Apollophanes

"Truth is coexistent with the Gods, in the same manner as light with the sun." — Iamblichus

[apollophanes]

INTRODUCTION

Hello there, and welcome to my blog! You may call me Apollophanes. I am 19 years old and use he/him pronouns.

I am a late antique Hellenic polytheist, Neoplatonist, and theurgist. My Leader God is the shining Apollon. I also worship many other deities.

You can expect to see content about all Hellenic polytheism here, as well as occasional content on Neoplatonism and theurgy.

I strongly support the Xenia Declaration. All good people are welcome to worship the Gods with us.

DNI

If you fall under any of these categories, stay far away from this blog because you are not welcome here: Racists, xenophobes, sexists, fascists, ableists, homophobes, transphobes, queerphobes, transmedicalists, pedophiles body-shamers, antisemites, bigots, and anything similar.

May the Theoi bless us always as we align ourselves with them and ascend upon the path of henosis 🙏

[Intro last updated: 4th of May, 2026]

[apollophanes]

[Zeus] has provided each of us with an individual guardian deity, which stays by our side and is in charge of looking after us - a guardian who never sleeps and is impossible to distract. Is there any guardian to whose care he could have committed us that is better or more vigilant? Whenever you close your doors and turn out your lights, remember, never say to yourself that you are alone; you're not. God is inside, and so is your private deity, and neither of them requires a light to watch you by.

Epictetus — Discourses 1.14

[apollophanes]

May Dionysus, bringer of joy, foster the grove of trees, the holy light at summer’s end.

— Pindar, Fragments

[apollophanes]

SpongeBob characters are Graeco-Roman pagans /lh

A bit of a silly and less serious post than usual, but I find it funny thinking that SpongeBob characters genuinely may be Graeco-Roman polytheists

Neptune canonically exists as the ruler of the seas in the show. The characters revere him and praise him. They even use his name in expressions in place of "God". There was that one fish who literally fell to his knees and said "Neptune be praised!" And not only that, but iirc, Amphitrite also shows up sometimes. They quite literally worship Neptune and Amphitrite. Those right there are Graeco-Roman polytheists without a doubt /lh

Just thought I'd make a little silly post for the start of the year lmao

[apollophanes]

If someone should regard it as reasonable and true that the gods are not subject to change, but is in doubt how they take joy in the good and turn away from the evil, how they are wrathful with wrongdoers and are made propitious when appeased, then we must say that a god does not ‘take joy’, because what takes joy can also feel sorrow. They also do not grow ‘wrathful’, because being wrathful is an affect. Neither are they appeased with gifts, or they would be overcome by pleasure. In all, it would not be licit for the divine to be in a good or bad condition on account of human affairs. Rather, they are always good, and only beneficial; they never cause harm, because they are always in the same state as far as these things are concerned.

When we are good, we are connected with the gods through likeness, but when we become evil, we are separated from them through unlikeness. And when we live according to virtue, we cling to the gods, but when we become evil, we make them hostile to ourselves – not because they are wrathful, but because our wrongdoings do not allow us to be illuminated by the gods, but tie us to punitive daemons.

And if we can find atonement from our wrongdoings with prayers and sacrifices, if we ‘appease’ and ‘change’ the gods, it is really through our own actions, and through a reversion towards the gods, that we heal our evilness, and enjoy the goodness of the gods again. Thus, to say that the god turns away from the evil is like saying that the sun hides itself from the blind.

With these points, the question of sacrifices and the other honors that are given to the gods has been solved: the divine itself stands in need of nothing, but the honors are given for the sake of our own benefit.

— Sallustius, On the Gods and the World, Section XIV-XV

[apollophanes]

"The gods, too, are fond of a joke."

— Plato, Cratylus

[apollophanes]

"The Gods help those who help themselves."

— Aesop, Hercules and the Wagoner

[apollophanes]

"So the myths state the existence of Gods to all, but who and what they are only to those who can understand."

— Sallustius, On the Gods and the World

[apollophanes]

The Gods as Henads

A lot of people have often asked me how the Gods are seen within Neoplatonism. Some ask if we see them as aspects of the One, as parts of the One, etc. But to be completely honest, the answer varies a lot depending on the philosopher. But one very common and widely followed view amongst modern Neoplatonic polytheists is Proclus' teaching of henadology. Essentially, the Gods are each a particularised One. But even this can be a bit tricky to grasp. So I wrote an analogy a couple of months ago to try and explain things in my own words.

Imagine many shades of red. Myriad shades of red. They are all unique shades of red, separate and distinct. But what do they each hold in common? Redness. Redness is the principle that explains and unites all these shades of red. And because all of them are shades of red, each shade of red contains all of redness within it. All in each. And so this is how the henads work. The Gods are unities. Distinct and unique unities. And the One is the principle of unity. The difference is that of a particular versus a universal. And each God contains all other Gods. The Gods are distinct, and the manner in which they are united is the One.

Now, our minds can comprehend and understand any shade of red. But redness itself? How can we possibly see redness if redness is not red itself, but the cause of every shade of red? While we cannot see redness in its entirety, each shade of red reveals redness.

And that is why the Gods are essential in our journey to henosis. The One is ineffable. We cannot comprehend it, the very source of unity. But the Gods are unities and we can comprehend them. They are henads (particularised Ones). Therefore all Gods reveal the One. Every God is a path to the One.

But I must mention that while this analogy can give a good idea on the relation between the Gods and the One, it is still kinda flawed. The Gods are not just unities, but unities prior to Being. And the One itself cannot even be said to truly *be* anything really. Therefore, no metaphor or allegory can perfectly explain them. But what I've described is my own way of explaining things, and I do hope it helps.

[apollophanes]

A short praise of Zeus/Jupiter that I wrote:

Iuppiter, Iuppiter

O Iuppiter Rex

Iuppiter Optimus Maximus

O Rex, O Rex

Rex Deorum

Ὦ Ζεῦ Πάτερ

Ὦ Βασιλεῦ

Ὦ Ζεῦ Ἄναξ

Ὦ Βασιλεῦ

Δόξα σοί, δόξα σοί

Laus tibi, laus tibi

Δόξα σοί, δόξα σοί

Laus tibi, laus tibi

[apollophanes]

"Hubris is doing and saying things at which the victim incurs shame, not in order that one may achieve anything other than what is done, but simply to get pleasure from it. For those who act in return for something do not commit hubris, they avenge themselves. The cause of the pleasure for those committing hubris is that by harming people, they think themselves superior; that is why the young and the rich are hubristic, as they think they are superior when they commit hubris."

— Aristotle

[apollophanes]

"Even the unloved is loved by you."

— Cleanthes' Hymn to Zeus

[apollon-quotes]

"You [Apollo] who know the appointed end of all things, and all the paths that lead to them? And how many leaves the earth puts forth in spring, and how many grains of sand in the sea and in rivers are dashed by the waves and the gusting winds; and that which will be, and from where it will come, all this you clearly see."

- Pindar, Pythian Ode 9

[apollophanes]

Just a little something I wrote:

"It is foolish to believe the Gods, being transcendent as they are, would be overly concerned with our mortal affairs. It is equally foolish to believe the Gods, being immanent as they are, do not concern themselves with us."

[apollophanes]

"O ye gods, bestow on me whatever is due. If therefore I am of the number of worthy men, I shall obtain more than I have said; but if the gods rank me among the wicked, then they will send to me the opposite of what I ask; and I shall not blame the gods, because for my demerit I am judged worthy of evil."

— Life of Apollonius by Philostratus, lib. iv. cap. xl.

[pomegranateandivy-deactivated20]

Hellenism Resources

This is by no means a complete list, it’s just a collection of some sites, articles, and books I’ve found online that are interesting or useful.

Ancient Greek Cults:A Guide by Jennifer Larson

Aristotle on Religion by Mor Segev

Brutality of Citizen Wives, The by Mary E. Naples, M.A.

Collection of Greek Ritual Norms

Dionysus and His Cult and Worship; a Gender Study by Leah Hatch  

Divine Appetites and Animal Sacrifice by Mat Carbon

Greek Philosophy and Religion by Gábor Betegh

Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies- Classical Inquires page 

Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies-Library

Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies- Research Bulletin

Homer’s Gods, Plato’s Gods by Dr. Garrett 

Households, Families, and Religion by Matthew Dillon

Human Transgression–Divine Retribution by Aslak Rostad  

Imagining the Afterlife by Radcliffe Edmonds

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Introduction to Inner Purity and Pollution in Ancient Greek Religion by Andrej Pertovic

Meaning of Reciprocity in Ancient Greek Religion, The by A. Koutoupas

Mortal and Divine In Early Greek Etymology  by Shaul Tor

Oracular Functioning and Architecture of Five Ancient Apollo Temples Through Archaeoastronomy: Novel Approach and Interpretation by Belen Martin Castro, Ioannis Liritzis, and Anne Nyquist

Pausanias’ Descriptions of Greece

Personal Religion in Ancient Greece by Emily Whitmore

Plato’s Writings

Pythagoreans, Orphism and Greek Religion by Gábor Betegh

Recovering the Past: The Origins of Greek Heroes and Hero Cult by Jorge Bravo

Rethinking Aphrodite as a Goddess at Work by Gabriella Pironti

Sacred and the Profane, The by Mircea Eliade

Theoi.com

Theoi.com- Library

Theophoric Names and the History of Greek Religion by Robert Parker

Unraveling the Eleusinian Mysteries by Mary E. Naples, M.A .

[apollophanes]

"The man who worships Zeus the God of Comrades, and who, though he sees his neighbours in need of money, does not give them even so much as a drachma, how, I say, can he think that he is worshipping Zeus aright?"

— Fragment of a letter to a priest by Emperor Julian