The Travels of Apollonius
And so Apollonius departs from Antioch and journeys on to Ninus, the relic of the once great Nina or
Nineveh.
There he meets with Damis, who becomes his constant companion and
faithful disciple. “Let us go together,” says Damis in words reminding
us somewhat of the words of Ruth. “Thou shalt follow God,and I thee!” (i
19).From this point Philostratus professes to base himself to a great
extent on the narrative of Damis , and before going further, it is
necessary to try to form some estimate of the character of Damis, and
discover how far he was admitted to the real confidence of
Apollonius.Damis was an enthusiast who loved Apollonius with a
passionate affection. He saw in his master almost a divine being,
possessed of marvellous powers at which he continually wondered, but
which he could never understand. Like Ânanda, the favourite disciple of
the Buddha and his constant companion, Damis advanced but slowly in
comprehension of the real nature of spiritual science; he had ever to
remain in the outer courts of the temples and communities into whose
shrines and inner confidence Apollonius had full access, while he
frequently states his ignorance of his master’s plans and purposes. [See
especially iii,15, 41; v 5, 10; vii 10, 13; viii 28.] The additional
fact that he refers to his notes as the “crumbs”[ εκφατνισματα ] from
the “feasts of the Gods” (i 19), those feasts of which he could for the
most part onlylearn at secondhand what little Apollonius thought fit to
tell him, and which he doubtless largely misunderstood and clothed in
his own imaginings, would further confirm this view, if any further
confirmation was necessary. But indeed it is very manifest everywhere
that Damis was outside the circle of initiation, and this accounts both
for his wonder-loving point of view and his general superficiality. Another
fact that comes out prominently from the narrative is his timid
nature.[ See especially Vii. 13, 14,15, 223 ]He is continually afraid
for himself or for his master; and even towards the end, when Apollonius
is imprisoned by Domitian, it requires the phenomenal removal of the
fetters before his eyes to assure him that Apollonius is a willing
victim.Damis loves and wonders; seizes on unimportant detail and
exaggerates it, while he can only report of the really important things
what he fancies to have taken place from a few hints of Apollonius. As
his story advances, it is true it takes on a soberer tint; but what
Damis omits, Philostratus is ever ready to supply from his own store of
marvels, if chance offers.Nevertheless, even were we with the scalpel of
criticism to cut away every morsel of flesh from this body of tradition
and legend, there would still remain a skeleton of fact that would
still represent Apollonius and give us some idea of his
stature.Apollonius was one of the greatest travellers known to
antiquity. Among the countries and places he visited the following are
the chief ones recorded by Philostratus. [The list is full of gaps, so
that we cannot suppose that Damis’ notes were anything like the complete
records of the numerous itineraries; not only so, but one is tempted to
believe that whole journeys, in which Damis had no share, are
omitted.]From Ninus (i 19) Apollonius journeys to Babylon (i 21), where
he stops one year and eight months (i 40)and visits surrounding cities
such as Ecbatana, the capital of Media (i 39); from Babylon to the
Indian frontier no names are mentioned; India was entered in every
probability by the Khaibar Pass (ii 6) [Here at any rate they came in
sight of the giant mountains, the Imaus (Himavat) or Himâlayan Range,
where was the great mountain Meros (Meru), The name of the Hindu Olympus
being changed into Meros in Greek had, ever since Alexander’s
expedition, given rise to the myth that Bacchus was born from the thigh
(meros) of Zeus - presumably one of the facts which led Professor Max
Müller to stigmatise the whole of mythology as a “disease of language.”]
for the first city mentioned is Taxila (Attock) (ii 20); and so they
make their way across the tributaries of the Indus (ii 43) to the valley
of the Ganges (iii 5), and finally arrive at the “monastery of the wise
men” (iii 10), where Apollonius spends four months (iii 50).
This
monastery was presumably in Nepâl; it is in the mountains, and the
“city” nearest it is called Paraca.The chaos that Philostratus has made
of Damis’ account, and before him the wonderful transformations Damis
himself wrought in Indian names, are presumably shown in this word.
Paraca is perchance all that Damis could make of Bharata, the general
name of the Ganges valley in which the dominant Âryas were settled. It
is also probable that these wise men were Buddhists, for they dwelt in a
τυρσις, a place that looked like a fort or fortress to Damis.I have
little doubt that Philostratus could make nothing out of the geography
of India from the names in Damis’ diary; they were all unfamiliar to
him, so that as soon as he has exhausted the few Greek names known to
him from the accounts of the expedition of Alexander, he wanders in the
“ends of the earth,”and can make nothing of it till he picks up our
travellers again on their return journey at the mouth of theIndus. The
salient fact that Apollonius was making for a certain community, which
was his peculiar goal,so impressed the imagination of Philostratus (and
perhaps of Damis before him) that he has described it as being the only
centre of the kind in India. Apollonius went to India with a purpose and
returned from it with distinct mission; [Referring to his instructors
he says, “I ever remember my masters and journey through the world
teaching what I have learned from them” (vi 18).] and perchance his
constant inquiries concerning the particular “wise men” whom he was
seeking, led Damis to imagine that they alone were the “Gymnosophists,”
the “naked philosophers” (if we are to take the term in its literal
sense) of popular Greek legend, which ignorantly ascribed to all the
Hindu ascetics the most striking peculiarity of a very small number.But
to return to our itinerary.Philostratus embellishes
the account of the voyage from the Indus to the mouth of the Euphrates
(iii 52-58) with the travellers’ tales and names of islands and cities
he has gleaned from the Indica which were accessible to him, and so we
again return to Babylon and familiar geography with the following
itinerary: Babylon, Ninus, Antioch, Seleucia, Cyprus; thence to Ionia
(iii 58), where he spends some time in Asia Minor, especially at Ephesus
(iv 1), Smyrna (iv 5), Pergamus (iv 9), and Troy (iv II). Thence
Apollonius crosses over to Lesbos (iv 13), and subsequently sails
for Athens, where he spends some years in Greece (iv 17-33) visiting the
temples of Hellas, reforming their rites and instructing the priests
(iv 24).We next find him in Crete (iv 34), and subsequently at Rome in
the time of Nero (iv 36-46).In A.D. 66 Nero issued a decree forbidding
any philosopher to remain in Rome,and Apollonius set out for Spain, and
landed at Gades, the modern Cadiz; he seems to have stayed in Spain only
a short time (iv 47); thence crossed to Africa, and so by sea once more
to Sicily, where the principal cities and temples were visited (v
11-14). Thence Apollonius returned to Greece (v 18), four years having
elapsed since his landing at Athens from Lesbos (v 19). [According to
some, Apollonius would be now about sixty-eight years of age. But if he
were still young (say thirty years old or so) when he left for India, he
must either have spent a very long period in that country, or we have a
very imperfect record of his doings in Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, and
Spain, after his return.]
From Piræus our philosopher
sails for Chios (v 21), thence to Rhodes, and so to Alexandria (v 24).
At Alexandria he spends some time, and has several interviews with the
future Emperor Vespasian (v 27-41), and thence he sets out on a long
journey up the Nile so far as Ethopia beyond the cataracts,where he
visits an interesting community of ascetics called loosely Gymnosophists
(vi 1-27).On his return to Alexandria (vi 28), he was summoned by
Titus, who had just become emperor, to meet him at Tarsus (vi 29-34).
After this interview he appears to have returned to Egypt, for
Philostratus speaks vaguely of his spending some time in Lower Egypt,
and of visits to the Phoenicians, Cilicians,Ionians, Achæans, and also
to Italy (vi 35).Now Vespasian was emperor from 69 to 79, and Titus from
79 to 81. As Apollonius’ interviews with Vespasian took place shortly
before the beginning of that emperor’s reign, it is reasonable to
conclude that a number of years was spent by our philosopher in his
Ethiopian journey, and that therefore Damis’account is a most imperfect
one. In 81 Domitian became emperor, and just as Apollonius opposed the
follies of Nero, so did he criticise the acts of Domitian. He
accordingly became an object of suspicion to the emperor; but instead of
keeping away from Rome, he determined to brave the tyrant to his
face.Crossing from Egypt to Greece and taking ship at Corinth, he sailed
by way of Sicily to Puteoli, and thence to the Tiber mouth, and so to
Rome (vii 10-16). Here Apollonius was tried and acquitted (vii 17—viii
10). Sailing from Puteoli again Apollonius returned to Greece (viii 15),
where he spent two years (viii 24). Thence once more he crossed over to
Ionia at the time of the death of Domitian (viii 25), visiting Smyrna
and Ephesus and other of his favourite haunts.Hereupon
he sends away Damis on some pretext to Rome (viii 28) and - disappears;
that is to say, if it be allowed to speculate, he undertook yet another
journey to the place which he loved above all others, the “home of the
wise men.”Now Domitian was killed 96 A.D., and one of the last recorded
acts of Apollonius is his vision of this event at the time of its
occurrence. Therefore the trial of Apollonius at Rome took place
somewhere about 93,and we have a gap of twelve years from his interview
with Titus in 81, which Philostratus can only fill up with a few vague
stories and generalities.As to his age at the time of his mysterious
disappearance from the pages of history, Philostratus tells us that
Damis says nothing; but some, he adds, say he was eighty, some ninety,
and some even a hundred.The estimate of eighty years seems to fit in
best with the rest of the chronological indications, but there is no
certainty in the matter with the present materials at our disposal.Such
then is the geographical outline, so to say, of the life of Apollonius,
and even the most careless reader of the bare skeleton of the journeys
recorded by Philostratus must be struck by the indomitable energy of the
man, and his power of endurance.We will now turn our attention to one
or two points of interest connected with the temples and communities he
visited.
Apollonius of Tyana
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- Apollonius Of Tyana Introduction
- The Religious Associations and Communities of the ...
- India and Greece
- The Apollonius of Early Opinion
- Texts, Translations, and Literature
- The Biographer of Apollonius
- Apollonius of Tyana Early Life
- The Travels of Apollonius
- In the Shrines of the Temples and the Retreats of ...
- The Gymnosophists of Upper Egypt
- Apollonius and the Rulers of the Empire
- Apollonius The Prophet and Wonder-Worker
- Apollonius of Tyana Mode of Life
- Himself and His Circle
- Apollonius Of Tyana Sayings and Sermons
- From His Letters
- The Writings of Apollonius
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