Abaris the Hyperborean

In Greek mythology, Abaris the Hyperborean (Ancient Greek: Ἄβαρις Ὑπερβόρειος, Ábaris Hyperbóreios), son of Seuthes (Σεύθης), was a legendary sage, healer, and priest of Apollo known to the Ancient Greeks. He was supposed to have learned his skills in his homeland of Hyperborea, which he fled during a plague. He was said to be endowed with the gift of prophecy, and along with his Scythian dress, simplicity, and honesty, he created great sensation in Greece, and was held in high esteem.[1]

For other uses, see Abaris (disambiguation).

Legend

According to Herodotus, he was said to have traveled around the world with an arrow[2][3] symbolizing Apollo, eating no food.[4] Heraclides Ponticus (c. 390 BC–c. 310 BC) wrote that Abaris flew on it. Plato (Charmides 158C) classes him amongst the "Thracian physicians" who practice medicine upon the soul as well as the body by means of "incantations" (ἐπωδαί, epodaí[5]). A temple to Persephone at Sparta was attributed to Abaris by Pausanias (9.10). Alan H. Griffiths compares Abaris to Aristeas in terms of being a "shamanistic missionary and savior-figure" and notes Pindar places Abaris during the time of Croesus.[6]

Phalaris

A particularly rich trove of anecdotes is found in Iamblichus's Vita Pythagorica. Here, Abaris is said to have purified Sparta and Knossos, among other cities, from plagues (VP 92–93). Abaris also appears in a climactic scene alongside Pythagoras at the court of the Sicilian tyrant Phalaris. The two sages discuss divine matters, and urge the obstinate tyrant towards virtue (ibid. 215–221). Iamblicus also attributes a special expertise at extispicy to Abaris, the art of divination through the examination of anomalies in the entrails of animals.[7] The Suda attributes a number of books to Abaris, including a volume of Scythian Oracles in dactylic hexameter, a prose theogony, a poem on the marriage of the river Hebrus, a work on purifications, and an account of Apollo's visit to the Hyperboreans. Such works, however, if they were really current in ancient times, were no more genuine than his reputed correspondence with Phalaris the tyrant.[8] He is among the authors (= FGrHist 34) whose fragments were collected in Felix Jacoby's Fragmente der griechischen Historiker.

A more securely historical Greco-Scythian philosopher, who travelled among the Hellenes in the early sixth century, was Anacharsis.

Eighteenth century Bath architect John Wood, the Elder wrote about Abaris, and put forth the fanciful suggestion that he should be identified with King Bladud.

Modern impact

References
  1. Strabo. Geographica, 7.3.8.
  2. "Hence the dart of Abaris" (Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable)
  3. Nonnus. Dionysiaca, 11.132
  4. Herodotus, Histories 4.36.1-2
  5. Tsouna, Voula (2022). "The Prologue (153a1–159a10)". Plato's Charmides: An Interpretative Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-316-51111-4. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  6. Griffiths, Alan H. (2003), "Abaris", in Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Anthony (eds.), The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd ed.), Oxford: OxfordUP, p. 1, ISBN 978-0-19-860641-3
  7. "... and instead of divining by the entrails of beasts, he [Pythagoras] revealed to him the art of prognosticating by numbers conceiving this to be a method purer, more divine and more kindred to the celestial numbers of the Gods." from Iamblichus' Vita Pythagorica (trans. K. S. Guthrie).
  8. Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Abaris". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2008-07-14. Retrieved 2007-08-19.

Sources
  • Works related to Abaris at Wikisource
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