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Abaris
Said to be the teacher
of Pythagoras, Abaris was a
legendary magician,
diviner and hermeticist of
Scythia, an ancient culture on the
north shore of the
Black Sea.
Abaris claimed to possess a golden arrow
the "dart of Abaris" given to him by Apollo (Abaris
was one of his priests), by means of which he could travel through the air and become
invisible. Pythagoras stole some accounts say that it was freely given
this arrow from
him, and accomplished many wonderful feats by its aid. Abaris was also said to have lived
without eating or drinking, besides foretelling the future, pacifying storms and banishing
disease.
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With the help of Apollo, Abaris fled from
Scythia to Greece, apparently to evade a
deadly plague. In fact, in apocryphal legends, he is said to have visited
Greece several times around 770 BC. Abaris was mentioned by several Greek
celebrities, including
Plato (in connection with the
"Thracian" physicians, which he insisted knew the secrets of
immortality and cured all disease with
incantations, ointments and plants),
Herodotus and
Pindar. He was surnamed 'the
Hyperborean'. Later neoplatonists, including
Porphyry and
lamblichus Chalcidensis, also wrote about Abaris.
According to other legends, with the bones of
Pelops Abaris made a
statue of Minerva, which he sold to the Trojans
as a talisman descended from heaven. This
was the famous Palladium, which protected and rendered impregnable the town wherein it was
lodged.
A temple to Persephone at
Sparta was also attributed to Abaris by
Pausanias.
Suidas as well
credits Abaris with several works: Scythian oracles, the visit of Apollo to
the Hyperboreans, expiatory formulas and a prose theogony.
See
Pythagoras,
Casting Black Magic Spells,
Commanding Spirits,
The Tarot Store and
Divination & Scrying Tools and Supplies.
Sources: (1) Spence, Lewis,
An Encyclopedia of
Occultism, Carol Publishing Group; (2)
Randi, James,
An Encyclopedia of
Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural,
St. Martin's Griffin; (3)
The Encyclopaedia
Britannica Eleventh Edition Handy Volume Edition, Oxford
University Press; (4) Plato,
Platonis Opera Omnia, Garland
Publishing.
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