Apollo - "Far Shooter", "Archer*", "Delian", "Pythian", "Delphian"... god of controlled tension (lyre, bow, human nature).
Also associated with: Loxias (logos, the speaker), Lycian/Lykian (wolf-god, flocks of sheep), Phoebus (bright one, or maybe phobos, fear), Paieon/Paion (healer).
Apollo represents a youthful, commanding, effortless divinity beyond our reach. His hymn provides a 'charter' for the operation of his two major shrines:
- one in barren island in the Aegean
- one in mountains of Phocis, in central Greece
"Delphic" half of poem explains why Apollo speaks at Delphi and provides mythic background for the oracle. This belongs to a certain category of myths: a god's arrival at his/her cult-site and explains the foundation of the cult.
Oracles of Gaea (Earth) are sometimes described as guarded by dragons, therefore the hymn may reflect tradition. Before Apollo's arrival, the oracle belonged to Earth.
Found in hymn: shift from an oracle that owes its powers to intimacy with the depths of earth (the Mother, a god who is sired by Father of Heaven) ----> transfers the power of communicating the gods' will from female to male.
*Anyone watch Fox's Archer? I sure do. He's youthful, commanding, effortless... Fun outside connection.
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