The start point of this contribution was the observation of the almost perfect syncrony between the appearance of Apollo as Apotropaios in Athenian context (in literary and epigraphic sources) and the disastrous defeat suffered by the Athenians in a battle in which a hieron of Apollo in boeotian territory, that of Delion, was the theater. The further I proceeded with the analysis of Thucydides (Book 4, 76-101), the clearer the idea became that Apollo’s role was considered crucial in the conclusion of events, by both the Boeotians and the Athenians: the god acted as a protector of the Boeotians and hostile, enemy and destroyer of the Athenians. The attitude of Apollo of Delion recalls the Homeric one, the ἐκηβόλος, the god who has his seat on the mountain tops, the god who shoots arrows from afar and come down quickly at a request for help from a person he protects. His intervention is caused by a near, imminent danger (so is in Aristophanes examples) such as the assault of an enemy, or a natural disaster (plague or famine as in the examples from Cyrene). He is not the god who once and for all, drew the boundaries for the Athenians and became, since then, the guarantor of the «inviolabilità dei confini e la tutela dei passaggi» as is in the title of an article by Di Nicuolo 2011, pp. 25-49. The Athenians, back from Delion try to get the god Apotropaios on their side, with the offering of sacrifices and the dedication of altars.
