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 NOTES ON THE SYMBOLISM OF THE APPLE IN
CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY.'

BY BENJAMIN OLIVER FOSTER.

THE storiesof theGarden of the Hesperidesand the wooing

of Atalantasuggestat once the importance of the apple in
ancientmythology;but the extentto whichsuperstitions of various
kinds about apples are currentto this day,and even in our own
country, mayperhapsnot be so generallyrealized. These modern
folk-notions about the apple have to do chiefly,so far as I am
acquainted withthem,withlove or fruitfulness.A girlremovesthe
peel of an apple in one long strip,throwsit back over her head,
and,turninground,tries to discover,in its twistsand curves,the
initialof her sweetheart. Or the seeds of an apple are placed on
thepalmof thehand,whichis then clapped to the forehead,and,
fromthe numberof seeds stickingthere,certainvaluable conclu-
sionsare drawn. H. F. Tozer says that in modernGreece throw-
ing an apple is a sign to express love, or to make an offerof
marriage.s Frazer in The GoldenBough8 tells of a customamong
the Kara-Kirgiz,in accordancewithwhichbarrenwomenroll upon
thegroundundera solitaryapple-tree, in orderto obtainoffspring.
By an old Hallow-e'en custom, still kept up in Scotland,a maiden
goes alone intoa room and eats an apple beforea mirror,whereupon
thefaceof herfuturehusbandis supposed to appear,lookingover

1 Friinkel,Arch.Zeit.xxxi (1874), pp. 36 ff.,in an articleon the Venus of Melos,

givesa partiallist of passages, and a briefdiscussionof the subject. It is treated
also in Dilthey'sde Callimachi Cydippa(Leips. 1863), to whichI am indebtedfor
a numberof citations. Clearchusof Soli, a scholar of the Alexandrineperiod,
wrotea littleessay of about 250 wordson this subject (Athen.xii.p. 553 E) chiefly
interesting to us as showingthatin his timethe originof thesymbolismwas quite
forgotten.
2 Researchesin the Highlands of Turkey,
x869, ii. p. 331. Cf. Wachsmuth,
Das alte Griechenlandim Neuen, pp. 82 ff. 2 i. p. 73.

39
40 Benjamin Oliver Foster.
hershoulder.' In Montenegroa bridetakes an apple and attempts
to throwit upon the roofof her husband'shouse,believingthat,if
she succeeds,theirunionwillbe blessedwithchildren.2
The Greekand Romancounterpart of thismodernconceptionof
the efficacyof the apple in such mattersformsthe subject of this
paper. I have endeavoredto make a completecollectionof the
allusionsto the thingin literature, and have used the evidenceof
art,in a few places, where it promisedto be helpful. I have not,
a
however,attempted thoroughstudyof the representations of the
apple in ancientart.
The word'apple' I haveventured as a convenient
to use throughout
translationof /p.Lov,whichmaymean almostany sortof tree-fruit,
exceptthe nut. To attemptto distinguishthe different kinds of
p~ha, or to determine which kind is meant in each particular
instancewould be beside mypurpose. Anyone who is interested
in thisphase of the subjectwillfinda good treatment of thewords
C/LXov,malum,etc., in Victor Hehn's u.
Kulturpflanzen Hausthiere,
18946, pp. 594 fft.
In consideringthe apple as a love gift,it will be convenientto
startwithits connexionwithAphrodite. For this we have in art,
includingthat of the best period,veryabundantevidence,and I
shall cite only a few typicalillustrations.Pausanias,4in describ-
ingthe cultat Sicyon,tellsof a statueof thegoddess by Canachus,
whichheld a poppyin one hand,and an apple in theother. The
Aphroditeof Alcamenes,too, of whichthe so-calledVenus Gene-
trixis a copy,held an apple in her lefthand. Friinkel5describes
an archaicmirrorframe,nowin the BerlinAntiquarium, in which
is
Aphrodite represented with an apple in her righthand. A sil-
ver statuettefrom Syria6 representsher with a mirrorin one
hand, and an apple in the other. The RhamnusianNemesis is

1 R. Folcard, Jr.,Plant Lore,

Legendsand Lyrics,Lond., 1884,p. 220.
2 Ibid. p. 222; otherexampleswill be foundin thischapter.
8 See also the articleApfelby F. Olck in the Pauly-WissowaReal-Encyclopddie,.
1894.
4 Paus. ii. 10. 5-
6 Arch. Zeit. xxxi.p. 39-
6 Lajard, Recherches sur le cultede Venus,P1. 19, 5 (cited by Friinkel).
 The Symbolismof the Apple in Classical Antiquity.
4I

representedas holding an apple bough,and the Rhamnusian Nemesis,

we are told,' was patterned after Aphrodite. With the statue of
Aphrodite discovered in Melos were found certain fragments,one
of which is a left hand holding an apple. It is Friinkel's opinion
that this belongs with the statue, though this is doubtful. It would
be easy to multiplyexamples, but it is, perhaps, unnecessary.
To the connexion of the goddess with fruits,points also the cult-
name iv K~lrOts, under which designation Aphrodite Urania was wor-
shiped at Athens. Further evidence of her being a vegetation
goddess - Aphroditedes Erdenlebens- are the titlesprXda,2iv Kaa-
ot,, or iv i'XEL, a t
po, 7'dWpo,6 and 'Kap7ros.7 With
vOctoa,4'
these may be compared the ow ,
famous invocation by Lucretius in his
firstbook.8
Anothergood proofof this connexion of the apple with Aphrodite
is the Atalanta myth. The storyas told by Servius is, in brief,as
follows: Atalanta's fatherSchoeneus learned froman oracle that,after
her marriage,she was destined to die, or, according to otheraccounts,
to be transformedinto some animal. To preventsuch a catastrophe,
the trial of speed was imposed upon all wooers, with the provision
that,in the event of her being victorious,the defeated suitor should
sufferdeath, but that the firstman who succeeded in out-runningher
should have her for his wife. Hippomenes called upon Aphrodite
for aid in his attempt,and the goddess gave him three golden apples
fromthe garden of the Hesperides, and explained to him their use.
Provided with these, Hippomenes entered the race, and, whenever
Atalanta's fleetness left him behind, he threwout an apple, to one
side or the other,and she, stopping each time to pick up the pretty

1 Cf. Suidas,
Hesychius,Photius,s.vv.
2
Farnell, Cultsof the GreekStates,ii. pp. 642 f.,says: " The pomegranatewas
sacred to her in Cyprus and on coins, of the Roman period,of Magnesia on the
Maeander we findthe figureof the goddess withthisfruitin her hand, and with
the inscription'Appo3lr7 -t7Xela."
8 Athen.xiii. 572 F. 4 Hesychiuss.v.
5
Empedocles so called her,accordingto Plutarch,Am. p. 756 E.
6 Stesichorus,frag. 26.
7 Plutarch,loc. cit.,says Sophocles so called her.
8 Lucr. i. ff.,
I especiallyvv. 7 f.,tibisuavis daedala tellus I summittitflores.
42 Benjamin Oliver Foster.

toy,was vanquishedin therace,and becamehis bride. Hippomenes,

however,forgotor neglectedto returnthanksto Aphrodite, and was
punishedby Cybele,whosesacredgroveAphroditehad impelledhim
to violate,by beingturned,withhis bride,intoa pair of lions.'
This storyis a veryold one. We can traceitback,through a couple
of fragments, to Hesiod's poemon the Heroines.2 But these frag-
ments-afford no evidencethatHesiod told aboutapples in thisstory,
norhavewe anypre-Alexandrine authorto help us; forTheocritusis
theearliestwriter, nextto Hesiod, whofurnishes any allusionto the
myth. We should be compelledto admit,then,that Atalanta's
apples,like the apple of Discord,mightpossiblyhave been a late
invention, wereit not fora Greekcrater, discoveredin 1887,which
Robert3 describesas belongingto the best periodof the art- the
middleof the fifthcentury - and to the school of Polygnotus. I
thinkeverybody mustagreewithhim thattherecan be no question
but that this paintingrepresentsthe storyof Atalanta. Its chief
featuresare these: on the leftare Schoeneus and Atalanta- the
latternude,save for a band wound about her hair,withits ends
flutteringin the breeze,and bands of some sort (Ovid's talaria4)
about her feet. On the right,Hippomenesis makingready. He
has put off his chlamys,and, having anointedhimself,is about
to use the flesh-scraper, but has stopped short,and is gazing in
astonishmentat Aphrodite,who, dressed in rich attire,appears
beforehim,thoughshe seems to be invisibleto the others. In her
righthand is an apple,whichshe is reachingout to Hippomenes,
and Eros,5who attendsher, carries anotherapple. It cannotbe
made out,fromthesomewhatobliteratedlefthand of thegoddess,
whetherthatholdsthethirdapple,or not. Other(male) figuresare
perhaps attendantsupon Hippomenes,or,it maybe, his rivalsfor
thehand of theprincess.

1 Serv. ad Aen. iii. I 13

2 Edition of
Rzach,frag. 42, 43.
8 Hermes,xxii. pp. 445
4Ov. Metam.x. 591. ff.
5 For the apple in connexionwithEros, whichis doubtlessdue to his relation-
ship to Aphrodite,cf. Philostr.Imag. i. 6; Furtwangler,Vasen-sammlung (Berlin
I885), nos. 2387,2911, etc.
 The Symbolismof the Apple in Classical Antiquity. 43

So it seemscertainthatwhenTheocritussays:
'I7o0vrlop oa 8q 7TaVrapVOV qocEXya/Lat,
dvvev
"h' iv XcpoaviXAv8pdLov Theoc. Idyll. iii. 40 f.

he is not inventing,norborrowing fromanotherAlexandrine, but is

thinking of theold formof thelegend,perhapsthatof Hesiod him-
self. Robert1 notes,also, thatOvid's beautifulversionof thestory
is in curiouslyminuteaccordwiththispainting." He, too,is appar-
entlydrawingfromthe same sourcewithTheocritus.
Before dismissingthis story,I should not omit to state that
thereare tracesof a versionconnectingthe apples of Atalantawith
Dionysus. Theocritus, makestheloverspeak
in thePharmaceutriae,
of comingto his mistress,

/ta /AE4V (AOVOVOLO

v KdXATOLGL cUhVXacoV,
Theoc. Idyll. ii. 120.

and the scholiastcomments:M&Xa : KaXXLu'aXos

iv rgrCptAoyd-
v
8wav'vO
Aov aov TrTdcavov 4K U"XWV 'TULV, 4e Kal7t V'IrTro/LEVV
oV
EtVaL" 0'
as AOswpoS roL7mrT-2
'A)po8&'rqsalrTaMcvS,1%
XafeZLv, -
iv KopwvLKoZK.
MAa /E'V V 78 KatELpR(TO7L0T7TLK, KaO 6rb T OSd-
KdOX7r'"aparLtLa "'Apo8k
' FeVXa
T0^K
/eLdva uS e4KLatovvov.
Irro7wTT0EVL
TaGra poraW Tv
'AraXAvrTrv
(O019o
CKLv27OCV, ItLX-q7Ta~

rd O' 7roreKV'pt9
z 4WrlVov8O^KECV
77Xa 17T0
AXoo'a
KpOT"07WV.
This scholiumis also noteworthy,
as affording the onlyhint which
we have,that the goldenapples had, forAtalanta,anysignificance
apartfromtheirbeauty,whichattractedheras a toydoes a child.8

1 Loc. cit.p. 448.

2 Ov. Metam.x.
560 ff. Note especiallyvv. 650 f.; 578-580; 591 ff.
3 The late epigrammatistArabius saw in Atalanta's apples a (on
marriage-gift
whichsee below):
&9va
cyctdIwy d77ApoXALfl
tppErrers raXUr77ros
ToJo yyPPa K06pVXpl0CEOV,'
Ka
Irr6/ee;
lAow/^Xopvdm&oeve, Kc4
dKre irap4ovO
elCpyeC,
KKai vytjson1AoXo. Ppl l4a4.Is.a6pIj4
AntA.Plan. 144.
44 Benjamin Oliver Foster.

Let us next considerthe storyof the Apple of Discord and the

Judgment of Paris. So faras we know,theapple in thisstoryis, as
I have said, a late invention. It is so familiara tale,thatwe can
hardlyrealizethattheclassic poetsof Greecedid notknowit at all,
but this seems to be thetruth. Lucian,' a scholiaston Euripides,2
theepigrammatist Damocharis,3 and theverylateepic poet Coluthus4
are our onlysourcesin Greek,whileLatin literature has onlyHygi-
nus,5Servius,6Apuleius,7and some writersin theAnthology.8Art
can do no betterforus. Here itfirst appears,saysFriinkel,9
certainly
in wall-paintingsand Romanreliefs. Nevertheless, the latenessof
its appearancein the storydoes notmakeit valuelessforus,sinceit
furnishes one morepiece of evidencethat the apple was, in ancient
times,connectedwith Aphrodite. Frinkel,loindeed, sees in this
legend a directconnexionwiththe subject of the presentstudy,-
surmising thattheselate writersconceivedof Paris as bestowinghis
favorupon the goddess by the symbolismof the giftof an apple,
just as mengave apples to theirmortalsweethearts.Withthisidea
I am notinclinedto agree,however,sincenoneof oursourcesforthis
storymake Paris a loverof Aphrodite, nor do theygive anyhintof
such a thing- unless the award of the apple be itselfconsidered
as implying it.
Stillanotherindicationof the relationof theapple to Aphrodite
is the storyof Melus,as told by Servius." He relatesthat Melus,
priestof Aphrodite, and foster-father
of Adonis,hangedhimselfon
a tree,with griefat the latter'suntimelydeath. Aphroditethen
turnedhim into an apple-tree,whichwas named,for him,fp^Xov.

1 Lucian, Sympos.35; Dial. Mar. 5-

2 Schol. Eur. Androm.276.
8 Pal. ix. 633-
Anth.
4 Coluthus,de raptuHelenes,67.
6 Hyg. Fab. 92.
6 Serv. ad Aen. i. 27.
7 Apul. MAetam. x. 32.
8 Riese, i. p. 117, Nos. 133, 134, 135 p. 125, Nos. 165, 166.
9 Loc. cit.p. 38, note12.
1oIbid. p. 38.
11 Serv. ad Ecl. viii. 37.
 The Symbolismof the Apple in Classical Antiquity. 45

Finally,the notes on the Rhamnusian Nemesis in Suidas and

Photiusindicatethat the apple was universally
knownas an attri-
bute of Aphrodite. Suidas, under the caption 'Pauvovtl'a N4lots,
'
says: ar? olv8pVrO v "'Apol~r
YrXLfa q L aL' KXaLKXo80Vx
7rpOroV
and the same wordsare foundin thenoteof Photius.
/qXdas,
Two othermythsshould be mentionedhere,afterwhichI shall
considerthe apple as used in historictimes. These are the story
of theapples whichMotherEarthcaused to grow,as a weddinggift
to Hera,' and the storyabout Persephone,whichrelates that she
was compelledto remainwithPluto in thelowerworld,because she
had eatenof a pomegranatethere,and had therebysealed irrevocably
the marriagecompact.2 Withthesemythsshould be comparedthe
followingstatementin Plutarch: 6 8d'XoviKXEVE T-qV V'pfv ry Wvv-
4L O vyKaTaKXLVEYaL
Fcvov KvswvtovKaTraTpayOvUaav avLTTOfVOLvO%,
OTL T76'V TrO'
EOLKEV,807 OT-,OaTO Katl4ov XaPLv E~vaL
Evoap/oOTov
F-Z^v. Coniug. Praecept. I, p. 138 D; cf. orpwTOV
Kc8 Quaest. Rom. 65, p.
279 F. This passage provestheuse of the apple in marriagerites
to have been a veryancientone, and I agreewithDilthey(p. I 5)
thatthe mythsarose fromthe actual custom,not the customfrom
the myths. It is likely,too,thattherewas somebasis in real lifefor
thethrowing of apples at the bridegroom whichStesichorusspeaks
of in his Epithalamium of Helen:
7roX?a
p~vKv<bvLabAXa7rorcppL7rroVV
7rOTL8L4pov avaKTL,
Se"vpc'Lva
7roXXI" o-vaOXa
Kal Lov rC
rc-cgavovu ov'asi
p08LVOvI KopWvLaL frag.27,Bgk.
and fortheiruse by Laodamia in a religiousceremony performedin
honorof herdead husband.8
We have seen above,that,withthe Greeks of our own day,the
apple is used in courtship. In Furtwangler'sCatalogueof Vases
in Berlinis describeda paintingwhichthe editorthinksmayrepre-
sent sucha scene." The youngman,however, is presenting
thelove-
tokennot to themaidenherself, but to herfather,
and Furtwaingler's

1 Eratosthenes,Catast.iii.; Hyg. Astron.ii.; Athen.iii.

p. 83 C (quotingAsclepi-
ades of Myrlea); Serv. ad Aen. iv. 484-
2Apollod. i 5, 3. 8 Hyg. Fab. 104. 4 No. 2518.
46 Benjamin OliverFoster.

interpretation is not convincing. In literature, the noticesof this

customare numerous. In the lexiconof Suidas thewords
,,jAq yXV,-
arethusexplained:i'l rv dl Ipw'rdrwvai~rayoIovw. (Hesychius
6Ovat
interprets 3aXCTvsimilarly. His wordsare: TLV Ka L
rtva
,lXA ,roral
Ipara Here, then, we have the expression'to be hit
withani-rayay&'Oat.)
used as a The practiceitselfmust,ofcourse,
apple' metaphor.
have been common,and of long standing,beforethewordsdescrip-
tiveof it could have becomea stereotypedphrase,synonymous with
'love-making.' And yet,strangelyenough, this use
figurative of the
wordsdoes not make its firstappearance in late writers,but was
taken,by Suidas, fromone of our earliestsources on the custom,
Aristophanes, whomthe lexicographerquotes, in the passage just
as
cited, furnishing an illustration of his definition.The wordsof
Aristophanes occur in the Clouds,in the speech of the JustArgu-
ment, who is made to say to the Athenian youth:
W el'
s(F'pX-~ vaS TPOo TcrlJta/lVj
CLOaTcv, KEX1?VW'
bL Xc inrb
-10Jc; ropvLSov 7ri3C6K6clas Nub.996f.'
dro~pavTe)0.s

We labor underthe disadvantage,then,of havingto investigate

a customwhich,by the time of our earliest source,has already
become so stale as to furnishthis metaphor.
The followingepigram,which appears to have been writtento
accompanythegiftof an apple,is ascribedto thephilosopherPlato:
, AXqfP~caXXOc,
TY v" 8'i d
, o)r IIKOVL 4kXCL
SJC
<'r7 ij ws"
&eaxt4, apvyoyinpEo.
1a"ap", 0 IM)YL7LVOL ur
TO,vo0EiL,
ToT T XaJo
ra
(`p
qTK 'aar "7)Y qv a% OAaLOO.
Diog. Laert. iii. 23.

The next one, also ascribed to Plato, apparentlyserved the same

purpose:
Y -4ACE LXWV ( T~. diXX"
brL.VVaov,
/.LOov i"' FEdv
zav&iTrv"lY-KKay L ILpaLvO~.LC&.
Ibid.

1 Cf.Schol.ad loc.: pSXq&ls:oUoTt raXaX

ol rb cialcis
pAX o~oXryor rro-o'a,
Ipwrr dyacyegv.
 The Symbolism of the Apple in Classical Antiquity. 47

In the fifth
idylof Theocritus,it is theladywhodoes thewooing.
The goat-herdComatasis the speaker:
Kai
/3dXXCL TOv a
l.tAXo~toL aL7ro'X.ov KXcapO'crT
a"v
T'rt atlya, 7rapcXavra
Ka. L
rrorTrvX'Lo-cC.
Theoc. Idyll. v. 88 f.

One can scarcely believe that Theocritus merelymeant,here,

'Clearista makes love to her goat-herd,' but so the scholiasttook
it. His noterunsthus: /LACXXKiaLAdXoetv
r: Av rparat IEC els
o70-oi
-yaap. To yp fujXa
fe7
epo ra v7rayayE 1 cr trorrot3 cracroov.
XXc~v
The initiativeis similarly
takenby thegirlin anotheridyl:
f6XXceL
ToL, IloXv'4a/Ac,T7 ro7vOov i raXalenc
LXotL-tv,
d vo-'pwra r'v ard'Xovav8paKaXhcTa
?
Theoc. Idyll. vi. 6 f.

Vergilwas thinking of thesetwoplaces,whenhe wrote:

malomeGalateapetit,lascivapuella,
et fugitad salices,et se cupitantevideri.
Verg.Ecl. iii.64 f.
In the second and thirdidyls,imitatedin the thirdbucolic,the
loverbringsa presentof apples to his mistress,1
and,in theeleventh
(v. 39), Polyphemus calls Galatea yXvKva'aXov.2

1 Theoc. Idyll. ii. 120:

/XaXuh1PvKbX7rota1 vXcd-owv.
AtLWv6oLo
Ibid. iii. Io f.:
ro ~Ka
vi3e, Xa KOOElXov,
77rVWE
Cw/h
~po.
KaOEXElV7r - K
KXEVU & TOL oiwW.
apLOVtovXXr

Verg.Ecl. iii.70f.:
quod potui,puerosilvestriex arborelecta
aureamaladecemmisi; crasalteramittam.
Compare, also, Verg. Eel. ii. 51 f., and Martial, vii. 91.
2 Explained by the scholiast, ad loc., as
7rp6o-aey-uaPWXTLK6V.With this place in
Theocritusmaybe comparedSappho,frag. 93 (Bergk):
otovb -yXUK6 aXOV pEOETratdKpy
,7r'Vo'3
eKpOV~7r XEXde'OVo U~
CLKporPa'&"
OOK
caXop6r7-eS,
o
d Oy
o , V
)
r rVKE-ao
Thispassageis s
KXeEXCp
pd&v
explained in Himerius(i. 16): ZarqoO
byoneCVUpe
rEL. , 5v &pcaAghXgLv
48 Benjamin Oliver Foster.

Theocritus,indeed,used this idea so oftenthatI cannotfeelthat

the editorshave anyexcuse for meddlingwiththe receivedtext in
Idyll.xiv. 38. The injuredlover is upbraidinghis falsesweetheart
forthefavorshe has shownhis rival. Finallyshe burstsintotears,
and he exclaims,as she rushesfromtheroom:
kXXov
oto0a
Oc~Xare4nXov. TrqVw Tr~a& SLKpva uL6LXa
peOVTL.

Evidentlyhis meaningis ' These tears of thineare flowingas love-

tokensforhim.'1
In anotherplace we are toldof Polyphemus:

?paro 8' oV dLLXOLs,o4iVSpo8s9,o0v8 KLK'VVOL,

AAAX'
0pa ,
LaviaL%atycto S Wra7rcrapepya.
Theoc. Idyll. xi. Io f.

In thefirstbook of Propertiusis a charmingbit of description,

wherethe poet tells howhe came into Cynthia'shouse and found
hersleeping:
etmodosolvebam nostrade fronte
corollas,
ponebamquetuis,Cynthia,temporibus;
et modogaudebamlapsos formarecapillos;
nuncfurtivacavis poma dabam manibus,
omniaqueingratolargibarmunerasomno,
munera
de pronosaepevolutasinu!
Prop. i. 3, 21 ff.

AnotherPropertianpassage describesCydonianapples as a love-

gift:
illis munuserantdecussa Cydoniaramo.
Prop. iv. 13, 27.

elKdarL7rV XraptLagv'IV
70ooOTOV E rpb
70ro1 pa otre58ovoLv, oov
p6paaa'OL
K6pfI,,
To
700 aKT6Xov yEOLaaoOLL, Tr Ka ' aipr X0V d
[otI'] &Kp [][U cwpav 7pvVT-y XXOv7L

rTvXdpLvd ludriova'av.
r7jp2o'a&
This place in Sappho is imitatedby Longus,Past. iii. 33; 34. Two other
places in Longus may be noted here, i. 24; iii. 25.
1 For parallelsto the construction of gaXa- whichI take to be predicate-
apposition- cf. Idyll. v. 124: 'Idc&padvO'V8aro pelrc ydXa; ibid. 126: Aero xd
EvPapZrTs/lvp/d& ; Verg.Ecl. iii. 89: mellafluantilli.
 The Symbolismof the Apple in Classical Antiquity. 49

This line bears a close resemblanceto Lucretius'smentionof them,

in his accountofprimitive customs:
velpretium velpiralecta.
glandesatquearbuta,
[sc.amoris],
Lucr.v. 965.
Bothplaces are probablyreminiscences of Theocritus.
A veryprettypictureof this lover'scustomis foundin thepoem
addressedby Catullusto his friendOrtalus(lxv. 15
iff):
sed tamenin tantismaeroribus, Ortale,mitto
haec expressatibicarminaBattiadae,
ne tua dictavagis nequiquamcreditaventis
effluxissemeo forteputesanimo,
ut missumsponsifurtivomuneremalum
procurritcasto virginise gremio,
quod miseraeoblitaemollisub vestelocatum,
dumadventumatrisprosilit,excutitur:
atque illudpronopraecepsagiturdecursu,
huic manattristiconsciusore rubor.

Philostratusgives a minute descriptionof a picturein which

apples are prominent.The partsof chiefinterestto us are: MjXa
EOJTES Otyap KLXXL(T1OL TW
r
Lo"VTPVY(OLV... pWvCO")TV
0SOVTETapE, SJrT-
$cXOOv7TE TO^v XXW()v S&o I/1v(TL^Tv av7rE/eLrovr- t/u7XovlAX'XoX , -1" 86
TerpaSvas 0 V T 0 SE Ka Ov8rs
TO
TeOaeL
e.LtV oEpOV, cvTLTOciEaL elTa
V,aiXXa Kat qarrELX
cTh pVa ovuaLv XX 7L TOV
poosarosL
EcTErTo
reaXay.rEC. KaXoV7 LVyLa 7rapme e XOLrs,
e `L
at w eKortEL yapr, TL ,TOy ypaiov -
/nX 7 Os 7vVLo
&a 7ratlov-
/fLX~a
raTLVa,T 7wa,^ Kai
c`Xr~Xov pO
aPo otuev 70r /L rXov
00V
Xd o, ap6oTuac, o0v 6 plV &4rt q c asLX arypT' uXov,, 6 5
v
ertlaLs
avTorVros8XeatLratsXcpo-&jXov( &avrL4 LX4aO-V, EL XI loL, Kat aVToLrLtr WV
aVTO, TO OW
C TOJV OW
jV aEvyOa qL7TE8OvOLv JpoJra ?l871 aKov7Oa Ka, frqL
ToVs Luv 7ra/e?Vapvaorat Tp
E7tl rO^EVELY 70T EpLV, ToVs 8e dE7l Tp /L

XatTOL70 rOov. Philost. Imag. i. 6.

There is an entertaining
account,in Lucian,of a lovers' quarrel.
Ioessa, complainingof the shamefulway her lover,Lysias, carries
on with other women, in her presence, says: 7TXOs70SAT77Xov
r daro-
8aKo.V, 67rOT'EToV At4tXov Elles WTXoXOvILEcVOV- EXLLXEL
yap 0paOa)vL -
7rpOKv /as 7r(oe EVOTOX(OJ7rpOO-7KOV/T2faS c
CS VTOYKOX7TOI/ oXaOkw
aLVTV;%,
yE VTELP(O/LYeOvCE/L6 7S e OLE
7Xtoao-/Aca TaeT 7(v uac-Tcuv v7ro Tw)aroSco-/Mw
50 Benjamin Oliver Foster.

rapepfloaro.Dial. Mer. xii. i.1 This customof takinga biteout of

the apple is a featureof the game in anotherplace in Lucian,2and
in Alciphron.8Withthe Xtoraaaa of Lucian we maycomparethis
line,froman epigramascribedto Petronius:
osculacumpomismitte;vorabolubens.
Petr.Epig.34.

Anothercuriousdevelopment of the practiceof givingapples is

foundin themessageswhichweresometimeswritten on them. For
the existencein historicaltimes of such a custom we have no
evidence; but threestorieswhichhave come downto us describing
thisuse of theapple make it probablethat it was not unknownin
real life. These are the storyof the Apple of Discord,- which
Lucian says bore thelegendi KaX Xapfl&w,4 - the storyof the apple
that got Cydippe into such a coil, and the one, preservedin the
scholiato theIliad, aboutthemaidenwhofell in love withAchilles,
and assisted him,by a messagewrittenupon an apple whichshe
flungto him,to captureher nativetown. This last story,whichis
of unusual interestin that the scholiastascribesit to Hesiod, thus
makingit the oldestof all the sourcesforour study,is as follows:
'AxtXXscV ?rro' v Eov TOpiv 7
TrrpLOtKOv~ 7 'IXov
TpoiKOV 7roXqo
7roXE, o delT7Tv7rcXatp~uvMovpviav, 8
tLCE vvGv
& II8raoovKaXovplCvrv,
TO
Kat aVT)v 0VTavra XtaLV EXECv. d royvCvToV aVTOV Tv EV TCXOT
TV TOV
7roXtopKtLcv St' 7'TO7rOVKac /IEXXOVTO davaxowp4dV,ao-rv
dXvpoTTa
TLTrLv 7rapOevov EpacO7vaL 70o
TLrva Kal XaL/oV-
EUTro
OwvoV
reXtV
oav ~ Xov eld ro^ro drtyp aL, Ka
Np%
to
GaL
'AXLXXELw, v 8
ov rv Aa v
^
aVp ivov "
yeypaciL~ r 'AxAtXXe,wrp'vMovlvqavvX dv vSwp yap
r9',
OVK EVEcrTL L KaKjS."
&sW0crt TOV8S 'AxLXX& ErwLelvavra,ovro
l
Xa3fldv
TV 7T0XLvTr roSaro~ oTravet. ~yo7roplTT
pa?rap L7/y/rLaqp
y Kal 'Hrtdo'S.
Tyo
Schol. Ven. A. on II. Z 35.5 Whileit is truethatthe apple is here
used, primarilyat least,notas a love-token,
but to conveya message

1 Cf. the almost word-for-word imitationby Aristaenetus(i. 25).

2 Lucian, Tox. 13.
8 Alciphron,Epist. iii. 62, 2.
4 Lucian, Dial. Mar. 5-
6 Dilthey
(p. 13 ') thinkswe have in Philostratus(Epist. 62, Kays.) an allusion
to this story.
 The Symbolismof the Apple in Classical Antiquity. 51

of encouragementrelative to the siege which Achilles is prosecuting,

one is strongly tempted to believe that the maiden's apple was
meant to bear more than one message, and to hint that another
citadel was quite as near capitulation as was Monenia.
Cydippe's story' is transmittedto us in the Heroides of Ovid,
who found it in a poem by Callimachus. It is somethinglike this:
Acontius was a beautiful youth of the island Ceos. At the yearly
festival,in Delos, he saw Cydippe, the daughterof an Athenian of
high rank, and straightwayfell in love with her. Following her to
the temple of Artemis,whithershe had gone, in company with her
nurse, he plucked a quince, and, writing on it, "I swear by the
sanctuary of Artemis to wed Acontius," flung it at her feet. The
nurse picked it up and handed it to Cydippe, who read it aloud,
for Nurse's benefit. By thus saying aloud the words on the quince,
she became bound to marrythe young Cean, for the goddess had
heard her vow. Now Cydippe's fatherhad promised her to another,
and, upon her return to Athens, preparations were made for the
solemnization of her marriage. When the day appointed for the
ceremony came, however, Cydippe was suddenly taken sick, and
the marriage had to be postponed. Twice again, the day was set,
and, twice again, did Cydippe fall sick. Finally, the fatherappealed
to Delphi, and learned that the wrathof Artemis,occasioned by the
breaking of Cydippe's vow, could only be appeased by the girl's
marriageto Acontius, which was, accordingly,allowed to take place.
Yet another side of the wide sphere of usefulness of the apple is
recorded by Horace, in the Satires ii. 3, 272 f.:

quid, cum Picenis excerpensseminapomis

gaudes si camerampercustiforte,penes te es ?
upon which Porfyriocomments: solentamantesseminaex mallisorbi-
culatis duobusprimis compressadigitismitterein cameram,velut augu-
rantes,si cameramcontzgerint,
posse sperariad efectumduci,quod animo
conce.perunt.
I shall now consider a number of passages which must be dealt
with in determininghow much the likeness of the apple to the shape

1 Imitatedin one told of Ctesylla; AntoninusLiberalis,I.

52 Benjamin Oliver Foster.
of a woman'sbreasthad to do withthe part it played in courtship
and marriage.'
Aristophanes has, in the Acharnians (v. I199):
K'L
tOL'oV,WV YKX-qp\
TOWv
KvAvLvw.
occurthewords(v. I1I5):
In the Lysistrata
Tas "EXEvas a uCX.
The scholiast explains: vuka
ov" pacroTo In the Ecclesia-
rlro-v.
zusae (v. 90oi ff.)theyoungman says,of thegirl:
TO TpvoEcpovyap LtrE47VKC
T'ov"7aTraxotcu/LUpolt
K7 T 70OL U7XXOL; 2

Two otherwritersof comedy,also, makethecomparison. Crates

(frag. 40 Kock) has:
7ravvyap coTLv ;p'LKO)Tar
Ta TLTvOr oariep '
/?LUXov qULJ/aLKvXa.

Cantharus(frag. 6 Kock) has:

els a TVrOla.
Kvs&ov'oesELrXOLcTLv

1 For thissymbolismin modernliterature,cf. Goethe,Faust v. 3771 ff.

FAUST. Einsthatt'ich einenschinenTraum;
Da sah ich einenApfelbaum,
Zwei schine Aepfelglinztendran,
Sie reiztenmich,ich stieghinan.
DIR SCH6NE. Der Aepfelchenbegehrtihrsehr,
Und schonvomParadieseher.
Von Freudenfiihl'ich michbewegt
Dass auchmeinGartensolchetrigt,
with the note in the editionof von Loeper (Berl. 1879), who cites "Dschami in
Jussuf u. Suleika, 15 Gesang, von der Brust Suleika's: Zwei frischeAepfel,
welche einen Zweig geziert; Ariost.Ras. Rol. vii. 14: Due pome acerbe e pur
d' avoriofatte, Vengonoe van, comeonde; Konrad's TrojanischerKrieg,von der
Helena: Als ob zwen epfelwiinneclich,Ihr waeren dar gestecket; auch Biirger:
Und suche den Baum, den Baum, Der den Apfel der Liebe dir trug." Cf.
also Goethe's Der Miillerin Verrath,thirdstanza, and Grimm's s.vv.
W'rterbuch
Affel,Frauenaepfel.
2 The scholiast says: /7Xots: on which Rutherford(Schol. Arist.
s7rapetats,
raT
ii. p. 550) observesthat thisis a knownlate sense of A"Xov. In view of the other
places in Aristophanes,I feel prettycertainthatthe scholiastis mistaken.
 The Symbolismof the Apple in Classical Antiquity. 53

Comingdownto Theocritus, we have,in a mimeattributed to him,

a dialoguein whichthegirlexclaims,as she repelstherudeadvances
of herlover:
T71PEeoCL
;aTVplKC; t 8'v9Cs8OEva'ao platoiv;
and theyoungman replies:
aT(
/MXa TpaLnrcTa TaSe (voovTra L8S&$w.
Theoc.Idyll.xxvii.48 f.
The writersof the GreekAnthologyyielda fewmoreillustrations.
Leonidas of Tarentumhas thisline:
KatuLactos &K/.LK^
&}/yYXOI,KV&WOLEtL.
Anth.Plan. 182.
In another place 1 he has the word puXo;ov - literally, ' apple-sus-
tainer'- used of a strophium.
In an epigramby Rufinuswe read:
Tapc0cvos
apyvporrEtos uatwv
EXov;'o,XpvcEca
ypurt yaXaKrorayEt/.tXa
GLaLvo/L1Y, KEC.
Anth. Pal. v. 60.
Two epigramsby Paulus Silentiariusare especiallyilluminating.
In one,he writes:
Ct707T 9.LOL,
Yapt T(, TLvre 7 a'L/3OkXa xat7v
07raoaT,6 qV Xcpw a
(O: /.yyXlv,
Anth. Pal. v. 291.

and thatthe rTaE means' apples' is clearfromthe epigramimmedi-

ately preceding,upon the same theme,and, verypossibly,written
forthesame occasion; hereapples are specifiedas the gift,and a
comparisonwiththebreastsis again intended:
7rOXV7rTOltqTOV
/L/La WOKXC7rTOVqaTEKOvW7,1
v-VvylLqv/Mj1XWv C/LtOS
86&KEV OEWV
OqXvrTcp XapLefpEao.,LayovTXa 7rrvpTrcV
CpWOTWV
XaOptlws: pt/XotspLtEV pEVOpiEVOLts

w rO7OL pO
O
F
batrp.KTOavXa Anth.Pal. v. 290.
1 Anth. Pal. vi. 211.
54 Benjamin Oliver Foster.
An anonymous squib addressed to an old woman whose unwel-
come attentions have made her troublesome to some young fellow,
should probably be included here:

pjv aXa'dvE, o yap Zywyc

JAXv MEv&rLov"
KKLpOV XwOv
'V 7rpoo8'OLaL pVT'a *
&XX' atEl
t7rE7rO0qKa
crvvaRKtaovcrav d7ropLqv.
WoaE T
T XEVKOV8EV KdpaKa,
prELpaasEL Anth.Pal. xi. 417.
The curious piece of metaphoricalwritingthat follows,reminding
one stronglyof the figurativelanguage of the Song of Songs, is from
the speech of Bacchus to Beroe, in the Dionysiaca of Nonnus, an
epic poet of, perhaps, the fourthcenturyof our era:

"7apO'&E viv Xpo'vos1 7rOT

rpvyOWJEV7rWp7v;
a~s adXv' a/OKat V TtoxO
K
o ooXaEL'"
X)Lova/J1W 8" A oi7
arVl
aTraX-wvq4pov,
/rp7TLtEyI dpEaPLLL OaXv'taKvrpoyEvely.
Ue SEA /LE E
YIELO7TOVOV TE-qg
ugs V7rOEpyoV
brosPYby jAXW?1nig
6 ~XAws
? to ypordvov
V/VETEP? /LE KO/u0if UC VTqK0O/ov 'A poyEvE07,
54pa (PVToV 7lrj7a-L/L S&
c4pyOJLov, 7/VEpI8WV
04,aKa YLVOXTKW %qEaXa
vEof Va dWxo-aV.
oT"a, rrd0~v 7rorTXa c~vT/EaVToLia
7reralverat
Kat 7rTEXE'qV TavvcvXXov
EpELtOoVIEVV KVUrapL"0c0?f
apaEV K
Oat lvLKaota7E a GXEL
6layW,
Kat po'ov, 'v 40WX\,7/apa
/VXaKLKaXovd3$.

1 1O
/LqXa, p
O O
ot
uo0\v 86V0
X~X tiqsL3ovapvvoOVr0'prq3.""
Tota oaTqrv
SO
Kat
ayopEvE, OVK
1JflETO KOVp
BaKXOVp VO'ovo-a O(TTXa Lv'wOV.
yUvva~tav.o ff.
Nonnus,Dionys.42,297 (KSchly'sedition).
What inferencesmay fairlybe drawn from all this evidence? It
may be held, I think,that fromAristophanes down, the comparison
of breasts with apples was a familiar one. On the other hand, we
must not forget that only in late writersdo we find this symbolism
an element in the game of sending or throwingapples, as love-gifts.
What we must seek, in order to explain satisfactorilyall the many
 T.e Symbolismof the Apple in Classical Antiquity. 55

phases of this widespread, tenacious custom, is some simple, funda-

mental idea, throughwhich, in some way, the general notion of love
or fruitfulnessshall be symbolized in the apple. This requirement
is not satisfied by the hypothesis that the apple represented the
breast, and, for that reason, and because the writerswho so under-
stood the practice are late writers,I am inclined to believe that they
were themselves deceived by the commonness of the comparison of
apple and breast, and invented, while they supposed, very likely,
that theywere followingtradition,a symbolismof theirown.
My conclusion is that in the remotelyancient attributionof the
apple and the apple-kind, as typical of all fruitfulness,to Aphrodite
- the alma Venusof Lucretius's invocation- and its connexion also
with other divinitiesof like functions(such as Dionysus, the god of
vegetation, and Ge, the mother of all things), originatedthe mean-
ing which it was feltto have when employedin courtshipand the mar-
riage ceremony. So much seems fairlyplain. But the evidence on the
subject left us by the classical authors does not enable us to take
the next step, and offeran explanation of the fact that the apple
was used in preference to other objects, as representingthe life-
giving functionsof these deities. The original association of Aphro-
dite and the apple mayverylikelyhave been purelyaccidental, arising
from a very ancient connexion, in some locality,of the worship of
the apple-tree and the worship of a goddess of love. If one of
these cults spread, it might naturally carry the other with it, and
the apple-tree,which started,let us suppose, as an independentgod,
might,in the course of time, come to be looked upon as owing its
sacred character simply to its being in some sense an emblem of
Aphrodite.