Gaia 18, 2015, p. 145-156 145 Imagination versus Necessity in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo

I. After pondering aloud the embarrassment of topics available for praising Apollo (19– 24), including Leto’s childbearing on Delos, the hymnist abruptly unwinds a lengthy survey of Apollo’s wide dominion (30– 44), which he then retroactively transforms into the beginning of the Delian story by shifting the antecedent of a relative (ὅσσους, 30) from the regions Apollo rules to those that rejected his mother Leto when she needed a place to give birth (τόσσον […] ἵκετο Λητώ, 45). Apollo’s power is obviously not a natural concomitant of his parental breeding, since its scope equals that of his mother’s past helplessness. Moreover Apollo’s birthplace, as well as his mother, was also implicitly rejected, since before approaching Delos Leto tried 32 other places, any one of which might have preempted Delos and become Apollo’s birthplace had it chosen to welcome Leto. The places Leto visited first possessed fertility (48) and other features of natural topography that Apollo would find attractive (22– 4), and apparently also attracted Leto. Delos, in contrast, lacked any attractive features, as Leto explains to her: “ nobody else will ever so much as touch you … I don’t see you abounding in cattle or sheep, and you won’t be producing grapes or varied fruits” (53– 5). 1 Delos is Leto’s last option because her natural endowment is so poor. Yet Delos’s poverty paradoxically equips her to become Apollo’s birthplace, because the destitute island can be convinced she stands to gain by volunteering her hospitality. Leto’s address to Delos is not a prelude to coercion, despite its condescending sound. Instead