差分

青銅器時代後期（紀元前1700年から1200年）のヒッタイトとヒュリアのアプルはペストの神で、ペストの年に呼び出された。ここでは、もともと疫病をもたらした神が、それを終わらせるために呼び出された、というアポトロピックな状況になっているのだ。[[アプル]]とは、バビロニアの太陽神シャマシュと結びついたネルガルという神の称号で、「その息子」という意味である<ref name="Grummond">de Grummond, Nancy Thomson (2006) ''Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend''. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology); Mackenzie, Donald A. (2005) ''Myths of Babylonia and Assyria'' (Gutenberg)</ref>。ホメロスはアポローンを、矢で死と病をもたらす恐ろしい神（δεινὸς θεός）と解釈しているが、他のギリシアの神とは異なる魔術を持ち、治療することもできる、としている<ref>Martin Nilsson (1967). Vol I. pp. 559–560.</ref>。 『イリアス』では、司祭がアポローン・スミンテウスに祈るが<ref>"You Apollo Smintheus, let my tears become your arrows against the Danaans, for revenge". Iliad 1.33 (A 33).</ref>、ネズミの神は野ネズミからの保護者という古い農業的機能をも保持している<ref name=LSJsmintheus/><ref>An ancient aetiological myth connects ''sminthos'' with mouse and suggests Cretan origin. Apollo is the mouse-god (Strabo 13.1.48).</ref><ref>"Sminthia" in several areas of Greece. In Rhodes (Lindos) they belong to Apollo and Dionysos who have destroyed the rats that were swallowing the grapes". Martin Nilsson (1967). pp. 534–535.</ref>。

The [[Late Bronze Age]] (from 1700 to 1200 BCE) [[Hittites|Hittite]] and [[Hurrian]] ''Aplu'' was a god of [[Plague (disease)|plague]], invoked during plague years. Here we have an [[apotrope|apotropaic]] situation, where a god originally bringing the plague was invoked to end it. Aplu, meaning ''the son of'', was a title given to the god [[Nergal]], who was linked to the Babylonian god of the sun [[Shamash]]. Homer interprets Apollo as a terrible god ({{lang|grc|δεινὸς θεός}}) who brings death and disease with his arrows, but who can also heal, possessing a magic art that separates him from the other Greek gods. In ''[[Iliad]]'', his priest prays to ''Apollo Smintheus'',<ref>"You Apollo Smintheus, let my tears become your arrows against the Danaans, for revenge". [[Iliad]] 1.33 (A 33).</ref> the mouse god who retains an older agricultural function as the protector from field rats.<ref name=LSJsmintheus/><ref>An ancient aetiological myth connects ''sminthos'' with mouse and suggests Cretan origin. Apollo is the mouse-god (Strabo 13.1.48).</ref><ref>"Sminthia" in several areas of Greece. In [[Rhodes]] (Lindos) they belong to Apollo and Dionysos who have destroyed the rats that were swallowing the grapes". Martin Nilsson (1967). pp. 534–535.</ref> All these functions, including the function of the healer-god [[Paean (god)|Paean]], who seems to have Mycenean origin, are fused in the cult of Apollo.