Branchos

Branchos ( ancient Greek Βράγχος ) is in Greek mythology a lover of Apollo and the founder of the branchid family of priests, who performed the Apollo service in Didyma , the most important sanctuary and oracle of the Milesians .

According to Konon , Branchos was the son of Smikros and an unnamed Milesian. With Varro , however, he was the son of Simerus (Smirkos?), Son of Oius, who had married the daughter of his foster father patron. Clemens of Rome names the son of Zeus and favorite of Apollon Atymnios as his father. Statius in his Thebais , on the other hand, emphatically advocates the paternity of Apollo.

Before he was born, his mother dreamed of the sun entering her throat through her mouth, traveling through her stomach and leaving her through her genitals. When she gave birth to a boy, he was given the name Branchos (from the Greek branchos "throat"). When Branchos, who had grown into an extremely handsome youth, was tending sheep, Apollo fell in love with him. According to Konon, the god kissed the youth; at Varro's, Branchos kissed Apollo, who embraced him. The god gave the young man a wreath and a branch and gave him the gift of vision. At this point Branchos erected an altar for Apollo Philios out of gratitude and began to proclaim oracles in Didyma. According to Varro he suddenly disappeared, whereupon he Branchiadon called temple was built. Because of this encounter, Apollon also used the surnames Philesios or Philios , but also Branchios.

The connection of Branchos with Delphi mentioned by Konon, which goes back to Callimachos and his poem Branchos , is also found in Strabo , in whom Branchus, like Callimachus, was a descendant of the Delphic priest Machaireus, who was involved in the death of Neoptolemus . At Varro, the Branchos father came from Keos . According to Metrodorus von Skeptis , Branchus was a Thessalian . The connection with Delphi, which emerged in the Hellenistic period, is possibly only with the 331 BC. To explain resumed oracle activity in Didyma.

The relationship between Apollo and Branchus is mentioned several times in ancient literature, for example in Strabo or Lukian , who, like Lactantius Placidus, compares this love with that of Apollo for Hyakinthos . Also Terentianus , Longos and Philostratos mention the ratio, the latter with the notice that God had Branchos as the Admetos - so well as a shepherd - served.

literature

• Jakob Escher-Bürkli : Branchos 1. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III, 1, Stuttgart 1897, Col. 813 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Joseph Eddy Fontenrose : Didyma. Apollo's Oracle, cult, and companions. University of California Press, Berkeley / Los Angeles / London 1988, pp. 106-110.
• Paul Weizsäcker : Branchos . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886, Col. 816 f. ( Digitized version ).

Remarks

1. ↑ Konon, diegeseis 33 at Photios , library 186.33 (= FGrHist 26 F 1.33).
2. ↑ Varro in Lactantius Placidus in Statius Thebais 8,198.
3. ↑ Clement of Rome, homiliae 5:18.
4. ↑ Statius, Thebais 3.478 f .; this view is also represented by Lactantius Placidus in Statius Thebais 8,198.
5. ↑ Orphic Hymns 84.7.
6. ^ Rudolf Pfeiffer : Callimachus. Volume 1: Fragmenta. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1959, p. 224 Fr. 229.
7. ↑ Strabo 9,3,9 .
8. ↑ Metrodoros in Lactantius Placidus in Statius Thebais 3,478 (= FGrHist 184 F 16).
9. ↑ Alexander Herda: Apollon Delphinios - Apollon Didymeus: Two faces of a Milesian god and their relation to the colonization of Miletus in archaic times. In: Renate Bol, Ursula Höckmann, Patrick Schollmeyer (eds.): Kult (ur) kontakte. Files of the Table Ronde in Mainz from 11. – 12. March 2004. Publishing house Marie Leidorf, Rahden / Westf. 2008, p. 21.
10. ↑ Strabo 14,1,5 .
11. ↑ Lucian, dialogi deorum 2.2 .
12. ↑ Lactantius Placidus in Statius Thebais 3,479.
13. ↑ Terentianus Maurus, de metris 1885–1888.
14. ↑ Longos, Daphnis and Chloe 4:17.
15. ↑ Philostratus, epistulae 5,8,51.