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Apollo (Ancient Greek: Ἀπόλλων Apóllōn, Latin: Apolló) is the Greek God of the Sun, healing, medicine, prophecy, knowledge, oracles, purity, art, music (he directed the choir of the Muses), poetry, archery (but not for war or hunting) and plagues, and also the protector of herds and flocks. He is the patron deity of Delphi where his famed Oracle resided.

He is the son of Zeus and Leto and the younger twin brother of Artemis. He was born on the island of Delos, which is sacred to him. His paternal grandparents were Cronus and Rhea. His maternal grandparents are Coeus and Phoebe (from whom he takes the epithet "Phoebus" meaning "radiant" or "beaming"). He was sometimes identified with the sun god Helios.


In Mythology[]

Birth[]

Apollo was born on the floating island of Delos,[1] along with his twin sister, the goddess Artemis. Immediately after his birth he demanded a musical instrument and hence became the god of music.

The Oracle of Delphi[]

Apollo's oracle at Delphi plays an important role in Greek myth.[2] To win the oracle, he had to kill the dragon Python, a serpentine son of Gaia. Delphi became the most famous and important oracle in Greece.

Python[]

Python was a serpentine creature created by Gaia to protect the Oracle of Delphi. When Apollo went in search of Oracles he came across Python at Delphi. Wanting the Oracle to himself, Apollo slayed the creature and claimed the site as his own. Gaia ended up demanding for Apollo's punishment, eternity is Tartarus, which Zeus would not allow. Instead, Apollo had to serve nine years as a slave on Earth.

The slaying of Tityus[]

Apollo's mother, the Titan Leto, was brutally assaulted by the giant Tityus while she was traveling to Delphi. In response to this insult and violation of his mother, Apollo went to the giant and with his golden sword and silver arrows he slayed him.

Contest with Marsyas[]

The satyr Marsyas was the inventor of flute music (though not the inventor of the flute itself, which was created by Athena). In his hubris, Marsyas believed he could challenge Apollo himself, who was a god of music. Apollo took up Marsyas' challenge. When Marsyas ultimately lost, Apollo had him hung from a pine tree and flayed alive as punishment. In some versions of the myth, Apollo later regretted his excessive punishment. He plucked out the strings of his golden lyre, and refrained from playing music for a time in repentance.

Niobe[]

Niobe was the queen of Thebes and the wife of Amphion. She would go around bragging that she was so much better than Leto because she had fourteen children (seven males and seven females) while Leto only had two (Artemis and Apollo). Artemis and Apollo were deeply insulted on their mother's behalf. So, they went out to Thebes to get revenge while Niobe was away. Apollo used his arrows to slay the males, and Artemis used her arrows to slay the females. They left the dead there without a burial until Niobe arrived back to Thebes. Amphion was so distraught that he killed himself, while Niobe fled to Mount Sipylos in grief. There she wept and wept until she turned to stone, creating the river Achelous with her tears. The gods then buried Niobe's children out of respect.

Wrath of Zeus[]

Poseidon and Apollo conspired with a few of the other gods to tie Zeus up and relieve him of his crown. As punishment for this, Zeus sent Poseidon and Apollo down to earth as mortals to work under Laomedon of Troy. Here they help build the Trojan wall. In some versions, Laomedon refuses to let them go after their punishment has been fulfilled and the two gods send disaster to Troy as punishment.

Description[]

Apollo is described as a youthful man carrying a golden bow and a quiver full of silver arrows. He is considered to be one of the most beautiful gods in the Greek pantheon and the picture of an ideal, beardless youth. He is also sometimes seen wearing a wreath of laurel, his sacred plant.

Epithets[]

Like most of the major gods, Apollo was given epithets to reflect patronage in a certain area or field.

  • Apollo Thearios - Apollo of the Oracle
  • Apollo Proopsios - Apollo the Foreseeing
  • Apollo Hekebolos - Apollo, Shooter from Afar
  • Apollo Mousegetes - Apollo, Leader of the Muses
  • Apollo Paieon - Apollo the Healing
  • Apollo Alexikakos - Apollo, Averter of Evil
  • Apollo Smintheios - Apollo of the Mice
  • Apollo Lykios - Apollo of the Wolves
  • Apollo Parnopios - Apollo of the Locusts
  • Apollo Erythibios - Apollo of the Mildew
  • Apollo Pythios - Apollo of the Python
  • Apollo Latoios - Apollo, son of Leto
  • Apollo Phoebus - Apollo the Bright
  • Apollo Mantikos - Apollo the Prophetic
  • Apollo Iatromantis - Apollo the Physician
  • Apollo Argyrotoxos - Apollo with the Silver Bow
  • Apollo Nomios - Apollo the Pastoral

Alternate names[]

  • Phoebus ("light")
  • Smintheus ("plague bearer" or "rat apollo")
  • Delian (from the place of his birth, Delos)
  • Loxias ("tricky")
  • Pythian (from killing Python)

Family[]

Immortal Offspring[]

  • Aristaios
With Coronis:
With Arsinoe:
  • Epione (m. Asclepius):
    • Hygeia
    • Panacea
    • Iaso
    • Aigle
    • Machaon
    • Podaleiros
With Calliope (the Muse):
With Manto:
  • Mopsus (Mortal)

Lovers[]

  • Cassandra - Cassandra was the daughter of Priam of Troy and his wife, Hecuba. The myths say that she was the most beautiful of all the king's children. To win her heart, Apollo started to teach her the art of prophecy. But instead of becoming his lover, Cassandra refused him. Apollo cursed her by saying that when she made a prophecy, nobody would believe her.
  • Daphne - Daphne was the daughter of a river god. Before Apollo could get to her, he had to get rid of Leucippus (the son of king Oenomaus). Apollo had a fierce battle with him, and won. Now he could go to Daphne. But she refused. She tried running away, but Apollo was too swift. So Daphne, prayed to her father to turn her into a laurel tree. Her father swiftly did so. Apollo was heartbroken. So he made the laurel his sacred plant.
  • Marpessa - Marpessa, the daughter of the river god Evenus and the granddaughter of Ares, caught Apollo's eye. Although Apollo was deeply in love, Marpessa was already engaged to Idas (a son of Poseidon). This didn't stop Apollo. He simply carried Marpessa off away from Idas. Devoted to his love, Idas pursued the god and challenged him to a fight. The two came to blows and Zeus had to intervene. Separating Apollo and Idas, he called Marpessa to the scene of battle. Then, Zeus asked Marpessa who she wanted to marry. Marpessa chose Idas, because "he too was mortal" and she was afraid that Apollo would desert her.
  • Hyacinthus - Son of Clio (muse of history) and Pierus king of Sparta. Hyacinthus was admired by Apollo (God of the Sun), Zephyrus (God of the West Wind), and Thamyris (a Thracian singer) but chose Apollo over all of them. Apollo took him to sacred lands and taught him how to use a bow and how to play a lyre. One day Apollo was playing a game of discus with his lover, when Zephyrus saw them and grew jealous. Just as Apollo threw the discus Zephyrus used the wind to send it sailing directly at Hyacinthus' head. No matter what godly powers used, Apollo couldn't heal Hyacinthus since the Fates demanded that he die. As a memorial Apollo created the flower Hyacinth from the spilled blood of his lover.
  • Branchus - Branchus was a seer and initially a shepherd in Miletus. Sources seen to disagree whether he was the son of Apollo or his lover, though most sources seem to lean towards lover. There are two myths of Apollo and his lover Branchus. In the first, Branchus was wondering the forest when he came across a handsome man. So overcome by this man's beauty, Branchus went up to him and kissed him. Apollo returned these affections and later gifted the gift of prophecy to him. Later, Branchus would become a priest of Apollo and established the cult of Apollo in Didyma. In the second myth, Apollo happened to be passing by Branchus as he was tending his flock and wished to seduce him. He disguised himself as a goatherd and went to help Branchus. He volunteered to milk the goats but ended up milking a male goat in his distraction. It was this that caused him to give up his divine identity. After they became lovers, Apollo taught Branchus to be a prophet.

In art[]

Apollo is at most times depicted as a handsome young man, clean shaven and carrying either a lyre, or his bow and arrows. There are many sculptures of Apollo and one of the most famous is the central figure from the west pediment of the Temple of Zeus, at Olympia, showing Apollo declaring victory in favor of the Lapiths in their struggle against the Centaurs.

Modern Depictions[]

In Television[]

Gallery[]

Image gallery of Apollo

See also[]

Citations[]

  1. (Hamilton 1998, p. 29)
  2. (Hamilton 1998, p. 30)
This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Apollo (view authors). As with Myth and Folklore Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported).


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