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| Antico Apollo Belvedere ca. 1520 bronze statuette Ca' d'Oro, Venice |
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| Marcantonio Apollo Belvedere ca. 1510-27 engraving British Museum |
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| Agostino Veneziano after Marcantonio Apollo Belvedere ca. 1510-27 engraving British Museum |
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| Antoine Lafréry after Marcantonio Apollo Belvedere 1552 engraving British Museum |
A HYMN TO APOLLO (CONTAINING HIS EPITHETS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
Let us hymn Paean the great god, Apollo;
Immortal, gloriously formed, unshorn, soft-haired,
Stern-hearted, king, delighting in arrows, giver of life,
Joyous, laughing, slayer of giants, sweet-hearted,
Son of Zeus, slayer of dragons, lover of the laurel,
Sweet of speech, of ample might, far-shooter, giver of hope,
Creator of animals, divine, Jove-minded, giver of zeal,
Mild, sweet-spoken, sweet-hearted, gentle-handed,
Slayer of beasts, blooming, charmer of the spirit, soft-speaking,
Shooter of arrows, desirable, healer, charioteer,
Weaver of the world, Clarian, strong-hearted, father of fruits,
Son of Leto, pleasant, delighting in the lyre, resplendent,
Lord of the mysteries, prophet, magnanimous, thousand-shaped,
Lover of the bow-string, wise, stiller of grief, sober,
Lover of community, common to all, taking thought for all, benefactor of all,
Blessed, making blessed, Olympian, dweller on the hills,
Gentle, all-seeing, sorrowless, giver of wealth,
Saviour from trouble, rose-coloured, man-breaker, path-opener,
Glittering, wise, father of light, saviour,
Delighting in the dance, Titan, initiator, revered,
Chanter of hymns, highest, stately, of the height,
Phoebus, purifier, lover of garlands, cheerer of the spirit,
Utterer of oracles, golden, golden-complexioned, golden-arrowed,
Lover of the lyre, harper, hater of lies, giver of the soul,
Swift-footed, swift-voiced, swift of vision, giver of seasons.
Let us hymn Paean the great god, Apollo.
– Epigram from Book 9 of the Greek Anthology, translated by W.R. Paton (1916-18)
Paton's translation in five small green volumes from the time of the Great War was the first bilingual edition of the Greek Anthology issued by Loeb Classical Library. After a century, a new edition revised by Michael A. Tueller began to appear in 2014, but has not yet reached beyond the first volume (which also lacks indexes). The facing Greek text in the old Loeb edition shows that Paton as translator regularly re-used the same English word for original Greek words that differ from one another, though synonyms. Actually, I like the tone of Paton's translation – and even like the off-kilter repetitions – but it needs to be mentioned that they are unnecessarily untrue to the Greek. In the original, all epithets in any one poetic line begin with the same letter. Then the single-letter lines proceed line by line from the start to the end of the alphabet.
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| Hendrik Goltzius Apollo Belvedere ca. 1592 engraving printed on blue paper Princeton University Art Museum |
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| Jan de Bisschop Apollo Belvedere ca. 1663-68 engraving Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Jan Punt for Jacob de Wit Proportions of the Apollo Belvedere 1747 etching, engraving Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Johann Carl Bock Apollo Belvedere ca. 1800 stipple-engraving, etching British Museum |
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| Fratelli Alinari Apollo Belvedere ca. 1893-1903 photograph Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Anonymous photograph Apollo Belvedere in stereo ca. 1890 mounted photographic prints Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Carlo Albacini Head of the Apollo Belvedere ca. 1750-1800 marble Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Giacomo Zoffoli Apollo Belvedere before 1785 bronze statuette Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
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| Stoke-on-Trent Manufactory Bust of the Apollo Belvedere 1861 Parian porcelain Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Benedetto Pistrucci Head of the Apollo Belvedere ca. 1820 sardonyx cameo Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Anonymous Italian gemcutter Apollo Belvedere 18th-19th century onyx cameo Victoria & Albert Museum |