Apollo

Apollo is the Greek god of music and prophecy, of archery, and of healing and plague. He was the son of Zeus and Leto and the twin brother of Artemis, and his oracle at Delphi was the most famous in the Greek world. The Romans took him over under the same name, Apollo; “Phoebus” is one of his Greek titles, not a Roman name.

Apollo’s Role

In the Iliad Apollo is the far-shooting archer of the silver bow who sends plague on the Greek camp and answers the prayers of his priest (Homer, Iliad 1.9–52). The Greeks answered the plague with a paean, a song to Apollo, and the god “was glad at heart as he listened” (Iliad 1.472–474). At his birth he announces what he will be: “may the lyre and the curved bow be dear to me, and I will declare to men the unerring will of Zeus” (Homeric Hymn 3 to Apollo 131–132). Music, archery and prophecy are therefore the three powers the sources give him first. He also heals: when the wounded Glaucus prays to him, Apollo stops the pain and dries the blood of his wound (Iliad 16.527–529). His son Asclepius became the god of medicine.

Apollo’s Name

No ancient writer knew what the name Apollo meant. In Plato’s Cratylus, Socrates observes that many people are afraid of the name, supposing that it has some terrible meaning, and offers his own explanations: the god of cleansing, the “simple” one, the archer who is always shooting, and the one who moves things together in harmony (Plato, Cratylus 404e–405c). The Romans did not translate the name. They took the god over as Apollo, and Livy records that a temple was vowed to him at Rome during a plague (Livy 4.25.3), and dedicated a few years later (4.29.7).

Apollo’s Portrayal and Symbolism

The poets show him with a bow and arrows and with the lyre (Hymn to Apollo 131, 182–185). The laurel became his tree after the transformation of Daphne, and he tells it that it will always be on his hair, his lyre and his quiver (Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.557–559). The dolphin belongs to the story of his Delphic temple, and the swan was thought of as his bird: Socrates calls the swans “Apollo’s birds”, with prophetic vision of the next world (Plato, Phaedo 84e–85b). The raven was his messenger in the story of Coronis. In Homer he is also “wolf-born” (Iliad 4.101).

Apollo’s Epithets

Homer calls him Phoebus Apollo (Iliad 1.43) and Smintheus (Iliad 1.39), and the Greeks sang the paean to him. Aeschylus calls him Loxias and says he is the prophet of his father Zeus (Eumenides 19). He is Pythian from Pytho, the old name of Delphi (Hymn to Apollo 372–374), and Delphinian from the dolphin (Hymn to Apollo 493–496). Ovid calls him Delian, from Delos (Metamorphoses 1.454).

Apollo’s Biography

Apollo’s Birth

Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto. Apollodorus says that Hera hunted Leto over the whole earth for her love affair with Zeus, until she came to Delos, where she gave birth first to Artemis, who then helped to deliver Apollo (Library 1.4.1). In the Homeric Hymn Apollo is born on Delos beside a palm tree, and Artemis on Ortygia (Hymn to Apollo 14–18, 115–119). The goddesses wash him and wrap him in a white cloth. Themis, not Leto, feeds him nectar and ambrosia; he bursts his bands at once and speaks to the gods (Hymn to Apollo 120–132). In Hyginus’ version, Hera decreed that Leto could give birth only where the sun did not reach, and the serpent Python pursued her; Poseidon hid the island of Ortygia under the waves, and there, later called Delos, Leto gave birth holding on to an olive tree (Hyginus, Fabulae 140).

The Slaying of Python

Apollo took over Delphi by killing the serpent that guarded it. In Apollodorus the snake Python guarded the oracle of Themis; Apollo killed it when it tried to stop him from approaching the chasm, and took the oracle (Library 1.4.1). In the Homeric Hymn it is a she-dragon that harmed people and flocks near a spring, and Apollo shot it with an arrow; it writhed and died, and he said, “Now rot (pythein) here”, so the place was named Pytho and the god Pythian (Hymn to Apollo 300–304, 356–374). Aeschylus gives a peaceful version: Earth held the oracle first, then Themis, then Phoebe, and Phoebe gave it to Apollo as a birthday gift (Eumenides 1–8). Hyginus makes it revenge: on the fourth day after his birth Apollo went to Parnassus, killed Python with his arrows to punish him for pursuing his mother, put its bones in a tripod in his temple and founded the Pythian games in its honour (Fabulae 140).

Apollo and Delphi

The Homeric Hymn then tells how Apollo took the form of a dolphin and leapt onto a ship of Cretan sailors from Cnossos, steered it to Crisa, and led them up to his temple on Parnassus as his priests, singing a paean (Hymn to Apollo 388–396, 493–523). Delos and Delphi both remained his chief sanctuaries.

Apollo - Greek God of Music

On the day he was born, Hermes made the lyre and in the evening stole Apollo’s cattle (Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes 17–19). Zeus made the two brothers reconcile, and Hermes gave Apollo the lyre while Apollo gave Hermes the herdsman’s whip (Hymn to Hermes 495–512). In Apollodorus too, Apollo accepted the lyre in exchange for the cattle (Library 3.10.2). From then on the lyre was Apollo’s instrument.

Apollo and Marsyas

The satyr Marsyas found the double flute that Athena had thrown away and challenged Apollo to a contest. Apollo won, and hung Marsyas on a tree and flayed him (Apollodorus, Library 1.4.2). Ovid describes the flaying, and says that the river Marsyas in Phrygia arose from the tears of the country gods and nymphs who mourned him (Metamorphoses 6.382–400).

Apollo and Pan

Pan, who boasted that he was a better musician, played against Apollo before the mountain god Tmolus. Tmolus gave the prize to Apollo. Midas, who had been listening, objected that the verdict was unjust, and Apollo gave him the ears of a donkey (Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.146–179; compare Hyginus, Fabulae 191).

Apollo’s Ill-Fated Love Affairs

Many of Apollo’s love stories end in loss. The best known are those of Coronis, Marpessa, Cassandra, Daphne, Cyparissus and Hyacinthus.

Apollo and Coronis

Coronis, daughter of Phlegyas, was carrying Apollo’s child when she took Ischys as a lover. In Apollodorus a raven brought Apollo the news; he cursed it and turned it from white to black, and he killed Coronis. As she burned on the pyre he snatched the child, Asclepius, from the flames and brought him to the centaur Chiron (Library 3.10.3). In Pindar, Apollo sent his sister Artemis to kill Coronis (Pythian 3.8–46). In Ovid, Apollo shoots Coronis himself; she says she would have borne the child first (Metamorphoses 2.531–632).

Apollo and Marpessa

Apollo courted Marpessa, daughter of Evenus, but Idas, son of Aphareus, carried her off in a winged chariot. When Apollo met Idas in Messene and tried to take the girl, Zeus parted them and let Marpessa choose, and she chose Idas because she feared that Apollo would desert her in her old age (Apollodorus, Library 1.7.8–9). Homer says that Idas took up the bow against Apollo for her sake (Iliad 9.556–564).

Apollo and Cassandra

In Aeschylus, Cassandra says that Apollo wrestled with her, breathing desire. She agreed to his wishes and then deceived Loxias, and as a result no one believed her prophecies (Agamemnon 1202–1212). Apollodorus tells it as a promise: Apollo promised to teach her prophecy, she learned the art but refused him, and he took away her power to persuade (Library 3.12.5).

Apollo and Daphne

In Ovid, Daphne, the daughter of the river god Peneus, is Apollo’s first love. Cupid, angry that Apollo had mocked his bow, shoots Apollo with a golden arrow that causes love and Daphne with a leaden one that rejects it (Metamorphoses 1.452–473). She wished to remain unmarried like Diana. When Apollo caught up with her, she prayed to her father to change her shape, and she became a laurel tree. Apollo said that if she could not be his wife, she would be his tree (Metamorphoses 1.543–567).

Apollo and Cyparissus

Ovid says that Cyparissus, a boy of Ceos loved by Apollo, accidentally killed a tame stag, sacred to the nymphs, that he loved. He wished to mourn forever, and Apollo, who had tried to comfort him, turned him into a cypress (Metamorphoses 10.106–142).

Apollo and Hyacinthus

Hyacinthus was a youth of Amyclae loved by Apollo, who killed him by accident with the cast of a discus (Apollodorus, Library 1.3.3). In Ovid, the discus rebounded from the hard ground and struck the boy in the face. Apollo, unable to save him, made a flower of his blood and marked its petals with his cry of grief (Metamorphoses 10.162–219). In Lucian’s version, Zephyrus, the West Wind, who also loved the boy and had been rejected, blew the discus onto his head (Dialogues of the Gods 16).

Apollo’s Children

Apollo’s best-known son is Asclepius, the god of medicine, born of Coronis (see Apollo and Asclepius below). Aristaeus was his son by the nymph Cyrene (Pindar, Pythian 9.59–65). The Muse Calliope bore Linus and Orpheus to Oeagrus or, nominally, to Apollo (Apollodorus, Library 1.3.2). Troilus is a son of Priam in the Trojan story, but Apollodorus says Hecuba had him by Apollo (Library 3.12.5).

Apollo: Myths and Hidden Truths

Apollo in the Trojan War

Apollo sided with the Trojans. He sent the plague on the Greek camp (Iliad 1.43–52), struck Patroclus on the back so that his helmet fell and his armour was loosened (Iliad 16.784–806), and Hector, dying, warned Achilles that Paris and Phoebus Apollo would kill him at the Scaean gates (Iliad 22.358–360). Apollo also once served Laomedon of Troy for a year, herding his cattle on Mount Ida while Poseidon built the walls (Iliad 21.441–449).

Apollo and Niobe

Niobe boasted that she had many children while Leto had only two. Apollo killed her six sons with his silver bow and Artemis killed her six daughters (Iliad 24.602–609).

Apollo and the Sun

In Homer and Hesiod the Sun is a different god, Helios, who sees and hears everything and is the son of Hyperion and Theia (Iliad 3.277; Hesiod, Theogony 371–374). The identification of Apollo with the Sun came later; Plutarch says that almost all the Greeks of his time identified the two (On the E at Delphi 4).

Apollo and the Hyperboreans

Apollo was linked to the Hyperboreans, a people said to live beyond the north wind. According to the Delians, offerings wrapped in straw were passed from the Hyperboreans through many peoples to Delos, and two Hyperborean maidens first brought them there (Herodotus 4.32–35).

Apollo and Asclepius

Asclepius was Apollo’s son by Coronis, though Apollodorus also records a version in which his mother was Arsinoe, daughter of Leucippus (Library 3.10.3). Apollo gave the child to the centaur Chiron, who taught him to heal (Pindar, Pythian 3.45–46). Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt, and in anger Apollo killed the Cyclopes who made it, for which Zeus made him serve a mortal man, Admetus, for a year (Euripides, Alcestis 1–9; Apollodorus, Library 3.10.4).

Apollo Sources

Homer, Iliad 1.9–52, 1.472–474, 3.277, 4.101, 9.556–564, 16.527–529, 16.784–806, 21.441–449, 22.358–360, 24.602–609; Homeric Hymn 3 to Apollo and Hymn 4 to Hermes; Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1202–1212 and Eumenides 1–19; Euripides, Alcestis 1–9; Pindar, Pythian 3.8–46 and 9.59–65; Plato, Cratylus 404e–405c and Phaedo 84e–85b; Apollodorus, Library 1.3.2–3, 1.4.1–2, 1.7.8–9, 3.10.2–4, 3.12.5; Herodotus 4.32–35; Livy 4.25.3, 4.29.7; Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.452–567, 2.531–632, 6.382–400, 10.106–219, 11.146–179; Hesiod, Theogony 371–374; Hyginus, Fabulae 140 and 191; Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods 16; Plutarch, On the E at Delphi 4. For Apollo’s major shrine, see Homeric Hymn 3 in the Perseus Digital Library.

See Also: Artemis, Leto, Zeus, Delphi, Python, Marsyas, Pan, Daphne, Asclepius, Hyacinthus, Cassandra