445 Documenta Praehistorica XLIII (2016) The swan chariot of a solar deity> Greek narratives and prehistoric iconography Tomislav Bilic ´ Archaeological museum in Zagreb, Zagreb, CR tbilic@amz.hr Introduction Much has been written in the past on the question of the connections between Greek Apollo and a Central and/or Northern European prehistoric so- lar deity recognised in iconographic representa- tions 1 , frequently called, not without some justifi- cation – although only if this name is put inside quo- tation marks and understood as a provisional term referring to a specific concept – ‘Hyperborean Apol- lo’ (Krappe 1942; 1943; 1947; Sprockhoff 1954; Gel- ling, Ellis Davidson 1972; Ahl 1982; Kaul 1998. 253; Kristiansen, Larsson 2005.44) 2 . These con- nections cannot be treated – and they are in gener- al not treated in such a way – discriminatively to- wards other influences on the formation of this ABSTRACT – Literary testimonies for the Greek concept of Apollo’s swan chariot and the accompa- nying set of ideas were often discussed alongside some comparable Central and North European ico- nographic representations. This study approaches the problem by collating, with a help of structural analysis, a number of highly specific complex prehistoric iconographic arrangements (most notably the Dupljaja chariot), which suggest a similar concept was indeed current in the tradition of some European pre-literate societies. The principles employed here in the iconographic analysis of com- plex symbolic structures, offered a sound methodological basis for comparing literary with icono- graphic sources. It is concluded that their underlying muthos represents an account of the annual solar movement in terms of anthropomorphic causation. IZVLE∞EK – Pisni viri, ki se nana∏ajo na gr∏ki koncept Apolonovega voza z labodi in na idejne nastav- ke, ki spremljajo ta koncept, se pogosto uporabljajo ob primerljivih ikonografskih upodobitvah iz srednje in severne Evrope. V tej ∏tudiji se spoprimemo s tem konceptom s pomo≠jo strukturalne ana- lize, tako da primerjamo nekaj zelo specifi≠nih in kompleksnih prazgodovinskih ikonografskih po- stavitev (najbolj znan je voz iz Dupljaja), ki ka∫ejo na to, da je bil koncept so≠asno navzo≠ tudi v tradicijah nekaterih evropskih pred-pismenih dru∫bah. S principi ikonografske analize kompleksnih simbolnih struktur smo postavili dobro metodolo∏ko bazo za primerjavo pisnih in ikonografskih vi- rov podatkov. Sklepamo, da osnovni muthos predstavlja razlago o letnem gibanju Sonca v antropo- morfnem smislu. KEY WORDS – water-birds; Apollo; iconographic analysis; Dupljaja; sun 1 For the derivation of a (hypothetical) North European anthropomorphic solar deity from an (equally hypothetical) Central Euro- pean one, see Kaul (1998.56, 252). 2 The earliest undoubted identifications of Apollo with the sun in Greece appear in Telesilla (fr. 2 PMG) and in Aeschylus’ Bassa- rai, where it is attributed to the Orphics (TGrF III.138 Radt ap.[Eratosth.] Cat. 24, cf. Σ Germ. 273 p. 84.6–12 Breysig = PEGr 1148 T I Bernabé; West 1990.38–39; Seaford 2005.602); it is also implied in Aesch. Sept. 856–860. West (1990.40–41) associ- ates the information in the Bassarai with the description of Orpheus’ katabasis in Plutarch’s De sera num. vind. 22.566BC (Orph. fr. 294 Kern = PEGr 412 F, 998 T I Bernabé) involving Apollo, and concludes that Aeschylus and Plutarch might have used the same source, the Orphic poem Krater attributed to the early Pythagorean Zophyrus or, alternatively, an early Orphic-Pythagorean Katabasis (cf. Seaford 2005.602). Thus the identification of Apollo with the sun was current at the latest in the 6 th century BC. DOI> 10.4312\dp.43.23