APOLLON, THE ARCHER GOD

Apollon Phoebus, the far-shooting Archer among the greek gods, is painted by Vanessa Foschi the moment before slaying with his golden sword Porphyrion, the king of the sons of the Earth, after having put him down with an arrow of his silver bow.

 THE SOOTHSAYER

In the background of the painting “Apollo Undefeated” by Vanessa Foschi you can behold the sparkling twin peaks of Mount Parnassus the seat of prophecy. It was called, in the renowned glyconic verses 226, 227 of Euripides’s “Phoenicians”, “shining rock that gives off a twofold blaze of fire”. As said by Aeschylus in the prologue of the “Eumenides”,vv. 21-27, beneath its summit lays the hollow “Korykian” cave sacred to the Nymphs . In its recesses gods like to dwell.

All the heath is also the dominion of Bacchus Bromios (“the Obstreperous”) the leader of Bacchants. In the orphic mythology was said that Iacchus, a former version of the Theban one, was slayed by the Titans and that the remains of his body, except for the heart, were buried in Mount Parnassus by Apollo.

The mountain is silhoutted against the sky of Delphi . Apollo received the seat by his maternal grandmother Phoebe (Diodorus,”Historical Library” V, 67). It was  a birthday gift (Aeschylus, “Eumenides” prologue, vv.6, 7) . From his father Zeus he also got the art of prophecy  (Aeschylus, “Eumenides” prologue, v.17) . He casts  oracles through his prophets from an hearth of eternal fire. It was located at the center of earth (Euripides, “Ion”, vv.461-464, Aeschylus, “Libation Bearers” v.1037).

PROPHECY

As for the workings of prophecy, all corporeal creatures live in a defined space-time intersection. When the vessel of the god is hit by prophecy  he or she becomes able to spread his/her self like a net being thrown into an ocean, experiencing the past present and future at the same time; he/she steps in the shadows of the past and doing so aligns himself/herself with the one possible temporal outcome; then, like a bob, he/she pulls the net from the abyss saving the thread of the line. The switch activating the access to the knowledge can be the right question, the presence of a certain person, or a space riddled by strongs residual imprints, like what happened to enslaved Cassandra in front of the palace of Atreus (Aeschylus, “Agamemnon” vv. 1091 -1129).

APOLLON UNDEFEATED

“Apollon Undefeated”.Technique oil on canvas, diameter cm. 120. All rights reserved. This painting was realized by italian artist Vanessa Foschi, born in Rimini,  in the year 2014.

For more informations please contact us at the following e-mail: vanessa.foschi@yahoo.it

Written by Vanessa Foschi. All rights reserved

Apollon/Febo Invitto, dipinto olio su tela di Vanessa Foschi, particolare. Tutti i diritti riservati- Oil on canvas painting by Vanessa Foschi, detail. All rights reserved