The Hyperboreans and Their Connection with Apollo

Apple Tree in Blossom by Larsson (before 1919)

In the 5th century BCE Herodotus wrote of the Hyperboreans, a word which literally means “over Boreas”. Boreas is the Hellenic God of the north wind, sometimes conceived of as living in Thrace, which is more or less the land we now call Bulgaria. Herodotus described the Hyperboreans thus:

“A man of Proconnesus [a Greek town in modern day NW Turkey], one Aristeas … came to the Issedones [ancient people who lived in central Asia] and, being inspired by Apollo, wrote a poem in which he declared that above the Issedones there lived a tribe of Arimaspians, being men with one eye, and, above these, the griffins [birds sacred to Apollo] that guard the gold, and, above these, the Hyperboreans, whose land reaches to the sea. All of these people, beginning with the Arimaspians and excepting only the Hyperboreans, continually make war upon their neighbours. The Issedones, say Aristeas, were thrust out of their lands by the Arimaspians, the Scythians [ancient people who lived in and around Crimea] by the Issedones, and the Cimmerians [ancient people who lived north of the Caucasus], living by the southern sea, being hard pressed by the Scythians, also left their country …

Considering the Hyperboreans, then, the Scythians have nothing to tell, nor do any of the other people who live in those parts, except, perhaps for the Issedones … But Hesiod does talk about the Hyperboreans, and so does Homer …

But far the most that is told about these people comes from the Delians [of the Greek island Delos, said to be the birthplace of Apollo and his twin sister Artemis]. These say that holy offerings come wrapped in wheat straw from the Hyperboreans into Scythia, and, after the Scythians, each of their neighbours successively forwards these offerings to the point furthest west, at the Adriatic, and, as they conveyed to the south, the people of the Dodona [in NW Greece, a location sacred to Zeus and which had a famous oracle] are the first Greeks to receive them, and from there they … are carried … from city to city … to Tenos, and the Tenians carry them to Delos. That is how, they say, the offerings get to Delos. They say too that on the first journey the Hyperboreans sent, to bring the offerings, two girls, whom the Delians call Hyperoche and Laodice. With them, for safety’s sake, the Hyperboreans sent along with them five men as escort, citizens of their own, those who are now called Peripherees and have great honour in Delos. But when those whom the Hyperboreans sent did not come home again, the Hyperboreans made a great outcry that it should always be their lot to send out men who never came back; and so they have the offerings borne, wrapped in wheaten straw, to their borders and bid their neighbours convey them from their own land to the next. And so, they say, by this form of constant escort the offerings come to Delos. I myself know of something like this done with offerings; for the Thracian and Paeonian women [from north of Greece], when they sacrifice to Queen Artemis, have their offerings packed in wheat straw.

Demons in Buddhism

Demon Priest by Tawanabe Kyosai (1864)

I have been a little obsessed with demons for a while now, mostly in terms of wanting to understand their fundamental nature. I strongly suspect that many of the deities we call demons are actually deities of rival pantheons, and the process of “demonisation” is designed to strengthen the legitimacy of one religion over another. It may even be that some neglected deities become wrathful and seemingly demonic (while others leave desecrated locations or just lose interest in humans). I tend towards believing in voluminous polytheism, by which I mean there are many types of deities, and some of them really are demonic, as conventionally understood.

I recently watched a horror movie called “Incantation” (original title: “Zhou”) – I didn’t enjoy it but was genuinely spun out by it afterwards and thought about it for weeks. The effectiveness of the film was that it used Buddhist themes and turned them upside down, so that instead of Buddhist practice and iconography being benevolent (which is what I have associated with Buddhism my whole life – I was raised as a Buddhist) it delved into the world of curses and demonology. When I sat before the Mandala on my shrine to do some chanting I was reminded that demons are depicted on it – in particular Mara, Hariti and the Ten Demon Daughters. The reason for this is that the Mandala represents the universe in its entirety. I have also heard it said that the Mandala I pray before (called the Gohonzon) is a mirror – and a mirror does not show you only the things you want to see, but everything in you, including the potentiality to become demonic.

The traditional Buddhist approach to the demonic

In Buddhism there are multiple realms of existence, most prominently including the realms of:

• Devas / Gods – joy and contentment.
• Asuras / Demons / Devils / Demi Gods – anger, animosity, arrogance and belligerence.
• Humans – intermittent suffering, as well as calmness and self-discipline.
• Animals – instinct (fear, sex, predatoriness, the thrill of the hunt, etc).
• Preta / Hungry ghosts – insatiable hunger and unquenchable desire.
• Naraka / Hell – misery, pain, rage and self-destructiveness.

When we talk of the demonic in a Buddhist context we are drawing from the ancient Indian understanding of the cosmos – including what the Vedas (1500-1200 BCE) refer to as Asuras. The Asuras are almost identical to the Greco-Roman Titans and the Germanic Jötun. It is probably more useful to consciously take on an Indo-European perspective, rather than a Christian one, when trying to comprehend them. Like Titans and Jötun, Asuras are described as being in conflict with the Gods. They are said to be dominated by anger, egotism, perversity and aggressiveness. Unlike most animals, hungry ghosts and hell creatures they are sophisticated, deceptive and powerful. They are said to encourage others to engage in shameful acts, greed and foolishness, and they have the power to curse, ie, to cause negative influences that erode our happiness.

What Western Polytheists Can Learn from Muslims

"Choosing the Rose" by Portaels (1860s)

Islam is said to be the fastest growing religion in the world. Currently around a quarter of all people on earth identify as Muslim. According to Pew Research:

“If current demographic trends continue … Muslims – a comparatively youthful population with high fertility rates – are projected to increase by 73% … As a result … by 2050 there will be near parity between Muslims (2.8 billion, or 30% of the population) and Christians (2.9 billion, or 31%), possibly for the first time in history.”

Conversion to Islam also seems to be relatively common, with nearly a quarter of American Muslims being converts, so the Islamic growth factor is not only down to having more children. 

There is undeniably something dynamic about Islam, and Muslim communities appear to be getting at least some of the crucial aspects of being human very right. Most praiseworthy is the Islamic reverence, or at least strong respect, for mothers – the saying goes “heaven lies beneath the feet of mothers”. By way of example, when a young man asked Muhammad if he could join the military (because he longed to do so) though his mother objected, Muhammad is said to have replied “stay with your mother. I swear to the God Who chose me as prophet that the spiritual reward which you receive for serving her even one night and making her happy with your presence, is greater than a one-year long holy war”. A more contemporary example of the Islamic reverence for mothers took place in Morocco after the 2022 FIFA world cup, when the Moroccan team (who had just become the first ever Arab team to reach the semi-finals) was honoured by the King along with their mothers, after heart-warming videos had gone viral throughout the Islamic world of players running to embrace their mothers after winning a match.

Any spiritual tradition that venerates motherhood is operating in accord with the regenerative aspect of nature. When we look at the most prominent Gods of ancient Rome we see what aspects of nature they revered most: Venus and Mars – thus love, fertility and virility (Mars is not only a God of war but also agriculture). To get these very fundamental things right is to light the path to success, though it’s clearly a path on which many descendants of Europa have lost their way. It is not so much that we are not sexually active but that too few of us are in long term relationships.* This not ideal, as a tale from Ovid’s Metamorphoses demonstrates: