Is Apollyon = Apollo?

[RamistThomist]

I am not asking or implying that Apollo has real hypostatic existence in the mythological sense. But is the general word/idea the same as Apollyon? I saw a reference from Grotius that said so, but I haven't scoured the commentaries.

 

[VictorBravo]

A quick look at the etymology would say no.

Apollyon apparently comes from the word for destruction.

Apollo seems to come from a word for an assembly or recurring festival.

https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/3383

 

[RamistThomist]

I've seen that. Thanks. I think the concept is rather fluid, as Apollo, like Enki, Reseph, and other Semitic demons, spread pestilence and healing with his arrows. And tying in Apollyon's location with the Abyss, we see a parallel with Enki who was Lord of the Abyss (abzu).

 

[RamistThomist]

GB Caird, in his commentary on the Apocalypse, notes that it could be an equivalent, since Aeschylus in Agemmenon (line 1080-1082) makes the connection between Apollo and appoluein, my destroyer. (Caird 120)

 

[VictorBravo]

I saw that part, too. The origins seem all too obscure for me, but I have no problem with people making connections after the fact--that is, I agree that what Apollo represents is fluid, and he may have come to be a sort of destroyer, but he probably got his mythological start as a relatively low-level party god.