Abaris the Hyperborean

:"Abaris redirects here. For the Baroque opera see "Les Boréades"'Abaris the Hyperborean (Greek: _gr. Ἄβαρις Ὑπερβόρειος, "Abaris Hyperboreios"), son of Seuthes, 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, near the Caucasus, [Ovid, "Metamorphoses" v. 86] which he fled during a plague. He was said to be endowed with the gift of prophecy, and by this as well as by his Scythian dress and simplicity and honesty he created great sensation in Greece, and was held in high esteem. [Strabo, "Geographica" Book 7, Chapter 3, verse 8]

Legend

According to Herodotus he was said to have traveled around the world with an arrow symbolizing Apollo, eating no food. [Herodotus, "Histories" 4.36] Heraclides Ponticus wrote that Abaris flew on it, like a witch's broomstick. Plato ("Charmides" 158C) classes him amongst the "Thracian physicians" who practice medicine upon the soul as well as the body by means of "incantations" ("epodai"). A temple to Persephone at Sparta was attributed to Abaris by Pausanias (9.10).

Phalaris

A particularly rich trove of anecdote 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 to Abaris a special expertise at extispicy, the art of predicting future events through the examination of anomalies in the entrails of animals. ["...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).] 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. But such works, if they were really current in ancient times, were no more genuine than his reputed correspondence with Phalaris the tyrant.Citation
last = Schmitz
first = Leonhard
author-link =
contribution = Abaris
editor-last = Smith
editor-first = William
title = Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
volume = 1
pages = 1
publisher =
place =
year = 1867
contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0010.html ]

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

Modern impact

* A Secret Senior Society at Dartmouth College is named Abaris after this figure; it is one of eight Senior Societies among Dartmouth College student groups.
* Abaris is featured in Therion songs "An Arrow From The Sun", "The Wand of Abaris", and "The Falling Stone".

References

Footnotes

Other sources

*Plato's "Charmides" in the most famous passage concerning _gr. Ἄβαρις Ὑπερβόρειος.
*"History of Herodotus", in the classical translation of George Rawlinson (ed. and tr., vol. 3, Book 4, Chapters 2-36, 46-82. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1885.)
*Plato, "Platonis Opera," ed. John Burnet. Oxford University Press. 1903.
*Suda|Abaris
* [http://ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0010.html Ancient Library]
*1911
*SmithDGRBM