HYPERBOREA
was a fabulous realm of eternal spring located in the far north beyond the land
of winter. Its people were a blessed, long-lived race free of war, hard toil,
and the ravages of old age and disease.
Hyperborea
was usually described as a continent-bound land, bordered by the great
earth-encircling river Okeanos to the north, and the great peaks of the
mythical Rhipaion mountains to the south. Its main river was the Eridanos,
which flowed south, drawing its waters directly from the Okean-stream. The
shores of this stream were lined by amber-bearing poplar trees and its waters
inhabited by flocks of white swans. Blessed with eternal spring, the land
producing two crops of grain per year. But most of the country was wild,
covered with rich and beautiful forests, "the garden of Apollon."
To the
south the realm was guarded by the bitterly cold peaks of the near-impassable
Rhipaion mountains. This was the home of Boreas, god of the north wind, whose
chill breath brought winter to all the lands to the south--Skythia, Thrake,
Istria, Celtica, Italy and Greece. The peaks of the mountains were also the
home of Griffins (eagle-lions), and its valleys were inhabited by the fierce,
one-eyed Arimaspoi tribe. Directly to the south lay Pterophoros, a desolate,
snow-covered land cursed by eternal winter.
Hyperborea
was a theocracy ruled by three priests of the god Apollon. These gigantic
kings, known as the Boreades, were sons or descendants of the north wind
Boreas. Their capital contained a circular temple dedicated to the god where
hecatombs of asses were sacrificed in his honour. The musical race also
celebrated his divinity with a constant festival music, song and dance. The
hymns were joined by the sweet song of circling, white Hyperborean swans.
The land
appears in several myths. The first of these was the story of Phaethon, the boy
who tried to fly the chariot of the sun, but lost control, and was struck down
by Zeus with a thunderbolt, His flaming body fell into the Hyperborean river
Eridanos, where his mourning sisters, the Heliades, gathered and were
transformed into amber-shedding poplar trees. His friend Kyknos, in his grief,
leapt into the bitumen lake of Phaethon's fall, and was transformed into a
swan. Hyperboreans afterwards leapt in this same very lake as they were
approaching death and were transformed into singing white swans. The bird
migrated to the Lydian river Kaystros and other places in the south, but
remained mute beyond its homeland.
Perseus
travelled to Hyperborea and was entertained by its folk when he went in search
of certain Nymphs who guarded treasures of the gods, or else the Graiai,
swan-bodied hags who could reveal the location of Medousa.
Perseus'
descendant Herakles made the same journey on two separate occassions. The first
time was in his quest for the golden-horned deer of Artemis which fled north
during the chase. The second time he was seeking Atlas to obtain the golden
apples of Hesperides. The Titan stood holding the sky aloft in Hyperborea
beneath the heavenly axis around which the constellations revolved. (Later?
versions of this story place Atlas in North-West Africa).
Another body of stories connected the Hyperboreans with the founding of several important religious shrines in ancient Greece.In the distant past the
god-blessed race was said to have sent many holy prophets and pilgrims into
Greece.
On Delos,
one story told how the pregnant goddess Leto travelled south to the island from
Hyperborea, accompanied by wolves, where she gave birth to the god Apollon.
Artemis-Eileithyia was summoned from the northern realm to assist with the
labour.
After the event, the Hyperboreans despatched pilgrims to the island, five men known as the and maiden-priestesses of the goddess. However, after several of the maidens were either raped or killed the Hyperboreans ended the pilgrimage, delivering their offerings instead through neighbouring tribes and peoples. Sometimes these are described as passing through Skythia on the Black Sea, at other times through Istria at the northern end of the Adriatic. Within Greece itself the offerings were carried from Dodona to Karystos in Euboia, then Tenos, before finally reaching Delos. The Athenians claimed they came to their town of Prasiai from Sinope on the Black Sea.
The next
major shrine connected with the Hyperboreans was the oracle of Apollon at
Delphoi. The second of the temples built to the god was said to have been built
by Hyperborean pilgrims of beeswax and (swan) feathers. When the army of the
Gauls tried to seize the temple in historical times, phantoms of these prophets
were said to have appeared on the battlefield, routing the invading army.
Finally
they appear in the myths of the founding of the Olympic Games. It was said that
when Herakles (either the Daktylos or the son of Zeus) established the festival
in honour of Zeus he decided to adorn the grounds with holy trees. To this end
he made a pilgrimage to Hyperborea to obtain sacred wild olives for the shrine.
Perhaps the
most famous prophet of the Hyperboreans was a man named Avaris (meaning without weight) Άβαρις (α+βάρος=αβαρής!), who was given a
magical arrow by the god Apollon on which he flew around the world performing
miracles. Some say this arrow was the one which Apollon had used to slay the
Kyklopes, which he had hidden beneath a Hyperborean mountain.
Hesiod, Catalogues of Women Fragment 40a (from Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1358 fr. 2) (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
Hesiod, Catalogues of Women Fragment 40a (from Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1358 fr. 2) (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
"[The
winged Boreades pursued the Harpyiai (Harpies) around the world:] Round about
all these [the Boreades] sped in darting flight . . ((lacuna)) of the
well-horsed Hyperboreans--whom Gaia (Earth) the all-nourishing bare far off by
the tumbling streams of deep-flowing Eridanos . . ((lacuna)) of amber, feeding
her wide-scattered offspring."
Homeric
Hymn 7 to Dionysos 27 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th - 4th B.C.) :
"[The
captain of the Tyrrhenian pirates speaks after capturing the god Dionysos:] ‘As
for this fellow we men will see to him: I reckon he is bound for Aigyptos
(Egypt) or for Kypros (Cyprus) or to the Hyperboreans or further still.’"
Pindar,
Pindar Pythian Ode 10. 27 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
"Of
the fairest glories that mortals may attain, to him is given to sail to the
furthest bound. Yet neither ship nor marching feet may find the wondrous way to
the gatherings of the Hyperborean people.
Yet was it
with these that Perseus the warrior chief once feasted, entering their homes,
and chanced upon their sacrifices unto the god, those famous offerings of
hecatombs of asses; for in their banquets and rich praise Apollon greatly
delights, and laughs to see the rampant lewdness of those brutish beasts.
Nor is the
Mousa (Muse) a stranger to their life, but on all sides the feet of maidens
dancing, the full tones of the lyre and pealing flutes are all astir; with
leaves of gleaming laurel bound upon their hair, they throng with happy hearts
to join the revel. Illness and wasting old age visit not this hallowed race,
but far from toil and battle they dwell secure from fate's remorseless
vengeance.
There with
the breath of courage in his heart, unto that gathering of happy men, by
guidance of Athene, came long ago the son of Danaë, Perseus, who slew the
Gorgo.”
Pindar,
Pindar, Olympian Ode 3. 12 ff :
"[The
Olympic Games] rites long years ago established by Herakles, set on his brow
aloft that shining glory, wreathed upon his hair, of the green olive leaf;
which once from Istros' [the Danube's] shady streams Amphitryon's son brought
hither, to be the fairest emblem of Olympia's Games.
For the
Hyperborean folk, Apollon's servants, he so persuaded with fair words, when,
for the all-hospitable grove of Zeus, his loyal heart begged for the tree, to
make shade for all men to share, and for brave deeds of valorous spirits, a
crown. For he had seen long since his father's [Zeus'] altars sanctified, and
the light of evening smiling at mid-month to the golden care of the full-orbèd
moon; and of the great Games had set up the contest and sacred judgment, with
the rites of the four-yearly feast, on the high banks of Alpheios' holy river.
But the land of Pelops, and the vales by Kronos' hill nourished no lovely
trees, and his eyes saw a garden spread defenceless beneath the fierce rays of
the sun.
Then at
length did his heart bid him be one, to journey to the land of Istria, where,
long since, Leto's daughter [Artemis], lover of horsemanship, received him. For
he came from Arkadia's high peaks and winding glens, by constraint of his
father, to perform the bidding of Eurystheus, and bring back the Hind of the
golden horns . . . And in that search he saw, too, the famed land that lay
behind cold Boreas (the North Wind) of bleak and frozen breath; and standing
there marvelled to see the trees. And in his heart a dear resolve was born, to
set them planted there, where ends the course twelve times encircled by the
racing steeds."
Aeschylus,
Libation Bearers 372 ff (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"Your
wish is better than gold. It surpasses great good fortune, even that of the
Hyperboreans."
Herodotus,
Histories 4. 13. 1 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) :
"There
is also a story related in a poem by Aristeas [Greek poet C7th B.C.] son of
Kaüstrobios, a man of Prokonnesos. This Aristeas, possessed by Phoibos [the god
Apollon], visited the Issedones; beyond these (he said) live the one-eyed
Arimaspians, beyond whom are the Grypes (Griffins) that guard gold, and beyond
these again the Hyperboreans, whose territory reaches to the sea. Except for
the Hyperboreans, all these nations (and first the Arimaspians) are always at
war with their neighbors; the Issedones were pushed from their lands by the
Arimaspoi (Arimaspians), and the Skythians (Scythians) by the Issedones, and
the Kimmeroi (Cimmerians), living by the southern sea, were hard pressed by the
Skythians and left their country. Thus Aristeas' story does not agree with the
Skythian account about this country."
Herodotus,
Histories 4. 32 - 36 :
"Concerning
the Hyperborean people, neither the Skythians (Scythians) nor any other
inhabitants of these lands tell us anything, except perhaps the Issedones. And,
I think, even they say nothing; for if they did, then the Skythians, too, would
have told, just as they tell of the one-eyed men. But Hesiod speaks of
Hyperboreans, and Homer too in his poem The Epigonoi, if that is truly the work
of Homer.
But the Delians
say much more about them than any others do. They say that offerings wrapped in
straw are brought from the Hyperboreans to Skythia; when these have passed
Skythia, each nation in turn receives them from its neighbors until they are
carried to the Adriatic sea, which is the most westerly limit of their journey;
from there, they are brought on to the south, the people of Dodona being the
first Greeks to receive them. From Dodona they come down to the Melian gulf,
and are carried across to Euboia, and one city sends them on to another until
they come to Karystos (Carystus); after this, Andros is left out of their
journey, for Karystians carry them to Tenos, and Tenians to Delos.Thus (they
say) these offerings come to Delos.
But on the
first journey, the Hyperboreans sent two maidens bearing the offerings, to whom
the Delians give the names Hyperokhe and Laodike, and five men of their people
with them as escort for safe conduct, those who are now called Perpherees and
greatly honored at Delos. But when those whom they sent never returned, they
took it amiss that they should be condemned always to be sending people and not
getting them back, and so they carry the offerings, wrapped in straw, to their
borders, and tell their neighbors to send them on from their own country to the
next; and the offerings, it is said, come by this conveyance to Delos. I can
say of my own knowledge that there is a custom like these offerings; namely,
that when the Thrakian and Paionian women sacrifice to the Royal Artemis, they have
straw with them while they sacrifice.
I know that
they do this. The Delian girls and boys cut their hair in honor of these
Hyperborean maidens, who died at Delos; the girls before their marriage cut off
a tress and lay it on the tomb, wound around a spindle (this tomb is at the
foot of an olive-tree, on the left hand of the entrance of the temple of
Artemis); the Delian boys twine some of their hair around a green stalk, and
lay it on the tomb likewise.
In this
way, then, these maidens are honored by the inhabitants of Delos. These same
Delians relate that two virgins, Arge and Opis, came from the Hyperboreans by
way of the aforesaid peoples to Delos earlier than Hyperokhe and Laodike; these
latter came to bring to Eileithyia [i.e. Artemis] the tribute which they had
agreed to pay for easing child-bearing; but Arge and Opis, they say, came with
the gods themselves [i.e. Apollon and Artemis], and received honors of their
own from the Delians. For the women collected gifts for them, calling upon
their names in the hymn made for them by Olen of Lykia; it was from Delos that
the islanders and Ionians learned to sing hymns to Opis and Arge, calling upon
their names and collecting gifts (this Olen, after coming from Lycia, also made
the other and ancient hymns that are sung at Delos). Furthermore, they say that
when the thighbones are burnt in sacrifice on the altar, the ashes are all cast
on the burial-place of Opis and Arge, behind the temple of Artemis, looking
east, nearest the refectory of the people of Keos.
I have said
this much of the Hyperboreans, and let it suffice; for I do not tell the story
of that Abaris, alleged to be a Hyperborean, who carried the arrow over the
whole world, fasting all the while. But if there are men beyond the north wind
(Boreas), then there are others beyond the south. And I laugh to see how many
have before now drawn maps of the world, not one of them reasonably; for they
draw the world as round as if fashioned by compasses, encircled by the Okeanos
river, and Asia and Europe of a like extent. For myself, I will in a few words
indicate the extent of the two, and how each should be drawn."
Plato,
Charmides 158c (trans. Lamb) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) :
"[If]
you are sufficiently temperate, then you never had any need of the charms of
Zalmoxis or of Abaris the Hyperborean, and might well be given at once the
remedy for the head; but if you prove to be still lacking that virtue, we must
apply the charm before the remedy."
[N.B.
Abaris was a fabulous prophet from the far north, to whom oracles and charms
were ascribed by the Greeks; cf. Herodotus 4.36.]
Pseudo-Apollodorus,
Bibliotheca 1. 27 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Artemis
shot him [the giant Orion] as he was forcing his attention on Oupis (Opis), a
virgin who had come from the Hyperboreans."
Pseudo-Apollodorus,
Bibliotheca 2. 114 :
"[The
golden apples of the Hesperides:] These apples were not, as some maintain, in
Libya, but rather were with Atlas among the Hyperboreans. Ge (the Earth) had
given them to Zeus when he married Hera."
Pseudo-Apollodorus,
Bibliotheca 2. 119 :
"Prometheus
advised Herakles not to go after the apples [of the Hesperides] himself, but
rather to reelive Atlas of the celestial sphere and dispatch him. So when
Herakles reached Atlas among the Hyperboreans, he remembered Prometheus' advise
and took over the sphere. Atlas picked three apples from the garden of the
Hesperides, then returned to Herakles."
[N.B. Here
Atlas holds the heavens aloft in Hyperborea, beneath the northern axis around
which the stars revolve. Usually he is located in Hesperia in the west.]
Apollonius
Rhodius, Argonautica 2. 674 ff (trans. Seaton) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :
"And
to them [Apollon] the son of Leto appeared, as he passed from Lykia far away to
the countless folk of the Hyperboreans; and about his cheeks on both sides his
golden locks flowed in clusters as he moved."
Apollonius
Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 594 ff :
"[On
their return voyage to Greece from the Black Sea the Argonauts sail through the
mythical interconnecting northern rivers of Hyperborea:] Far on sped Argo under
sail, and entered deep into the stream of Eridanos; where once, smitten on the
breast by the blazing bolt, Phaethon half-consumed fell from the chariot of
Helios into the opening of that deep lake; and even now it belcheth up heavy
steam clouds from the smouldering wound. And no bird spreading its light wings
can cross that water; but in mid-course it plunges into the flame, fluttering.
And all around the maidens, the daughters of Helios, enclosed in tall poplars,
wretchedly wail a piteous plaint; and from their eyes they shed on the ground
bright drops of amber. These are dried by the sun upon the sand; but whenever
the waters of the dark lake flow over the strand before the blast of the
wailing wind, then they roll on in a mass into Eridanos with swelling tide. But
the Keltoi (Celts) have attached this story to them, that these are the tears
of Leto's son, Apollon, that are borne along by the eddies, the countless tears
that he shed aforetime when he came to the sacred race of the Hyperboreans and
left shining heaven at the chiding of his father [Zeus], being in wrath
concerning his son [Asklepios] whom divine Koronis bare in bright Lakereia at
the mouth of Amyros. And such is the story told among these men. But no desire
for food or drink seized the heroes nor were their thoughts turned to joy. But
they were sorely afflicted all day, heavy and faint at heart, with the noisome
stench, hard to endure, which the streams of Eridanos sent forth from Phaethon
still burning; and at night they heard the piercing lament of the Heliades
(daughters of Helios), wailing with shrill voice; and, as they lamented, their
tears were borne on the water like drops of oil.
Thence they
entered the deep stream of Rhodanos [the Rhone] which flows into Eridanos; and
where they meet there is a roar of mingling waters. Now that river, rising from
the ends of the earth, where are the portals and mansions of Nyx (Night), on
one side bursts forth upon the beach of Okeanos (Oceanus), at another pours
into the Ionian sea, and on the third through seven mouths sends its stream to
the Sardinian sea and its limitless bay. And from Rhodanos they entered stormy
lakes, which spread throughout the Keltic mainland of wondrous size; and there
they would have met with an inglorious calamity; for a certain branch of the
river was bearing them towards a gulf of Okeanos."
[N.B. The
Hyperborean river Eridanos flows directly from the earth-encircling,
fresh-water Okean-stream.]
Callimachus,
Hymn 4 to Delos 275 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"Thou
[Delos] art famed as the most holy of islands, nurse of Apollon's youth. On
thee treads not Enyo nor Haides nor the horses of Ares; but every year tithes
of first-fruits are sent to thee : to thee all cities lead up choirs, both
those cities which have cast their lots toward the East and those toward the
West and those in the South, and the Hyperboreans (peoples which have their
homes above the northern shore), a very long-lived race. These first bring thee
cornstalks and holy sheaves of corn-ears, which the Pelasgians of Dodona [i.e.
the famous oracle of Zeus] . . . first receive, as these offerings enter their country
from afar. Next they come to the Holy town and mountains of the Malian land;
and thence they sail across to the goodly Lelantian plain of the Abantes [i.e.
the island of Euboia]; and then not long is the voyage from Euboia, since thy
havens are nigh thereto. The first to bring thee these offerings from the
fair-haired Arimaspoi were Oupis and Loxo and happy Hekaerge, daughters of
Boreas, and those who then were the best of the young men. And they returned no
home again, but a happy fate was theirs, and they shall never be without their
glory. Verily the girls of Delos, when the sweet-sounded marriage hymn
affrights the maidens' quarters, bring offerings of their maiden hair to the
maidens, while the boys offer to the young men the first harvest of the down
upon their cheeks."
Callimachus,
Fragment 187 (from Clement Protrept. 25) (trans. Trypanis) (Greek poet C3rd
B.C.) :
"Phoibos
[Apollon] visits the Hyperborean sacrifices of asses."
Callimachus,
Fragment 187 (from Scholiast on Pindar's Pythian 10. 49) :
"Fat
sacrifices of asses delight Phoibos."
Callimachus,
Fragment 215 (from Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius 4. 284) :
“They [the
Hyperboreans] send [offerings to Apollon at Delos] from the Rhipaion
Mountains.”
Diodorus
Siculus, Library of History 2. 47. 1 - 6 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian
C1st B.C.) :
"Since
we have seen fit to make mention of the regions of Asia which lie to the north,
we feel that it will not be foreign to our purpose to discuss the legendary
accounts of the Hyperboreans. Of those who have written about the ancient
myths, Hekataios [Greek philosopher C4th B.C.] and certain others say that in
the regions beyond the land of the Keltoi (Celts)there lies in Okeanos (the
Ocean) an island no smaller than Sikelia (Sicily). This island, the account
continues, is situated in the north and is inhabited by the Hyperboreans, who
are called by that name because their home is beyond the point whence the north
wind (Boreas) blows; and the island is both fertile and productive of every
crop, and since it has an unusually temperate climate it produces two harvests
each year.
Moreover,
the following legend is told concerning it: Leto was born on this island, and
for that reason Apollon is honoured among them above all other gods; and the
inhabitants are looked upon as priests of Apollon, after a manner, since daily
they praise this god continuously in song and honour him exceedingly. And there
is also on the island both a magnificent sacred precinct of Apollon and a
notable temple which is adorned with many votive offerings and is spherical in
shape. Furthermore, a city is there which is sacred to this god, and the
majority of its inhabitants are players on the cithara; and these continually
play on this instrument in the temple and sing hymns of praise to the god,
glorifying his deeds.
The
Hyperboreans also have a language, we are informed, which is peculiar to them,
and are most friendly disposed towards the Greeks, and especially towards the
Athenians and the Delians, who have inherited this good-will from most ancient
times. The myth also relates that certain Greeks visited the Hyperboreans and
left behind them there costly votive offerings bearing inscriptions in Greek
letters. And in the same way, Abaris, a Hyperborean, came to Greece in ancient
times and renewed the goodwill and kinship of his people to the Delians.
They say
also that the moon, as viewed from this island appears to be but a little
distance from the earth and to have upon it prominences, like those of the
earth, which are visible to the eye. The account is also given that the god
visits the island every nineteen years, the period in which the return of the
stars to the same place in the heavens is accomplished; and for this reason the
nineteen-year period is called by the Greeks the ‘year of Meton.’ At the time
of this appearance of the god he both plays on the cithara and dances
continuously the night through from the vernal equinox until the rising of the
Pleiades, expressing in this manner his delight in his successes. And the kings
of this city are called Boreadae, since they are descendants of Boreas, and the
succession to these positions is always kept in their family.”
Diodorus
Siculus, Library of History 3. 59. 6 :
"[In
Phrygian mythology:] Apollon, they say, laid away both the lyre and the pipes
as a votive offering in the cave of Dionysos, and becoming enamoured of Kybelê
(Cybele) joined in her wanderings as far as the land of the Hyperboreans."
Diodorus
Siculus, Library of History 4. 51. 1 - 4 :
"[Medea
in the kingdom of Pelias in Thessalia, disguises herself as a Hyperborean
priestess of Artemis:] Medea fashioning a hollow image of Artemis secreted in
it drugs of diverse natures, and as for herself, she anointed her hair with
certain potent ointments and made it grey, and filled her face and body so full
of wrinkles that all who looked upon her thought that she was surely an old
woman. And finally, taking with her the statue of the goddess which had been so
made as to strike with terror the superstitious populace and move it to fear of
the gods, at daybreak she entered the city.
She acted
like one inspired, and as the multitude rushed together along the streets she
summoned the whole people to receive the goddess with reverence, telling them
that he goddess had come to them from the Hyperboreans to bring good luck to
both the whole city and the king. And while all the inhabitants were rendering
obeisance to the goddess and honouring her with sacrifices, and the whole city,
in a word, was, along with Medea herself, acting like people inspired, she
entered the palace . . . For she declared that Artemis, riding through the air
upon a chariot drawn by drakones (dragons), had flown in the air over many
parts of the inhabited earth and had chosen out the realm of the most pious
king in all the world for the establishment of her own worship and for honours
which should be for ever and ever."
Strabo,
Geography 7. 3. 1 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"It is
because of men's ignorance of these regions [i.e. the land of the Thrakian
Getai, now Bulgaria-Romania] that any heed has been given to those who created
the mythical ‘Rhipaíon Mountains and Hyperborean,’ and also to all those false
statements made by Pytheas the Massalian [Greek writer C4th B.C.] regarding the
country along the Okeanos, wherein he uses as a screen his scientific knowledge
of astronomy and mathematics. So then, those men should be disregarded; in
fact, if even Sophokles [tragedian C5th B.C.], when in his role as a tragic
poet he speaks of Oreithyia, tells how she was snatched up by Boreas and
carried ‘over the whole sea to the ends of the earth and to the sources of
night and to the unfoldings of heaven and to [Hyperborea] the ancient garden of
Phoibos [Apollon].’"
Pausanias,
Description of Greece 1. 18. 5 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"[In
Athens] is built a temple of Eileithyia, who they say came from the
Hyperboreans to Delos and helped Leto in her labour; and from Delos the name spread
to other peoples. The Delians sacrifice to Eileithyia and sing a hymn of Olen
[a legendary poet] . . . Only among the Athenians are the wooden figures of
Eileithyia draped to the feet . . . the third, which is the oldest, Erysikhthon
brought from Delos.
Pausanias,
Description of Greece 1. 31. 2 :
"At
Prasiai [a village near Athens] is a temple of Apollo. Hither they say are sent
the first-fruits of the Hyperboreans, and the Hyperboreans are said to hand
them over to the Arimaspoi (Arimaspians), the Arimaspoi to the Issedones, from
these the Skythians (Scythians) bring them to Sinope, thence they are carried
by Greeks to Prasiai , and the Athenians take them to Delos. The first-fruits
are hidden in wheat straw, and they are known of none. There is at Prasiai a
monument to Erysikhthon, who died on the voyage home from Delos, after the
sacred mission thither."
Pausanias,
Description of Greece 3. 13. 2 :
"The
Lakedaimonians [of Sparta] have a temple of the Saviour Maid [i.e. Artemis].
Some say that it was made by Orpheus the Thrakian, others by Abaris when he had
come from the Hyperboreans."
Pausanias,
Description of Greece 5. 7. 6 - 9 :
"As
for the Olympic games, the most learned antiquaries of Elis say that Kronos was
the first king of heaven, and that in his honor a temple was built in Olympia
by the men of that age, who were named the Golden Race. When Zeus was born,
Rhea entrusted the guardianship of her son to the Daktyloi (Dactyls) of Ida . .
. They came from Kretan (Cretan) Ida--Herakles, Paionaios, Epimedes, Iasios and
Idas. Herakles, being the eldest, matched his brothers, as a game, in a
running-race, and crowned the winner with a branch of wild olive, of which they
had such a copious supply that they slept on heaps of its leaves while still
green. It is said to have been introduced into Greece by Herakles from the land
of the Hyperboreans, men living beyond the home of Boreas (the North Wind).
Olen the
Lykian [semi-legendary poet], in his hymn to Akhaeia (Achaeia), was the first
to say that from these Hyperboreans Akhaeia came to Delos. When Melanopos of
Kyme composed an ode to Oupis (Opis) and Hekaerge (Hecaerge) declaring that these,
even before Akhaeia, came to Delos from the Hyperboreans.
And
Aristeas of Prokonnesos [semi-legendary poet C7th B.C.]--for he too made
mention of the Hyperboreans--may perhaps have learnt even more about them from
the Issedones, to whom he says in his poem that he came."
[N.B. In
Pindar, the Herakles who fetches the sacred olive from Hyperborea is the great
hero rather than the Dakyl. The two were always confounded.]
Pausanias,
Description of Greece 10. 5. 7 - 9 :
"[On
the founding of the Delphic Oracle:] Boeo, a native woman who composed a hymn
for the Delphians, said that the oracle was established for the god [Apollon]
by comers from the Hyperboreans, Olen [a semi-legendary poet] and others, and
that he was the first to prophesy and the first to chant the hexameter oracles
[i.e. like the Phthia]. The verses of Boeo are:–-‘Here in truth a mindful
oracle was built by the sons of the Hyperboreans, Pagasos and divine Agyieos.’
After enumerating others also of the Hyperboreans, at the end of the hymn she
names Olen:–-‘And Olen, who became the first prophet of Phoibos, and first
fashioned a song of ancient verses.’ Tradition, however, reports no other man
as prophet, but makes mention of prophetesses only.
They say
that the most ancient temple of Apollo was made of laurel, the branches of
which were brought from the laurel in Tempe. This temple must have had the form
of a hut. The Delphians say that the second temple was made by bees from
bees-wax and feathers, and that it was sent to the Hyperboreans by Apollon."
Pausanias,
Description of Greece 1. 4. 4 :
"[The
Gauls invaded Greece in 279 B.C.:] Now south of the Gates [of Thermopylai],
[they] cared not at all to capture the other towns, but were very eager to sack
Delphoi and the treasures of the god [Apollon]. They were opposed by the
Delphians themselves and the Phokians of the cities around Parnassos; a force
of Aitolians also joined the defenders, for the Aitolians at this time were
pre-eminent for their vigorous activity. When the forces engaged, not only were
thunderbolts and rocks broken off from Parnassos hurled against the Gauls, but
terrible shapes as armed warriors haunted the foreigners. They say that two of
them, Hyperokhos (Hyperochus) and Amadokos (Amadocus), came from the
Hyperboreans, and that the third was Pyrrhos son of Akhilleus (Achilles)."
[N.B. In
this account of an historical battle with the Gauls near Delphoi, the mythical
heroes Hyperokhos, Amadokos and Pyrrhos appear on the scene in the form of
phantoms to frighten the enemy troops. Pyrrhos (better known as Neoptolemos)
was a hero of the Trojan War who was buried at Delphoi, while the Hyperboreans
were presumably those reputed to have founded the shrine; cf. Pausanias 10.5.7
above.]
Antoninus
Liberalis, Metamorphoses 20 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Apollon
and Artemis had a very great affection for him [Klinis, a man of Babylon] and
he frequently attended with these gods the temple of Apollon in the land of the
Hyperboreoi where he saw the consecration of the sacrifices of asses to the
god. Returning to Babylon, he too wanted to worship the god as among the
Hyperboreans and arranged by the altar a hecatomb of asses. Apollon appeared
and threatened him with death if he did not cease from this sacrifice and did not
offer up to him the usual goats, sheep and cattle. For this sacrifice of asses
was a source of pleasure for the god only if carried out by the
Hyperboreans."
Aelian, On
Animals 4. 4 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd A.D.) :
"Wolves
are not easily delivered of their young, only after twelve days and twelve
nights, for the people of Delos maintain that this was the length of time that
it took Leto to travel from the Hyperboreans to Delos."
Aelian, On
Animals 11. 1 :
"The
race of the Hyperboreans and the honours there paid to Apollon are sung of by
poets and are celebrated by historians, among whom is Hekataios, not of Miletos
but of Abdera [Greek philosopher C4th B.C.] . . . This god [Apollon] has as
priests the sons of Boreas (North Wind) and Khione (Snow), three in number,
brothers by birth, and six cubits in height. So when at the customary time they
perform the established ritual of the aforesaid god there swoop down from what
are called the Rhipaion mountains swans in clouds, past numbering, and after
they have circled round the temple as though they were purifying it by their
flight, they descend into the precinct of the temple, an area of immense size
and of surpassing beauty. Now whenever the singers sing their hymns to the god
and the harpers accompany the chorus with their harmonious music, thereupon the
swans also with one accord join in the chant and never once do they sing a
discordant note or out of tune, but as though they had been given the key by
the conductor they chant in unison with the natives who are skilled in the
sacred melodies. Then when the hymn is finished the aforesaid winged
choristers, so to call them, after their customary service in honour of the god
and after singing and celebrating his praises all through the day,
depart."
Aelian, On
Animals 11. 10 :
"I
have mentioned the swans from the Rhipaion (Rhipaeon) Mountains in the country
of the Hyperboreans on account of their daily and assiduous service of
[Apollon] the son of Zeus and Leto."
Aelian,
Historical Miscellany 2. 26 (trans. Wilson) (Greek rhetorician C2nd to 3rd
A.D.) :
"Aristotle
says that Pythagoras [C6th B.C.] was addressed by the citizens of Kroton
(Crotus) as Apollon Hyperboreus (of the Hyperboreans)." [N.B.Probably
because Pythagoras was regarded a prophet of the northern Mysteries.]
Philostratus
the Elder, Imagines 1. 11 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) :
"Golden
are the tears of the daughters of Helios (the Sun). The story is that they are
shed for Phaëthon; for in his passion for driving this son of Helios ventured
to mount his father's chariot, but because he did not keep a firm rein he came
to grief and fell into the Eridanos . . . Now the youth is thrown from the
chariot and is falling headlong--for his hair is on fire and his breast
smouldering with the heat; his fall will end in the river Eridanos and will
furnish this stream with a mythical tale. For swans scattered about, breathing
sweet notes, will hymn the youth; and flocks of swans rising aloft will sing
the story to Kaÿstros and Istros [rivers of Lykia and Skythia]; nor will any
place fail to hear the strange story. And they will have Zephyros (the West
Wind), nimble god of wayside shrines, to accompany their song, for it is said
that Zephyros has made a compact with the swans to join them in the music of
the dirge. This agreement is even now being carried out, for look! The wind is
playing on the swans as on musical instruments."
[N.B.The
swans were said to spend the summer on the Kaystros river in Lydia and the
winter on the Danube (Istros) among the Hyperboreans. Cf. Himerius 79. 17d (not
quoted here).]
Clement,
Exhortation to the Greeks 3 (trans. Butterworth) (Greek Christian rhetoric C2nd
to 3rd A.D.) :
"These
temples [those of the pagan Greeks] . . . are called by a fair-sounding name,
but in reality they are tombs. But I appeal to you, even at this late hour
forget daimon-worship, feeling ashamed to honour tombs . . . Why recount to you
the Hyperborean women? They are called Hyperokhe (Hyperoche) and Laodike
(Laodice), and they lie in the Artemision (Temple of Artemis) at Delos; this is
in the temple precincts of Delian Apollon."
Pseudo-Hyginus,
Astronomica 2. 15 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Eratosthenes
[Greek writer C3rd B.C.] says about the Arrow, that with this Apollo killed the
Cyclopes who forged the thunderbolt by which Aesculapius [Asclepius] died.
Apollo had buried this arrow in the Hyperborean mountain, but when Jupiter
[Zeus] pardoned his son, it was borne by the wind and brought to Apollo along
with the grain which at that time was growing. Many point out that for this
reason it is among the constellations."
[N.B.
Presumably the "arrow in the Hyperborean mountain" is connected with
the tale of Abaris, the Hyperborean arrow-riding prophet of Apollon.]
Ovid,
Metamorphoses 10. 352 ff (trans. Brookes More) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st
A.D.) :
"Or if
some black bitumen catches fire or yellow sulphur burns with little smoke, then
surely, when the ground no longer gives such food and oily nutriment for flames
. . . 'Tis said that Hyperboreans of Pallene can cover all their bodies with
light plumes by plunging nine times in Minerva's [Athena's] marsh [i.e. a lake
of bitumen]. But I cannot believe another tale: that Scythian women get a like
result by having poison sprinkled on their limbs."
[N.B. The
bitumen marsh is presumably the mythical swamp of the Eridanos into which
Phaethon fell after he was struck down from the chariot of the sun by Zeus with
a thunderbolt. The swans of Hyperborea were said to rise from its waters. In
Ovid's story the Hyperborean folk themselves become swans after bathing in the
waters. Cf. Ovid's myth of the metamorphosis of Kyknos "the Swan," a
friend of Phaethon.]
Virgil,
Georgics 3. 195 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.) :
"When
the gathered North Wind (Aquilo) swoops down from Hyperborean coasts, driving
on Scythia's storms and dry clouds."
Pliny the
Elder, Natural History 4. 88 ff (trans. Rackham) (Roman encyclopedia C1st A.D.)
:
"Along
the [Black Sea] coast [of Europe], as far as the river Tanais [the Don], are
the Maeotae [a Skythian tribe] . . . and last of all in the rear of the Maeotae
are the Arimaspi. Then come the Ripaean Mountains [probably the Carpathians]
and the region called Peterophorus ['wing-bringers'], because of the
feather-like snow continually falling there; it is a part of the world that
lies under the condemnation of nature and is plunged in dense darkness, and
occupied only by the work of frost and the chilly lurking-places of Aquilo
[Boreas the North Wind]. Behind these mountains and beyond Aquilo there
dwells--if we can believe it--a happy race of people called the Hyperboreans,
who live to extreme old age and are famous for legendary marvels. Here are
believed to be the hinges on which the firmament turns and the extreme
revolutions of the stars, with six months' daylight and a single day of the sun
in retirement, not as the ignorant have said, from the spring equinox till
autumn: for these people the sun rises once in the year, at midsummer, and sets
once, at midwinter. It is a genial region, with a delightful climate and exempt
from every harmful blast. The homes of the natives are the woods and groves;
they worship the gods severally and in congregations; all discord and all
sorrow is unknown. Death comes to them only when, owing to the satiety of life,
after holding a banquet and anointing their old age with luxury, they leap from
a certain rock into the sea: this mode of burial is the most blissful. Some
authorities have placed these people not in Europe but on the nearest part of
the coasts of Asia, because there is a race there with similar customs and a
similar location, named the Attaci; others have put them midway between the two
suns, the sunsets of the antipodes and our sunrise, but this is quite
impossible because of the enormous expanse of sea that comes between. Those who
locate them merely in a region having six months of daylight have recorded that
they sow in the morning periods, reap at midday, pluck the fruit from the trees
at sunset, and retire into caves for the night. Nor is it possible to doubt
about this race, as so may authorities state that they regularly send the first
fruits of their harvests to Delos as offerings to Apollo, whom they specially
worship. These offerings used to be brought by virgins, who for many years were
held in veneration and hospitably entertained by the nations on the route,
until because of a violation of good faith they instituted the custom of
depositing their offerings at the nearest frontiers of the neighbouring people,
and these of passing them on to their neighbours, and so till they finally
reached Delos. Later this practice itself also passed out of use."
Pliny the
Elder, Natural History 6. 34 :
"From
the extreme north-north-east to the northernmost point at which the sun rises
in summer there are the Scythians, and outside of them and beyond the point
where north-north-east begins some have placed the Hyperboreans, who are said
by a majority of authorities to be in Europe. After that point the first place
known is Lytharmis, a promontory of Celtica, and the river Carambucis, where
the range of the Ripaean Mountains terminates and with it the rigour of the
climate relaxes; here we have reports of a people called the Arimphaei, a race
not unlike the Hyperboreans. They dwell in forests and live on berries; long
hair is deemed to be disgraceful in the case of women and men alike; and their
manners are mild. Consequently they are reported to be deemed a sacred race and
to be left unmolested by the savage tribes uamong their neighbours, this
immunity not being confined to themselves but extended also to people who have
fled to them for refuge. Beyond them we come directly to the Scythians,
Cimmerians, Cissi, Anthi, Georgi, and a race of Amazones, the last reaching to
the Caspian and Hyrcanian Sea."
Seneca,
Phaedra 930 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :
"Traverse
nations remote, unknown; though a land on the remotest confines of the world
hold thee separated by Oceanus' tracts, though thou take up thy dwelling in the
world opposite our feet, though thou escape to the shuddering realms of the
high north and hide deep in its farthest corner, and though, placed beyond the
reach of winter (Hyperborea) and his hoar snows, thou leave behind thee the
threatening rage of cold Boreas (the North Wind)."
Valerius
Flaccus, Argonautica 8. 209 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
"No
lake, no river of Scythia but mourns for her as she passes; the sight of her .
. . stirred the Hyperborean snows."
Statius,
Thebaid 1. 694 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
"The
frosty wagoner of the Hyperborean Bear droops languidly, with backward slanting
pole." [N.B. The constellation known as Ursa Major or the Wain circles the
heavenly pole, above the land of the Hyperboreans.]
Statius,
Thebaid 5. 390 ff :
"Even
so does Jupiter [Zeus] lash the green fields with Hyperboreans snow; beasts of
all kinds perish on the plains, and birds are overtaken and fall dead, and the
harvest is blasted with untimely frost; then is there thundering on the
heights, and fury in the rivers." [N.B. Hyperborea is here any far
northern land, rather than the fabulous realm of eternal spring.]
Statius,
Thebaid 12. 650 ff :
"As
when Jupiter [Zeus] plants his cloudy footsteps upon the Hyperborean pole and
makes the stars tremble at the oncoming of winter, Aeolia [the island home of
the winds] is riven, and the storm, indignant at its long idleness, takes
heart, and the North whistles with the hurricane; then roar the mountains and
the waves, clouds battle in the blind gloom, and thunders and crazed lightnings
revel."
[N.B.
Winter rises in Hyperborea, or from the mountains below it.]
Nonnus,
Dionysiaca 11. 132 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"Abaris
also you have heard of, whom Phoibos [Apollon] through the air perched on his
winged roving arrow."
Suidas s.v.
Abaris (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th A.D.) :
"Abaris:
Skythian, son of Seuthes. He wrote the so-called Skythinian Oracles and
Marriage of the river Hebros and Purifications and a Theogony in prose and
Arrival of Apollon among the Hyperboreans in meter. He came from Skythia
(Scythia) to Greece.
The
legendary arrow belongs to him, the one he flew on from Greece to Hyperborean
Skythia. It was given to him by Apollon.
Gregory the
Theologian [Christian writer C4th A.D.] mentioned this man in his Epitaphios
for Basil the Great. They say that once, when there was a plague throughout the
entire inhabited world, Apollon told the Greeks and barbarians who had come to
consult his oracle that the Athenian people should make prayers on behalf of
all of them. So, many peoples sent ambassadors to them, and Abaris, they say,
came as ambassador of the Hyperboreans in the third Olympiad."
Sources:
Hesiod,
Catalogues Fragments - Greek Epic C8th-7th B.C.
The Homeric
Hymns - Greek Epic C8th-4th B.C.
Pindar,
Odes - Greek Lyric C5th B.C.
Herodotus,
Histories - Greek History C5th B.C.
Plato,
Charmides - Greek Philosophy C4th B.C.
Apollonius
Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd B.C.
Callimachus,
Hymns - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C.
Callimachus,
Fragments - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C.
Strabo,
Geography - Greek Geography C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
Pausanias,
Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D.
Antoninus
Liberalis, Metamorphoses - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D.
Aelian, On
Animals - Greek Natural History C2nd-3rd A.D.
Philostratus
the Elder, Imagines - Greek Rhetoric C3rd A.D.
Clement of
Alexandria, Exhortations - Greek Rhetoric C2nd-3rd A.D.
Hyginus,
Astronomica - Latin Mythography C2nd A.D.
Ovid,
Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
Virgil,
Georgics - Latin Bucolic C1st B.C.
Pliny the
Elder, Natural History - Latin Natural History C1st A.D.
Seneca,
Phaedra - Latin Tragedy C1st A.D.
Valerius
Flaccus, The Argonautica - Latin Epic C1st A.D.
Statius,
Thebaid - Latin Epic C1st A.D.
Suidas -
Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.
(Museo Gregoriano Etrusco, Vatican)
