Lumière sur les loups d’Apollon

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The origin of the name of the deity Apollo is still a matter of debate. The name is attributed to Greek, Anatolian or a substrate language of the Aegean area. Whatever the position one takes on this question, it has consequences far beyond the linguistic debate: it concerns the constitution of the Greek religious belief by inherited or by loan elements. In this article it is decisively taken part for the Greek origin of the deity, which is further linked to elements of Indo-European culture. In spite of some astonishing facts which could be in favor of an Anatolian (or substrate) origin, such an origin is refused. These facts belong already to a further development of the nature of the deity. The whole question is linked to the history of the movements of Indo-European men-groups to unknown regions, notably to the Greek presence in Western Anatolia which is older than generally asumed. In this perspective, Apollo can be considered as a kind of ‘frontier god’ who get’s ‘civilized’ in parallel to the institutional development of the political units venerating him.

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