Full Biography
Apollonius Sophistes is a life-long Pagan dedicated to the Gods of
the Greek, Roman and Etruscan pantheons; his fiction, nonfiction,
poetry and translations have appeared in a number of Pagan
publications. He lives in a remote area, on a tor almost completely
surrounded by the waters of a very deep lake, where his (corporeal)
companions include goats, cats, dogs, birds and snakes.
Apollonius was born on the first day of Thoth, the ancient Egyptian new
year, when Sirius, the Sacred Star of Isis, rises with the Sun. He was
born at the stroke of the Chime Hour of the Nighttide, a time considered
auspicious for the Second Sight (Dha Shealladh).
On both sides, Apollonius is descended from the Boreads, the priests
and priestesses of Hyperborean Apollo. The ancestors of his
maternal grandfather were named "Beall-tein," because they were
hereditary tenders of the Fire of Beall, for that is the name by
which the Hyperboreans knew Apollo (cf. Belenos).
One of these ancestors was the Boread Henry de Beletun, from Dunbar
(Scotland), who knew the secrets of spirit flight passed down from
Abaris, his ancestor, and taught them to the sorcerer Michael Scot.
In 1231 Henry deeded his land in Kingside to Melrose Abbey for the
sorcerer's use when he returned to Scotland. Later he assisted
Michael in compiling his grimoire, the Liber Potestatis, until
Michael died in 1235, and was buried on the Abbey's grounds. (The
Liber Potestatis was not buried with him.)
Henry was descended from Apollonios ho Tuaneus, a great wizard, wiseman
and healer, born in Tuana in 4 BCE. Apollonios was known to later ages
as Belinus, Bolemus, Belenius, Balinas, Bellus and Bonellus.
Late in life Apollonios decided to journey to Lebadeia (in Boiotia) to visit the
shrine of Trophonios, a Son of Apollo, as he was. The shrine is a cave in the
hill above the temple, and people go down into it to receive an oracle from the
God. When Apollonios arrived, the priests informed him that he could not enter
the cave at that time, which was a lie, for they had told the people there that
they would not allow such a wizard into the shrine. So during the day he spoke
at Herkune Spring about the origin of the shrine, but at night went to the cave
with his disciples. There he pulled out four of the standing stones that
blocked the entrance, and was drawn down in a sitting position, as was usual.
He was clothed in white, as was the custom, and took honey cakes to appease the
Guardians of the Cave. As he went down, he prayed, "Tell me, O Trophonios, what
do you consider to be the most complete and purest philosophy."
![[image]](images/Rosa-Pyth-small.gif)
Trophonios was so pleased with Apollonios' arrival, that He later appeared to
the priests and chastized them for their deceit. He further instructed them to
go to Aulis, where Apollonios would emerge from the earth. (Those who descended
to Trophonios always emerged at some distance, usually beyond Locri or Phokis,
but none had ever emerged so far away as Aulis.) Indeed, in seven days (longer
than anyone else had stayed underground), Apollonios emerged bearing a large
book.
He said that he had come to Trophonios' image (phantasma), which held the
book, and had taken it from His hands. The book contained the teachings of
Pythagoras, and was in answer to his prayer. Later the book was given to
Emperor Hadrian, along with some of Apollonios' correspondence, and the book was
kept at the Emperor's palace at Antium, where it was inspected by many scholars
over the years. Part of the book has come to be known as the
Tabula Smaragdina
(Emerald Tablet), on account of the book's color. [In ancient times, the term
"emerald" (smaragdus) could apply to any green stone, or even to green
glass.]
This Apollonios was descended from Abaris, who was a Boread
born in the Caucasus.
Abaris was also a iatromantes (healer-prophet, or shaman), famous for
curing many people and preventing plagues, who traveled in many
lands and used the golden arrow of Apollo to fly in the spirit
world. He initiated Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus the amulet-maker,
at Massalia in the sixth century BCE and, in exchange, was allowed
to bring back to Hyperborea the secrets of Pythagoras, which came
from his travels among the Phoenicians, the Chaldeans, the Magi, and
the Minoans, who also brought him to the Orculi (Dactyls) in the
Idaean cave. Abaris also preserved what Pythagoras had learned from
Pherecydes, a man of Syros (Lesbos), and from Hermodamas of Samos, a
descendant of Creophylus. Later Pythagoras brought the worship of
Hyperborean Apollo to Croton and Metapontum, where he went into a
hidden cavern to learn from the Orculi and Janae magicians (i.e. the
Gianae of Sardinia). Eventually Pythagoras married a student,
Theano (daughter of Brontinus of Croton), who was also a Janae
sorceress from Metapontum. Abaris married Damo, the daughter of
Pythagoras, who inherited her father's grimoir, which he had
instructed should never leave the family, and so it has not.
The modern Apollonius is descended through his maternal grandmother from
Sicinius Pontianus, the son of Aemilia Pudentilla, a famous witch
who lived in Tripoli in the second century CE and married the
sorcerer Lucius Apuleius of Madaura (Africa), who was a descendant
of the striga (owl-witch) Pamphile (the wife of Milo of Hypata) from
Thessaly (famous for sorcery), and of Lucius of Patras, whom she
seduced with her magic, and about whom there are many strange tales.
Pamphile was descended from Sagana, a Janae sorceress of the first
century BCE who came from Cumae by Lake Avernus to live with others
of her kind in Rome on the Suburra, the Avenue of Witches. Sagana
was a descendant of Janus (it is said) and Crane, a striga of the
Marsi, an owl-witch celebrated for her craft, which saved the infant
Procas, who became king of Alba Longa, the most ancient town of
Latium (early in the first millenium BCE). She was from the tribe
of Janae (said to be descended from the gods Janus and Jana, i.e.,
Dianus and Diana), who have lived in caves in the mountains of
Sardinia for ten thousand years (as recounted in their epic,
The Janid).
Apollonius is descended through his paternal grandfather from
Joannes Opsopoeus (1556-1596), who collected and edited the
Sibyllene Oracles and other prophetic writings of his ancestors; he
was son-in-law to Daniel Stibar, a city councilman of Wurtzburg, who
assisted (c. 1536) Master George Sabellicus, known as the younger
Faustus, a great magician from the Sabine Hills, a place famous for
sorcery.
Through his paternal grandmother, Apollonius is descended from
Logan, called Gille Fhinnein, slave to St. Finnian, in fifteenth
century Scotland. He was the son of the Hunchback (Crotair) son of
Giolla-Gorm, who was one of the "Blue Men" (Na Fir Ghorm), who were
called "fallen angels." They live in caves under the waters of the
Minch, the channel through the "Charmed Islands" (Na h-Eileinean) of
the Hebrides. Crotair learned the magical arts from his mother
Kerling, a priestess of Dana (Diana), who was taken captive after
Giolla-Gorm was killed, and whose people lived in Kintail and the
lands around Ben Attow and Loch Ness. She had become skilled in the
Craft of the Blue Men, which she learned from Giolla-Gorm, her
husband.
[See Glaukidai: A Myth of the Blue Men
for more on Giolla-Gorm.]
Kerling was descended from Sir Robert Logan, who in 1329 went with Sir
James Douglas to take the heart of Robert Bruce to Palestine. Since Lord
Douglas died in Spain, Sir Robert returned with the heart, which was
buried in Melrose Abbey. He placed it in a lead cone and buried it
under the Chapter House floor.
Sir Robert was descended from Kessanus M'Lenane, a master of the
ways of the underworld. In 1217 Kessanus recruited Michael Scot in
Toledo, where he was translating Arabic astrology texts, and brought
him to the subterranean Schola Obscura in Salamanca, where he became
acquainted with the Janae and the Orculi (Dactyls). After Michael's
training was completed in 1220, Kessanus brought him out through
Hades' Mouth at Lake Avernus (Italy), and took him to Bologna to be
presented to Frederick II of Sicily. Thereafter the two performed
occult services for Frederick, accompanied him on his peaceful
crusade (1228-9), and assisted him in liberalizing Sicily's laws.
Kessanus also introduced Michael to Theophilus, a Saracen leader in
Tunis, who assisted the sorcerer in his translations. In 1231
Kessanus returned to Scotland to make further arrangements for
Michael, who was back in Paris teaching. Later he led Michael back
through the caverns that connect to the Mouth of Hades in Scotland,
where he was met by Henry de Beletun.
Kessanus was descended on his father's side from Amurechach, great-grandson
of Murechach (Murdock), grandson of Donnchach (Duncan), son
of Nicail, son of Gillaagamnan, son of Cormac, son of Airbertach,
son of Murechach, son of Fearchair (oig), son of Mic Beathaidh
(Macbeth), son of Finlaeic, son of Fearchar the Tall (died, 697 CE)
of Clan Lorn (one of the "Three Powerfuls"), who had been King of
Dalriada (Scotland), and was the son of Fearadaig, son of Fergusa,
son of Coluim, son of Boetain, son of Echdach, son of Muredaig, son
of Loarn, son of Erc, King of the Dal Riata (Ireland), who came from
Ireland in 498 CE.
Through his mother Kessanus was descended from Gebeleizis, who was
called Zamolxis (Bear-spirit), of the Thracian tribe of Getae. He
was apprenticed to Pythagoras in the sixth century BCE, where he met
Abaris, and the two agreed to work together in the service of Apollo
and the other Gods. Thus the two Boread lines, the Zamolxids and
Abarids, established a link which has continued for two and one-half
millenia. When Gebeleizis returned to the Getae, he became a smoke-dancer
(kapnobate) and vanished into a cavern for three years, after
which his people came to him to be cured by music and other means,
and to be initiated into his mysteries.
The truth! What is the truth? One's private truth?
The mythic truth, which time and place transcends?
Perhaps poetic truth? The psyche's truths?
Or last, the petty truth of public facts?
But this account partakes of all of these!
-- Apollonius Sophistes
![[image]](images/Rosa-Pyth.gif)
Trophonios was so pleased with Apollonios' arrival, that He later appeared to
the priests and chastized them for their deceit. He further instructed them to
go to Aulis, where Apollonios would emerge from the earth. (Those who descended
to Trophonios always emerged at some distance, usually beyond Locri or Phokis,
but none had ever emerged so far away as Aulis.) Indeed, in seven days (longer
than anyone else had stayed underground), Apollonios emerged bearing a large
book.
He said that he had come to Trophonios' image (phantasma), which held the
book, and had taken it from His hands. The book contained the teachings of
Pythagoras, and was in answer to his prayer. Later the book was given to
Emperor Hadrian, along with some of Apollonios' correspondence, and the book was
kept at the Emperor's palace at Antium, where it was inspected by many scholars
over the years. Part of the book has come to be known as the
Tabula Smaragdina
(Emerald Tablet), on account of the book's color. [In ancient times, the term
"emerald" (smaragdus) could apply to any green stone, or even to green
glass.]
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