Apollo

Alternate uses: Apollo program, for others see Apollo (disambiguation)

Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

Apollo is a god in Greek and Roman mythology, the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin of Artemis (goddess of the hunt). In later times he became in part confused or equated with Helios, god of the sun, and his sister similarly equated with Selene, goddess of the moon in religious contexts. But Apollo and Helios/Sol remained quite separate beings in literary/mythological texts. In Etruscan mythology, he was known as Aplu.

Worship

Apollo was considered to have dominion over the plague, light, healing, colonists, medicine, archery, poetry, prophecy, dance, reason, intellectualism and as the patron defender of herds and flocks. Apollo had a famous oracle in Crete and more notable ones in Clarus and Branchidae. As the god of religious healing, Apollo purified those persons guilty of murder or other grievous sins.

Apollo was known as the leader of the Muses ("musagetes") and director of their choir. His attributes included: swans, wolves, dolphins, bows and arrows, a laurel crown, the cithara (or lyre) and plectrum. The sacrificial tripod is another attribute, representative of his prophetic powers. The Pythian Games were held in his honor every four years at Delphi. Paeans were the name of hymns sung to Apollo.

As god of colonization, Apollo gave guidance on colonies, especially during the height of colonization, 750-550 BC. He helped Cretan or Arcadian colonists found the city of Troy.

Apollo popularly (e.g., in literary criticism) represents harmony, order, and reason - characteristics contrasted by those of Dionysus, god of wine, who popularly represents emotion and chaos. The contrast between the roles of these gods is reflected in the adjectives Apollonian and Dionysian. However, Greeks thought of the two qualities as complementary: the two gods are brothers, and when Apollo at winter left for Hyperborea would leave the Delphi Oracle to Dionysus.

Together with Athena, Apollo (under the name Phevos) is designated as a mascot of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Apollo in art

Detail from "Apollo and Diana" by Lucas Cranach the Elder

In art, Apollo was usually depicted as a handsome young man, often with a lyre or bow in hand.

Appellations

The name Phoebus (also spelled Phevos, Greek for "shining one") was also used for Apollo in the context of the god of light. As Smintheus ("rat") and Parnopius ("grasshopper"), he was the god of the plague and defender against rats and locusts. Due to his connection to dolphins, he was known Delphinios ("dolphin" or "porpoise"), also the source of the place-name Delphi. His title was sometimes Archigetes, ("leader of colonists") or Musagetes ("leader of the muses"). He was known as Pythian Apollo at Delphi; he was also called Apotropaeus ("he who averts evil") and Apollo Nymphegetes ("Apollo who looks after nymphs"). As the protector of flocks from wolves, he was known as Lukeios ("wolf") and as the pastoral shepherd-god, he was Nomius. In addition, "Apollo Clarius" was often used as an epithet, referring to a temple of Apollo in Clarus near Colophon. Apollo Cynthius was another epiphet, stemming from his birth on Mt. Cynthus. As Loxias, Apollo was a god of prophecy specifically. Phoebus ("the radiant one") was an alternate name, because he was a sun god and related to Phoebe.

Birth

When Hera discovered that Leto was pregnant and that Hera's husband, Zeus, was the father, she banned Leto from giving birth on "terra-firma", or the mainland, or any island at sea. She found the floating island of Delos, which was neither mainland nor a real island, and gave birth there. The island was surrounded by swans. As a gesture of gratitude, Delos was secured with four pillars. The island later became sacred to Apollo. Alternatively, Hera kidnapped Ilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to prevent Leto from going into labor. The other gods forced Hera to let her go. Either way, Artemis was born first and then assisted with the birth of Apollo. Another version states that Artemis was born one day before Apollo, on the island of Ortygia and that she helped Leto cross the sea to Delos the next day to give birth to Apollo.

Youth

As a young man, Apollo killed the vicious dragon Python, which lived in Delphi beside the Castalian Spring, according to some because Python had attempted to rape Leto while she was pregnant with Apollo and Artemis. This was the spring which emitted vapors that caused the Oracle at Delphi to give her prophesies. Apollo killed Python but had to be punished for it, since Python was a child of Gaia.

Apollo and Admetus

As punishment, Apollo was banned from Olympus for nine years. During this time he served as shepherd or cowherd for King Admetus of Pherae in Thessaly. Since Admetus was good to Apollo, the god promised him that when time came for King Admetus to die, another would be allowed to take his place instead. Admetus then fell in love with Alcestis. Her father, though, King Pelias would only give permission if Admetus rode a chariot pulled by lions and boars and other wild animals. Apollo helped Admetus accomplish this, and the pair wed. When time came for Admetus to die, Alcestis agreed to die for him. Heracles intervened and both of the pair were allowed to live.

When he returned after the nine years, Apollo came disguised as a dolphin and brought Cretan priests to help found his cult in Delphi. He also blessed the priestess of the Oracle at Delphi, making it one of the most famous and accurate oracles in Greece. He had other oracles, including Clarus and Branchidae.

Apollo During the Trojan War

Apollo shot arrows infected with the plague into the Greek encampment during the Trojan War.

When Diomedes injured Aeneas during the Trojan War, Apollo rescued him. First, Aphrodite tried to rescue Aeneas but Diomedes injured her as well. Aeneas was then eneveloped in a cloud by Apollo, who took him to Pergamos, a sacred spot in Troy. Artemis healed Aeneas there.

Niobe

A Queen of Thebes and wife of Amphion, Niobe boasted of her superiority to Leto because she had fourteen children (Niobids), seven male and seven female, while Leto had only two. Apollo killed her sons as they practiced athletics, with the last begging for his life and Artemis her daughters. Apollo and Artemis used poisoned arrows to kill them, though according to some versions a number of the Niobids were spared (Chloris, usually). Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, either killed himself or was killed by Apollo after swearing revenge. A devastated Niobe fled to Mt. Siplyon in Asia Minor and turned into stone as she wept, or committed suicide. Her tears formed the river Achelous. Zeus had turned all the people of Thebes to stone and so no one buried the Niobids until the ninth day after their death, when the gods themselves entombed them.

Apollo's romantic life and children

Heterosexual relationships

Daphne

Apollo chased the nymph Daphne, daughter of Ladon, who had scorned him. His infatuation was caused by an arrow from Eros, who was jealous because Apollo had made fun of his archery skills. Eros also claimed to be irritated by Apollo's singing. Daphne prayed to the river god Peneus to help her and he changed her into a laurel tree, which became sacred to Apollo.

Leucothea

Apollo had an affair with a mortal princess named Leucothea, daughter of Orchamus and sister of Clytia. Leucothea loved Apollo who disguised himself as Leucothea's mother to gain entrance to her chambers. Clytia, jealous of her sister because she wanted Apollo for herself, told Orchamus the truth, betraying her sister's trust and confidence in her. Enraged, Orchamus ordered Leucothea to be buried alive. Apollo refused to forgive Clytia for betraying his beloved, and a grievous Clytia wilted and slowly died. Apollo changed her into an incense plant, either heliotrope or sunflower, which follows the sun every day.

Marpessa

Marpessa was kidnapped by Idas but loved by Apollo as well. Zeus made her choose between them.

Castalia

Castalia was a nymph whom Apollo loved. She fled from him and dived into the spring at Delphi, at the base of Mt. Parnassos, which was then named after her. Water from this spring was sacred; it was used to clean the Delphian temples and inspire poets.

Cyrene/Aristaeus

By Cyrene, Apollo had a son named Aristaeus, who became the patron god of cattle, fruit trees, hunting, husbandry and bee-keeping. He was also a culture-hero and taught humanity dairy skills and the use of nets and traps in hunting, as well as how to cultivate olives.

Hecuba

With Hecuba, wife of King Priam of Troy, Apollo had a son named Troilius. An oracle prophesied that Troy would not be defeated as long as Troilius reached the age of twenty alive. He and his sister, Polyxena were ambushed and killed by Achilles.

Cassandra

Apollo also fell in love with Cassandra, daughter of Hecuba and Priam, and Troilius' half-sister. He promised Cassandra the gift of prophecy to seduce her, but she rejected him afterwards. Enraged, Apollo cursed her with the ability to know the future but the curse that no one would ever believe her.

Coronis

Coronis, daughter of Phlegyas, King of the Lapiths, was another of Apollo's liasons. Pregnant with Asclepius, Coronis fell in love with Ischys, son of Elatus. A crow informed Apollo of the affair and he sent his sister, Artemis, to kill Coronis. Apollo rescued the baby though and gave it to the centaur Chiron to raise. Phlegyas was irate and torched the Apollonian temple at Delphi and Apollo then killed him.

Homosexual relationships

Apollo, the eternal beardless youth himself, had the most male lovers of all the Greek gods, as could be expected from a god who was god of the palestra, the athletic gathering place for youth, who all competed in the nude. Many of Apollo's young beloveds died "accidentally", a reflection on the function of these myths as part of rites of passage, in which the youth died in order to be reborn as an adult.

Hyacinth

Hyacinth was one of his male lovers. Hyacinth was a Spartan prince, very handsome and athletic. The pair were practicing throwing the discus when Hyacinth was struck by one, blown off course by Zephyrus, who was jealous of Apollo and loved Hyacinth as well. When Hyacinth died, Apollo created the flower from his blood.

Acantha

One of his other liasions was with Acantha, the spirit of the acanthus tree. Upon his death, he was transformed into a sun-loving herb by Apollo, and his bereaved sister, Acanthis, was turned into a thistle finch by the other gods.

Cyparissus

Another male lover was Cyparissus, a descendant of Heracles. Apollo gave the boy a tame deer as a companion but Cyparissus accidentally killed it with a javelin as it lay asleep in the undergrowth. Cyparissus asked Apollo to let his tears fall forever. Apollo turned the sad boy into a cypress tree, which was said to be a sad tree because the sap forms droplets like tears on the trunk.

Apollo and the Birth of Hermes

Hermes was born on Mt. Cyllene in Arcadia. The story is told in the Hymn to Hermes, dubiously attributed to Homer. His mother, Maia, had been secretly impregnated by Zeus, in a secret affair. Maia wrapped the infant in blankets but Hermes escaped while she was asleep. Hermes ran to Thessaly, where Apollo was grazing his cattle. The infant Hermes stole a number of his cows and took them to a cave in the woods near Pylos, covering their tracks. In the cave, he found a tortoise and killed it, then removed the insides. He used one of the cow's intestines and the tortoise shell and made the first lyre. Apollo complained to Maia that her son had stolen his cattle, but Hermes had already replaced himself in the blankets she had wrapped him in, so Maia refused to believe Apollo's claim. Zeus intervened and claimed to have seen the events, and siding with Apollo. Hermes then began to play music on the lyre he had invented. Apollo, a god of music, fell in love with the instrument and offered to allow exchange the cattle for the lyre. Hence, Apollo became a master of the lyre and Hermes invented a kind of pipes-instrument called a syrinx.

Later, Apollo exchanged a caduceus for a syrinx from Hermes.