Apollo

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Apollo is one of the twelve deities of Olympus, the son of Zeus and Leto, and twin brother to Artemis [Apollo and Artemis]. He is generally recognized as the god of light (or the sun), plague and healing, music, archery, and prophecy, especially at Delphi. Apollo is known also as Phoebus (or Phoibos) Apollo, Far-shooting Apollo, and Gold-bladed Apollo, among others. His main iconic identifiers are the laurel wreath around his head, the lyre, and the bow. Apollo is usually described as the most “Greek” of the Greek gods, because he is the idealized form of kouros, a young man in perfected beauty and grace.Stories of Apollo are found in many literary works, namely Ovid, Homer, and Hesiod, among others. The Homeric Hymn to Apollo is of particular interest as it gives one of the most complete stories of the origins of Apollo in a single poem.The story of Apollo begins with his mother, Leto, and her attempt to give birth to him and Artemis. Hera, in her jealousy, had pursued Leto relentlessly. Leto searched for a place where she could give birth to the children without Hera finding her. She convinced the island of Delos to be the home of Apollo, saying that a temple would be built there. Leto waited nine days and nights to give birth to Apollo, because due to Hera’s rage, Eilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, was not able to come to Leto’s aid. Finally Iris was sent to Hera, offering her a necklace fifteen feet long. In this way Eilithyia was able to come to Delos, and when she did, Leto gave birth to Apollo, full grown. Apollo immediately claimed, “The lyre and curved bow are dear to me, and I shall prophesy to men the unerring will of Zeus” (Homeric Hymn to Apollo, p. 70).Shortly after birth Apollo is searching for a place to build a temple, and he comes across the land known as Telephousa. But Telephousa persuaded Apollo that this land was not good enough for him and that his temple should be built elsewhere, so that Telephousa would have the glory there, and not Apollo (Homeric Hymn to Apollo, p. 77). This leads Apollo to Krisa, where nearby he encounters a giant snake, the Python, and kills it by emptying his entire quiver of arrows into the snake. The land where this occurred was thereafter known as Pythia. To keep this feat well remembered, Apollo sanctioned games known as the Phythian games, where men would box, wrestle, race, and participate in other sporting games (Metamorphoses, p. 12).Following the conquering of the snake, Apollo transforms himself into a dolphin, hops aboard a pirate ship or similar type of vessel, and directs the crew to a new land, which was then named Delphi, from the Greek word for dolphin, delphis. These crewmembers became the first priests of Apollo, and with the help of Apollo they constructed the temple to Apollo at Delphi, the most sacred of the temples to Apollo. This temple also becomes the place where the oracle of Apollo resides, on the Delphic Tripod.Apollo had many love affairs, with both nymphs and mortal women. He fell in love with the Nymph Daphne, daughter of the river god Peneus in Thessaly. Ovid tells us the story of Daphne and Apollo in the Metamorphosis. Daphne, daughter of the river god Peneus, is an independent woman with a love of hunting and a distaste for marriage and men. She wishes to remain like Diana, unmarried and chaste. However, she is very beautiful and when Apollo sees her as she is hunting one day, he is smitten with her. Apollo approaches Daphne but she runs from him, terrified of what he may do to her. Daphne realizes that she will never be able to outrun him, so as soon as she reaches the river of her father, she screams for his help. A numbness comes upon her body and her feet begin to feel as though they are being rooted to the earth; bark begins to enclose her and leaves sprout forth as she is turned into a laurel tree. Apollo was very dismayed by this sight and said, “ You would not be my wife; yet you shall be my tree. My hair, my lyre, and my quiver shall always bear the laurel, which shall be my emblem and sign” (Metamorphosis, p. 12-15).His love for Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, had equally unhappy results. Apollo loved Cassandra and, in order to seduce her, promised to teach her the art of divination. She underwent the lessons but, when she had learned them, she refused to yield to him. Apollo took his revenge by withdrawing from her the gift of inspiring confidence in her divinations, and so Cassandra made her most accurate predictions in vain, for no one would believe her.Apollo did not only love young women and nymphs, for there are a few young men he appeared to be most fond of. The best known are the heroes Hyacinthus and Cyparissus whose metamorphoses, into a hyacinth and a cypress, respectively, distressed the god very deeply. Hyacinthus was killed by Apollo when they decided to compete in a discuss throw, and Apollo’s throw bounced off the Earth where it hit, only to crush Hyacinthus’ face. Apollo turned his dear friend into a hyacinth in mourning for his death. Cyparissus was out hunting one day when he accidentally shot and killed his beloved stag, which was a pet of his. Cyparissus begged of Apollo that he be allowed to mourn forever for the death of this stag, and was transformed into a cypress. Apollo claimed, “I shall mourn your loss, and you will mourn for others, for you will attend at the funerals of men to condole with all those who grieve” (Metamorphoses p. 198-99).Another tragic story is that of Apollo’s son, Phaethon. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Phaethon is the child of Apollo, the sun god, and Clymene. Phaethon requests proof that Apollo is his father, and so upon reaching Apollo, he is given one wish to be granted by his father. Phaethon requests that he drive Apollo’s chariot, to which his father begrudgingly agrees. The task of driving the chariot is too difficult for Phaethon, and he ends up killing himself quite violently, while also burning the earth (pg. 21-29).Apollo can sometimes be found as a cowherd. In the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, Apollo’s oxen were stolen by the young Hermes while he was still in swaddling clothes, proof of his precocity. Apollo recovered his possessions on Mount Cyllene. But, so the story goes, the infant Hermes had invented the lyre and Apollo was so delighted with it that in exchange for it he let Hermes keep his cattle, and also gives Hermes his caduceus, or kerukeion, which was originally Apollo’s healing staff. Now, of course, this staff symbolizes Hermes as the messenger god. Hermes then invents another musical instrument, the flute, or pan-pipes, depending on the version of the story (pg. 94-122).The story of Marsyas is another legend about Apollo in which the flute plays a part. Marsyas the Satyr, who was the son of Olympus, found a flute that had been thrown away by Athena. When Marsyas found that he could make delightful music with it he challenged Apollo and claimed to make sweeter music with his flute than Apollo with his lyre. Marsyas was the loser and Apollo flayed him alive, which is one of the rare examples of Apollo’s wrath, or more aggressive side.As well as being the god of soothsaying, of music, and of nature, his love affairs with the Nymphs and the young people who became flowers and trees linked him intimately with plant growth and Nature. Apollo was also a warrior god who could, like his sister Artemis, bring a swift and easy death from afar with his bow and arrows. Together they took part in the massacre of Niobe’s children to avenge the honor of Leto. Apollo brought down on the Greeks before Troy a plague that decimated their army, in order to compel Agamemnon to return to his priest Chryses the young Chryseis who was still held in captivity. He also slew the Cyclopes, the snake Python and the giant Tityus. He took part, on the side of the Olympians, in their struggle against the Giants. In the Iliad we find him fighting for the Trojans against the Greeks and protecting Paris, and his involvement (whether direct or indirect) eventually led to the death of Achilles.Certain animals were especially dedicated to Apollo: the wolf, which was sometimes sacrificed as an offering to him, and which is often depicted together with him, on coins; the roebuck or hind which also plays a part in the cult of Artemis; among birds the swan, the kite, the vulture and the crow, whose flight could convey omens. Among sea creatures there was the dolphin, whose name recalls that of Delphi, home of the main shrine of Apollo. The bay laurel was the plant of Apollo above all others. It was a bay leaf that the Pythia (or oracle at Delphi) chewed during her prophetic trances.