Page 24 - Sarpedon’dan Keykubad’a Bir Zamanlar Antalya

Lykegenes: Apollon of the Lycian

Apollo, god of light, science, diseases, cures, music, art and
prophecy. Just like Dionysus, the blond god Apollo who exist-
ed in Anatolian lands and was then transferred, first to Delos
and then to Athens through a myth similar to his. Homer in his
epic Iliad, which is the corner stone of literatüre mentions him
as “Lykegenes”, “born in Lycia”. Therefore, the great god must
have been born in Lycia first. Her mother, the beautiful-haired
goddess Leto, gave birth to him at the same time as the Xan-
thos River, which feeds all of Lycia. That is why he is from Le-
toon, from Xanthos, from Patara, from Sura, from Tlos, in short,
from Lycian. As the god’s fame spread, other cities built temples
in the name of the Lycian god. One of these cities is Delphoi.
Ikadios, who founded Patara, had one built here, just like the
knowledge center he had built there. Then the great Lycian poet
Olen sang the first hymns in Delphoi in the name of the great
god. After Lycia, he became the ruler of Delos, so Apollon and
migrated from here to Continental Greece (Işık 2020).
Apollon has always been with both the Lycians and the other
Anatolian peoples, not only with his name but also with what he
did. The greatest proof of this is undoubtedly the Trojan war. So
much so that even though all the gods took part in this war for
their own interests, he always defended humanity and justice.
So much so that he showed his human side by mocking the
funeral of Hector of Troy, who died in the war with Achilles, and
crying out to the gods who did not give him to his father.
“Relentless gods, your power is yours in evil!
Even whe you are dead, your hand to save Hector is not extended!
Shall he not see his wife, mother, child,
Shall his father Priyamus and the people of Troy not see him?
You hold that sinister Achilles...”

23