Rep IV.427c)
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