ABSTRACT
It is usual to dismiss Apollonius’ more exotic travels as so much nonsense, 1 and to proclaim accordingly that most of the sage’s adventures in India and Ethiopia must be due to Philostratus’ invention; or that neither account need have much to do with Apollonius himself. One might be wise indeed to dissociate the sage from such an interview as the following:
‘There are tall stories told about (the mantichora)’, said Apollonius; ‘for they say that it has four feet, and its head is like a man’s, but that it is the size of a lion; while the tail of this creature puts out hairs a cubit long and as sharp as thorns, which it shoots like arrows at its hunters.’ And he went on to ask about the golden water which they say bubbles up from a spring … and (the Brahman) Iarchas answered: ‘On the subject of animals or plants or fountains which you have seen yourself on your visit here, what would I be able to tell you? For already you are able to describe these to other people; but I have never yet heard here of an animal that shoots arrows, or of springs of golden water … And the Phoenix, the bird which visits Egypt every five hundred years, flies around in India all the rest of that time.’ (Life of Apollonius III.45, 49)
