Apollonian

Etymology

From Latin Apollō (Apollōn-) +‎ -ian and Apollonius/Apollonia +‎ -an.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /æpəˈləʊnɪ.ən/
• Rhymes: -əʊniən

Adjective

Apollonian (comparative more Apollonian, superlative most Apollonian)

1. (Greek mythology) Of or relating to the ancient Olympian Greek God Apollo.

   Synonym: Apollonistic

   • 1877, Henry Kendall, “Ode to a Black Gin”, in The Australian Town and Country Journal, page 24:

     You have your lovers - dusky beaus / Not made of the poetic stuff / That sports an Apollonian nose, / And wears a sleek Byronic cuff.

   • 1979 August 4, Linda Stein, “Stopping Short of Self-Awareness”, in Gay Community News, page 18:

     The forces of nature is a major theme embodied in the two main goddess characters. The "northern woman" is Appollonian ^[sic] in her nature — cold, reserved, quiet, identified with the moon; the "southern woman" is Dionysian — passionate, a sun goddess.

   • 2021, Lisa Miller, The Awakened Brain, Ch.2, at p.37:

     Marty and I often discussed the choice we all have in controlling our cognition. We referred to harnessing this power as "the Apollonian state", after Apollo, the Greek god of the sun and light and truth. In the Apollonian state you could use reason to move away from despairing beliefs―it's never going to change, it's all my fault, there must be something wrong with me―and towards more empowered thinking.

2. Of or relating to the Ancient Greek mathematician Apollonius of Perga.
3. Pertaining to Apollonia.
   • 2011, Power and State Formation in West Africa: Appolonia from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century, →ISBN:

     They speak Aowin [Anyi] but their blood is Apollonian blood.

4. Alternative form of apollonian
5. (physics) The physical property of material that can resume its shape after being stretched or deformed; elasticity.

Noun

Apollonian (plural Apollonians)

1. One who is apollonian.
2. One who follows/worships Apollo.
   • 2008, Herbert Spiegel, David Spiegel, Trance and Treatment: Clinical Uses of Hypnosis, →ISBN, page 120:

     By contrast, Apollonians value reason more than feeling.

   • 2011, Yuri Slezkine, The Jewish Century, →ISBN, page 24:

     Apollonians and Dionysians are usually the same people: now sober and serene, now drunk and frenzied.

   • 2013, Raphael Massarelli, Lloyd A. Horrocks, Julian N. Kanfer, Phospholipids and Signal Transmission, →ISBN:

     Those of us who were Apollonians had thus a chance to organize a programme. The Dionysians knew what was going to happen to them, but, of course, did not know yet how to cope with it.

   • 2016, Ellen Goldberg, Dorian Bergen, The Art and Science of Hand Reading, →ISBN:

     Apollonians are creative artists, but while all Apollonians love the arts, there are both creative and business types of Apollonians.

3. A native of Apollonia.
   • 1824, Isaac Littlebury, transl., The History of Herodotus:

     But the Apollonians being soon informed of the thing, caused him to appear without delay before the court of justice; and sentenced him to lose his eyes, for sleeping when he ought to have watched.

   • 1978, Paul Mmegha Mbaeyi, British Military and Naval Forces in West African History, 1807-1874:

     Another clause in the rules of conduct drawn up for defeated Appolonia virtually transferred jurisdiction to Maclean: by it, he invited 'every Appolonian who may be oppressed or injured wither [i.e. whether] by Quacoe Accah [Kwaku Akkah, the King] or any other chief ... to make his complaint to the governor of Cape Coast

   • 2015, Joel D. Irish, G. Richard Scott, A Companion to Dental Anthropology, →ISBN, page 261:

     McIlvaine and colleagues (2014) examined a cemetery at the Greek colony of Apollonia, Albania to assess to what degree interbreeding may have occurred between indigenous Illyrians and colonial Apollonians.

4. (science fiction) A native of the planet Apollo.
   • 2008, C. G. Stevenson, The Apollonian Appearance: The Being from the Planet Apollo, →ISBN:
   • 2013, Jim Henry, Universal Life Force Series Featuring Antiquity Calais Vol. 1-3, →ISBN:

     At first, when the Apollonians converged on her, Mary Theresa thought she had made a major mistake by going to the battle.

   • 2013, James Bartholomeusz, The Grey Star, →ISBN, page 17:

     The last person who tried this kind of appeal was actually the new vessel -- an Apollonian, one I knew briefly.

See also

• Dionysian