Apolo [a] es una de las deidades olímpicas de la religión clásica griega y romana y de la mitología griega y romana . Apolo ha sido reconocido como un dios del tiro con arco, la música y la danza, la verdad y la profecía, la curación y las enfermedades, el Sol y la luz, la poesía y más. Uno de los dioses griegos más importantes y complejos, es hijo de Zeus y Leto , y hermano gemelo de Artemisa , diosa de la caza. Se le considera el dios más bello y se le representa como el ideal del kouros (efebo, o un joven atlético e imberbe). Apolo es conocido en la mitología etrusca de influencia griega como Apulu . [3]
Como deidad patrona de Delfos ( Apolo Pitio ), Apolo es un dios oracular , la deidad profética del Oráculo de Delfos y también la deidad de la purificación ritual. Sus oráculos eran consultados a menudo para obtener orientación en diversos asuntos. En general, se lo consideraba el dios que brinda ayuda y aleja el mal, y se lo conoce como Alexicacus , el "que aparta el mal".
La medicina y la curación están asociadas con Apolo, ya sea a través del propio dios o a través de su hijo Asclepio . Apolo libraba a la gente de las epidemias, pero también era un dios que podía traer mala salud y plagas mortales con sus flechas. La invención del tiro con arco se atribuye a Apolo y a su hermana Artemisa. A Apolo se le suele describir portando un arco de plata o de oro y un carcaj de flechas de plata o de oro.
Como dios de la mousike , [b] Apolo preside toda la música, las canciones, la danza y la poesía. Es el inventor de la música de cuerdas y el compañero frecuente de las Musas, funcionando como su líder de coro en las celebraciones. La lira es un atributo común de Apolo. La protección de los jóvenes es una de las facetas mejor atestiguadas de su personaje de culto panhelénico. Como kourotrophos , Apolo se preocupa por la salud y la educación de los niños, y preside su paso a la edad adulta. El cabello largo, que era prerrogativa de los niños, se cortaba al llegar a la mayoría de edad ( ephebeia ) y se dedicaba a Apolo. El propio dios es representado con el pelo largo y sin cortar para simbolizar su eterna juventud.
Apolo es una importante deidad pastoral, y era el patrón de los pastores y los ganaderos. La protección de los rebaños, los rebaños y los cultivos contra enfermedades, plagas y depredadores eran sus principales deberes rústicos. Por otra parte, Apolo también fomentaba la fundación de nuevas ciudades y el establecimiento de constituciones civiles, se lo asocia con el dominio sobre los colonos y era el dador de leyes. Sus oráculos se consultaban a menudo antes de establecer leyes en una ciudad. Apolo Agieo era el protector de las calles, los lugares públicos y las entradas de las casas. [ cita requerida ]
En tiempos helenísticos, especialmente durante el siglo V a. C., como Apolo Helios llegó a ser identificado entre los griegos con Helios , la personificación del Sol. [4] Aunque las obras teológicas latinas de al menos el siglo I a. C. identificaron a Apolo con Sol , [5] [6] no hubo una fusión entre los dos entre los poetas latinos clásicos hasta el siglo I d. C. [7]
Apolo ( ático , jónico y griego homérico : Ἀπόλλων , Apollōn ( GEN Ἀπόλλωνος ); dórico : Ἀπέλλων , Apellōn ; arcadocipriota : Ἀπείλων , Apeilōn ; eólico : Ἄπλουν , Aploun ; latín : Apollō )
El nombre Apolo —a diferencia del nombre más antiguo relacionado Paean— no se encuentra generalmente en los textos lineales B ( griego micénico ), aunque hay una posible atestación en la forma lacunosa ]pe-rjo-[ (Lineal B: ] 𐀟𐁊 -[) en la tablilla KN E 842, [8] [9] [10] aunque también se ha sugerido que el nombre podría en realidad leerse " Hiperión " ([u]-pe-rjo-[ne]). [11]
La etimología del nombre es incierta. La ortografía Ἀπόλλων ( pronunciada [a.pól.lɔːn] en ático clásico ) había casi reemplazado a todas las demás formas a principios de la era común , pero la forma dórica , Apellon ( Ἀπέλλων ), es más arcaica, ya que deriva de un * Ἀπέλjων anterior . Probablemente sea un cognado del mes dórico Apellaios ( Ἀπελλαῖος ), [12] y las ofrendas apellaia ( ἀπελλαῖα ) en la iniciación de los jóvenes durante el festival familiar apellai ( ἀπέλλαι ). [13] [14] Según algunos estudiosos, las palabras se derivan de la palabra dórica apella ( ἀπέλλα ), que originalmente significaba "muro", "cerca para animales" y más tarde "asamblea dentro de los límites de la plaza". [15] [16] Apella ( Ἀπέλλα ) es el nombre de la asamblea popular en Esparta, [15] correspondiente a la ecclesia ( ἐκκλησία ). RSP Beekes rechazó la conexión del teónimo con el sustantivo apellai y sugirió una protoforma pregriega * Apal y un . [17]
Varios ejemplos de etimología popular están atestiguados por autores antiguos. Así, los griegos asociaban con mayor frecuencia el nombre de Apolo con el verbo griego ἀπόλλυμι ( apollymi ), "destruir". [18] Platón en Cratilo conecta el nombre con ἀπόλυσις ( apolysis ), "redención", con ἀπόλουσις ( apolousis ), "purificación", y con ἁπλοῦν ( [h]aploun ), "simple", [19] en particular en referencia a la forma tesalia del nombre, Ἄπλουν , y finalmente con Ἀειβάλλων ( aeiballon ), "siempre disparando". Hesiquio relaciona el nombre Apolo con el dórico ἀπέλλα ( apella ), que significa «asamblea», de modo que Apolo sería el dios de la vida política, y también da la explicación σηκός ( sekos ), «redil», en cuyo caso Apolo sería el dios de los rebaños y las manadas. [20] En la antigua lengua macedonia πέλλα ( pella ) significa «piedra», [21] y algunos topónimos pueden derivar de esta palabra: Πέλλα ( Pella , [22] la capital de la antigua Macedonia ) y Πελλήνη ( Pellēnē / Pellene ). [23]
La forma hitita Apaliunas ( d x-ap-pa-li-u-na-aš ) está atestiguada en la carta Manapa-Tarhunta . [24] El testimonio hitita refleja una forma temprana * Apeljōn , que también puede deducirse de la comparación del Ἀπείλων chipriota con el Ἀπέλλων dórico . [25] El nombre del dios lidio Qλdãns /kʷʎðãns/ puede reflejar un /kʷalyán-/ anterior a la palatalización, la síncope y el cambio de sonido pre-lidio *y > d. [26] Nótese la labiovelar en lugar de la labial /p/ que se encuentra en el Ἀπέλjων predórico y el Apaliunas hitita .
Una etimología luvita sugerida para Apaliunas hace de Apolo "El de la Trampa", tal vez en el sentido de "Cazador". [27]
El epíteto principal de Apolo era Febo ( / ˈf iː b ə s / FEE -bəs ; Φοῖβος , Phoibos pronunciación griega: [pʰó͜i.bos] ), literalmente "brillante". [28] Era muy comúnmente utilizado tanto por los griegos como por los romanos para el papel de Apolo como dios de la luz. Al igual que otras deidades griegas, se le aplicaban otros muchos, lo que reflejaba la variedad de roles, deberes y aspectos atribuidos al dios. Sin embargo, mientras que Apolo tiene un gran número de apelativos en la mitología griega, solo aparecen unos pocos en la literatura latina .
El lugar de nacimiento de Apolo fue el monte Cinto en la isla de Delos .
Delfos y Actium fueron sus principales lugares de culto. [32] [33]
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Apolo era venerado en todo el Imperio Romano . En las tierras tradicionalmente celtas , se lo consideraba con mayor frecuencia un dios del sol y de la curación. A menudo se lo equiparaba con dioses celtas de carácter similar. [49]
Apolo es considerado el más helénico (griego) de los dioses olímpicos . [58] [59] [60]
Los centros de culto de Apolo en Grecia, Delfos y Delos , datan del siglo VIII a. C. El santuario de Delos estaba dedicado principalmente a Artemisa , la hermana gemela de Apolo. En Delfos, Apolo era venerado como el matador de la monstruosa serpiente Pitón . Para los griegos, Apolo era el más griego de todos los dioses, y a través de los siglos adquirió diferentes funciones. En la Grecia arcaica era el profeta , el dios oracular que en tiempos más antiguos estaba relacionado con la "curación". En la Grecia clásica era el dios de la luz y de la música, pero en la religión popular tenía una fuerte función de alejar el mal. [61] Walter Burkert discernió tres componentes en la prehistoria del culto a Apolo, a los que denominó "un componente griego dórico-noroccidental, un componente cretense-minoico y un componente sirio-hitita". [62]
En la época clásica, su principal función en la religión popular era alejar el mal, y por ello se le llamaba "apotropaios" ( ἀποτρόπαιος , "evitar el mal") y "alexikakos" ( ἀλεξίκακος , "alejar el mal"; del v. ἀλέξω + n. κακόν ). [64] Apolo también tenía muchos epítetos relacionados con su función como sanador. Algunos ejemplos de uso común son "paion" ( παιών , literalmente "sanador" o "ayudante") [65] "epikourios" ( ἐπικούριος , "socorrista"), "oulios" ( οὔλιος , "sanador, funesto") [66] y "loimios" ( λοίμιος , "de la plaga"). En escritores posteriores, la palabra "paion", generalmente escrita "Paean", se convierte en un mero epíteto de Apolo en su calidad de dios de la curación . [67]
Apolo en su aspecto de "sanador" tiene una conexión con el dios primitivo Peán ( Παιών-Παιήων ), que no tenía un culto propio. Peán sirve como sanador de los dioses en la Ilíada , y parece haberse originado en una religión pre-griega. [68] Se sugiere, aunque no está confirmado, que está conectado con la figura micénica pa-ja-wo-ne (Lineal B: 𐀞𐀊𐀺𐀚 ). [69] [70] [71] Peán era la personificación de las canciones sagradas cantadas por los "médicos videntes" ( ἰατρομάντεις ), que se suponía que curaban las enfermedades. [72]
Homero utiliza el sustantivo Peón para designar tanto a un dios como a su característico canto de acción de gracias y triunfo apotropaico . [73] Tales cantos se dirigían originalmente a Apolo y después a otros dioses: a Dioniso , a Apolo Helios , al hijo de Apolo, Asclepio , el sanador. Alrededor del siglo IV a. C., el peán se convirtió simplemente en una fórmula de adulación; su objeto era implorar protección contra la enfermedad y la desgracia o dar gracias después de que se hubiera brindado dicha protección. Fue de esta manera que Apolo había sido reconocido como el dios de la música. El papel de Apolo como el matador de la Pitón llevó a su asociación con la batalla y la victoria; por lo tanto, se convirtió en costumbre romana que un ejército cantara un peán en marcha y antes de entrar en batalla, cuando una flota salía del puerto y también después de que se hubiera obtenido una victoria.
En la Ilíada , Apolo es el sanador bajo los dioses, pero también es el portador de enfermedades y muerte con sus flechas, similar a la función del dios védico de la enfermedad, Rudra . [74] Envía una plaga ( λοιμός ) a los aqueos . Sabiendo que Apolo puede prevenir una recurrencia de la plaga que envió, se purifican en un ritual y le ofrecen un gran sacrificio de vacas, llamado hecatombe . [75]
El Himno homérico a Apolo describe a Apolo como un intruso procedente del norte. [76] La conexión con los dorios que habitaban en el norte y su festival de iniciación apellai se refuerza con el mes Apellaios en los calendarios del noroeste griego. [77] El festival familiar estaba dedicado a Apolo ( dórico : Ἀπέλλων ). [78] Apellaios es el mes de estos ritos, y Apellon es el "megistos kouros" (el gran Kouros). [79] Sin embargo, solo puede explicar el tipo dórico del nombre, que está conectado con la palabra macedonia antigua "pella" ( Pella ), piedra . Las piedras desempeñaban un papel importante en el culto al dios, especialmente en el santuario oracular de Delfos ( Omphalos ). [80] [81]
George Huxley consideró que la identificación de Apolo con la deidad minoica Paiawon, adorada en Creta, se originó en Delfos. [82] En el Himno homérico , Apolo aparece como un delfín que lleva a los sacerdotes cretenses a Delfos, lugar al que evidentemente trasladan sus prácticas religiosas. Apolo Delphinios o Delphidios era un dios del mar adorado especialmente en Creta y en las islas. [83] La hermana de Apolo , Artemisa , que era la diosa griega de la caza, se identifica con Britomartis (Diktynna), la «señora de los animales» minoica. En sus primeras representaciones estaba acompañada por el «amo de los animales», un dios de la caza que empuñaba un arco y cuyo nombre se ha perdido; es posible que algunos aspectos de esta figura hayan sido absorbidos por el más popular Apolo. [84]
Durante mucho tiempo se ha asumido en la erudición que Apolo no tenía un origen griego. [12] El nombre de la madre de Apolo, Leto , tiene origen lidio y era venerada en las costas de Asia Menor . El culto oracular de inspiración probablemente se introdujo en Grecia desde Anatolia , que es el origen de la Sibila y donde se originaron algunos de los santuarios oraculares más antiguos. Presagios, símbolos, purificaciones y exorcismos aparecen en antiguos textos asirio - babilónicos . Estos rituales se extendieron al imperio de los hititas y de allí a Grecia. [85]
Homero describe a Apolo del lado de los troyanos , luchando contra los aqueos , durante la Guerra de Troya . Se le describe como un dios terrible, en el que los griegos confiaban menos que en otros dioses. El dios parece estar relacionado con Apalunas , un dios tutelar de Wilusa ( Troya ) en Asia Menor, pero la palabra no está completa. [86] Las piedras encontradas frente a las puertas de la Troya homérica eran los símbolos de Apolo. Un origen anatoliano occidental también puede verse reforzado por referencias al culto paralelo de Artimus ( Artemisa ) y Qλdãns , cuyo nombre puede estar relacionado con las formas hitita y dórica, en los textos lidios supervivientes . [87] Sin embargo, estudiosos recientes han puesto en duda la identificación de Qλdãns con Apolo. [88]
Los griegos le dieron el nombre de ἀγυιεύς agyieus como dios protector de los lugares públicos y las casas que aleja el mal y su símbolo era una piedra cónica o columna. [89] Sin embargo, mientras que normalmente los festivales griegos se celebraban en la luna llena , todas las fiestas de Apolo se celebraban el séptimo día del mes, y el énfasis dado a ese día ( sibutu ) indica un origen babilónico . [90]
El Rudra védico tiene algunas funciones similares a las de Apolo. El terrible dios es llamado "el arquero" y el arco también es un atributo de Shiva . [91] Rudra podía traer enfermedades con sus flechas, pero era capaz de liberar a la gente de ellas y su Shiva alternativo es un dios médico sanador. [92] Sin embargo, el componente indoeuropeo de Apolo no explica su fuerte asociación con presagios, exorcismos y un culto oracular.
Apolo tenía dos lugares de culto que tenían una influencia muy amplia, algo inusual entre las deidades olímpicas: Delos y Delfos . En la práctica del culto, Apolo de Delos y Apolo pitio (el Apolo de Delfos) eran tan distintos que ambos podían tener santuarios en la misma localidad. [60] Licia era sagrada para el dios, ya que este Apolo también era llamado licio. [93] [94] El culto a Apolo ya estaba plenamente establecido cuando comenzaron las fuentes escritas, alrededor del 650 a. C. Apolo se volvió extremadamente importante para el mundo griego como deidad oracular en el período arcaico , y la frecuencia de nombres teofóricos como Apolodoro o Apolonio y ciudades llamadas Apolonia dan testimonio de su popularidad. Se establecieron santuarios oraculares a Apolo en otros sitios. En los siglos II y III d. C., los de Dídima y Claros pronunciaron los llamados "oráculos teológicos", en los que Apolo confirma que todas las deidades son aspectos o sirvientes de una deidad suprema que todo lo abarca . "En el siglo III, Apolo enmudeció. Juliano el Apóstata (359-361) intentó revivir el oráculo de Delfos, pero fracasó." [12]
Apolo tenía un famoso oráculo en Delfos y otros notables en Claros y Dídima . Su santuario oracular en Abae en Fócida , donde llevaba el epíteto toponímico Abaeus ( Ἀπόλλων Ἀβαῖος , Apollon Abaios ), era lo suficientemente importante como para ser consultado por Creso . [95] Sus santuarios oraculares incluyen:
Los oráculos también fueron dados por los hijos de Apolo.
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En Grecia y en las colonias griegas se dedicaron numerosos templos a Apolo, que muestran la expansión del culto a Apolo y la evolución de la arquitectura griega, que se basaba principalmente en la corrección de las formas y en las relaciones matemáticas. Algunos de los primeros templos, especialmente en Creta , no pertenecen a ningún orden griego. Parece que los primeros templos peripétreos eran estructuras rectangulares de madera. Los diferentes elementos de madera se consideraban divinos y sus formas se conservaron en los elementos de mármol o piedra de los templos de orden dórico . Los griegos utilizaban tipos estándar porque creían que el mundo de los objetos era una serie de formas típicas que podían representarse en varios casos. Los templos debían ser canónicos y los arquitectos intentaban alcanzar esta perfección estética. [97] Desde los primeros tiempos se observaron estrictamente ciertas reglas en los edificios peripétreos y prostilos rectangulares. Los primeros edificios se construyeron de forma estrecha para sostener el techo y, cuando cambiaron las dimensiones, se hicieron necesarias algunas relaciones matemáticas para mantener las formas originales. Esto probablemente influyó en la teoría de los números de Pitágoras , quien creía que detrás de la apariencia de las cosas estaba el principio permanente de las matemáticas. [98]
El orden dórico dominó durante los siglos VI y V a.C., pero existía un problema matemático con respecto a la posición de los triglifos, que no podía resolverse sin cambiar las formas originales. El orden fue casi abandonado por el orden jónico , pero el capitel jónico también planteaba un problema insoluble en la esquina de un templo. Ambos órdenes fueron abandonados por el orden corintio gradualmente durante la época helenística y bajo Roma.
Los templos más importantes son:
En los mitos, Apolo es hijo de Zeus , el rey de los dioses, y Leto , su esposa anterior [134] o una de sus amantes. Apolo aparece a menudo en los mitos, obras de teatro e himnos, ya sea directa o indirectamente a través de sus oráculos. Como hijo favorito de Zeus, tenía acceso directo a la mente de Zeus y estaba dispuesto a revelar este conocimiento a los humanos. Una divinidad más allá de la comprensión humana, aparece tanto como un dios benéfico como un dios iracundo.
Leto, embarazada de Zeus, vagó por muchas tierras con la intención de dar a luz a Apolo, pero todas las tierras la rechazaron por miedo. Al llegar a Delos, Leto pidió a la isla que la albergara y que, a cambio, su hijo traería fama y prosperidad a la isla. Delos le reveló entonces que se rumoreaba que Apolo era el dios que "dominaría en gran manera entre los dioses y los hombres en toda la fértil tierra". Por esta razón, todas las tierras estaban temerosas y Delos temía que Apolo la rechazara una vez que naciera. Al oír esto, Leto juró sobre el río Estigia que si se le permitía dar a luz en la isla, su hijo honraría a Delos más que a todas las demás tierras. Con esta seguridad, Delos aceptó ayudar a Leto. Todas las diosas, excepto Hera, también acudieron en ayuda de Leto.
Sin embargo, Hera había engañado a Ilitía , la diosa del parto, para que se quedara en el Olimpo, por lo que Leto no pudo dar a luz. Las diosas convencieron a Iris para que fuera a buscar a Ilitía ofreciéndole un collar de ámbar de 8,2 m de largo. Iris obedeció y convenció a Ilitía para que entrara en la isla. Así, agarrada a una palmera, Leto finalmente dio a luz después de trabajar durante nueve días y nueve noches, con Apolo "saltando" del vientre de su madre. Las diosas lavaron al recién nacido, lo cubrieron con una prenda blanca y le ataron bandas de oro. Como Leto no podía alimentarlo, Temis , la diosa de la ley divina, lo alimentó con néctar y ambrosía . Al probar la comida divina, el niño se liberó de las ataduras que lo sujetaban y declaró que sería el maestro de la lira y el arco, e interpretaría la voluntad de Zeus para la humanidad. Luego comenzó a caminar, lo que hizo que la isla se llenara de oro. [135]
La isla de Delos solía ser Asteria , una diosa que saltó a las aguas para escapar de los avances de Zeus y se convirtió en una isla flotante con el mismo nombre. Cuando Leto se quedó embarazada, le dijeron a Hera que el hijo de Leto sería más querido para Zeus que Ares. Enfurecida por esto, Hera vigiló los cielos y envió a Ares e Iris para evitar que Leto diera a luz en la tierra. Ares, estacionado sobre el continente, e Iris, sobre las islas, amenazaron todas las tierras y les impidieron ayudar a Leto.
Cuando Leto llegó a Tebas, Apolo, ya en estado fetal, profetizó desde el vientre de su madre que en el futuro castigaría a una mujer calumniosa de Tebas ( Níobe ), por lo que no quería nacer allí. Leto fue entonces a Tesalia y buscó la ayuda de las ninfas fluviales, hijas del río Peneo. Aunque al principio se mostró temeroso y reacio, Peneo decidió más tarde dejar que Leto diera a luz en sus aguas. No cambió de opinión ni siquiera cuando Ares emitió un sonido aterrador y amenazó con arrojar los picos de las montañas al río. Pero la propia Leto declinó su ayuda y se marchó, ya que no quería que él sufriera por su causa.
Después de haber sido rechazado en varias tierras, Apolo volvió a hablar desde el vientre materno, pidiendo a su madre que mirara la isla flotante que tenía frente a ella y expresando su deseo de nacer allí. Cuando Leto se acercó a Asteria, todas las demás islas huyeron. Pero Asteria recibió a Leto sin ningún temor a Hera. Caminando por la isla, se sentó contra una palmera y le pidió a Apolo que naciera. Durante el parto, los cisnes dieron siete vueltas alrededor de la isla, una señal de que más tarde Apolo tocaría la lira de siete cuerdas. Cuando Apolo finalmente "saltó" del vientre de su madre, las ninfas de la isla cantaron un himno a Ilitía que se escuchó hasta los cielos. En el momento en que Apolo nació, toda la isla, incluidos los árboles y las aguas, se volvió de oro. Asteria bañó al recién nacido, lo envolvió y lo alimentó con su leche materna. La isla había echado raíces y más tarde se llamó Delos.
Hera ya no estaba enojada, pues Zeus había logrado calmarla; y no guardaba rencor contra Asteria, ya que Asteria había rechazado a Zeus en el pasado. [136]
Píndaro es la fuente más antigua que explícitamente menciona a Apolo y Artemisa como gemelos. Aquí también se afirma que Asteria es la hermana de Leto. Queriendo escapar de los avances de Zeus, se arrojó al mar y se convirtió en una roca flotante llamada Ortigia hasta que nacieron los gemelos. [137] Cuando Leto pisó la roca, cuatro pilares con bases de adamantina se levantaron de la tierra y sostuvieron la roca. [138] Cuando nacieron Apolo y Artemisa, sus cuerpos brillaron radiantemente y se entonó un cántico por Ilitía y Láquesis , una de las tres Moiras . [139]
Despreciando los avances de Zeus, Asteria se transformó en un pájaro y saltó al mar. De ella surgió una isla que fue llamada Ortigia. [140] Cuando Hera descubrió que Leto estaba embarazada del hijo de Zeus, decretó que Leto solo podía dar a luz en un lugar donde no brillara el sol. Durante este tiempo, el monstruo Pitón también comenzó a acosar a Leto con la intención de matarla, porque había previsto que su muerte llegaría a manos de la descendencia de Leto. Sin embargo, por orden de Zeus, Bóreas se llevó a Leto y la confió a Poseidón . Para protegerla, Poseidón la llevó a la isla Ortigia y la cubrió con olas para que el sol no brillara sobre ella. Leto dio a luz agarrada a un olivo y en adelante la isla se llamó Delos. [141]
Otras variaciones del nacimiento de Apolo incluyen:
Eliano afirma que Leto tardó doce días y doce noches en viajar desde Hiperbórea hasta Delos. [142] Leto se transformó en loba antes de dar a luz. Esta es la razón por la que Homero describe a Apolo como el "dios nacido de lobo". [143] [144]
Libanio escribió que ni la tierra ni las islas visibles recibirían a Leto, pero por voluntad de Zeus, Delos se hizo visible y así recibió a Leto y a los niños. [145]
Según Estrabón, los Curetes ayudaron a Leto creando fuertes ruidos con sus armas y asustando así a Hera, ocultaron el parto de Leto. [146]
Teognis escribió que la isla estaba llena de fragancia ambrosial cuando nació Apolo, y la Tierra rió de alegría. [147]
Aunque en algunos relatos el nacimiento de Apolo fijó la flotante Delos a la tierra, hay relatos de que Apolo aseguró Delos al fondo del océano poco tiempo después. [148] [149] Esta isla se convirtió en sagrada para Apolo y fue uno de los principales centros de culto del dios. Apolo nació el séptimo día ( ἑβδομαγενής , hebdomagenes ) [150] del mes de Targelión —según la tradición de Delos— o del mes de Bisios —según la tradición de Delfos. El séptimo y el vigésimo, los días de la luna nueva y llena, siempre fueron considerados sagrados para él. [20]
El consenso general es que Artemisa nació primero y posteriormente ayudó en el nacimiento de Apolo. [151] [152]
Hiperbórea , la tierra mística de la eterna primavera, veneraba a Apolo por encima de todos los dioses. Los hiperbóreos siempre cantaban y bailaban en su honor y organizaban los juegos píticos . [153] Allí, un vasto bosque de hermosos árboles era llamado "el jardín de Apolo". Apolo pasaba los meses de invierno entre los hiperbóreos, [154] [155] dejando su santuario en Delfos al cuidado de Dioniso. Su ausencia del mundo causaba frío y esto se marcaba como su muerte anual. No se emitieron profecías durante este tiempo. [156] Regresó al mundo durante el comienzo de la primavera. El festival de Teofanía se celebró en Delfos para celebrar su regreso. [157]
Sin embargo, Diodoro Silculus afirma que Apolo visitaba Hiperbórea cada diecinueve años. Este período de diecinueve años era llamado por los griegos como el "año de Metón", el período de tiempo en el que las estrellas volvían a sus posiciones iniciales. Y que al visitar Hiperbórea en esa época, Apolo tocaba la cítara y bailaba continuamente desde el equinoccio de primavera hasta la salida de las Pléyades (constelaciones). [158]
Hiperbórea también fue el lugar de nacimiento de Leto. Se dice que Leto llegó a Delos desde Hiperbórea acompañado de una manada de lobos. A partir de entonces, Hiperbórea se convirtió en el hogar de invierno de Apolo y los lobos se convirtieron en sagrados para él. Su íntima conexión con los lobos es evidente por su epíteto Lyceus , que significa parecido a un lobo . Pero Apolo también era el matador de lobos en su papel de dios que protegía a los rebaños de los depredadores. El culto hiperbóreo a Apolo lleva las marcas más fuertes de Apolo siendo adorado como el dios del sol. Los elementos chamánicos en el culto de Apolo a menudo se relacionan con su origen hiperbóreo, y también se especula que se originó como un chamán solar. [159] [160] Chamanes como Abaris y Aristeas también eran seguidores de Apolo, que provenía de Hiperbórea.
En los mitos, las lágrimas de ámbar que Apolo derramó cuando murió su hijo Asclepio se mezclaron con las aguas del río Erídano, que rodeaba Hiperbórea. Apolo también enterró en Hiperbórea la flecha que había usado para matar a los cíclopes . Más tarde le dio esta flecha a Abaris. [161]
Mientras crecía, Apolo fue cuidado por las ninfas Corita y Aletea , la personificación de la verdad. [162] Febe , su abuela, le dio el santuario oracular de Delfos a Apolo como regalo de cumpleaños. [163]
A los cuatro años, Apolo construyó una base y un altar en Delos usando los cuernos de las cabras que cazaba su hermana Artemisa. Como aprendió el arte de la construcción cuando era joven, llegó a ser conocido como Arquégetes ( el fundador de ciudades ) y guió a los hombres para construir nuevas ciudades. [164] Para mantener al niño entretenido, las ninfas de Delos corrían alrededor del altar golpeándolo y luego, con las manos atadas a la espalda, mordían una rama de olivo. Más tarde se convirtió en costumbre que todos los marineros que pasaban por la isla hicieran lo mismo. [165]
De su padre Zeus, Apolo recibió una diadema de oro y un carro tirado por cisnes. [166] [167]
En sus primeros años, cuando Apolo pasaba su tiempo pastoreando vacas, fue criado por las Thriae , quienes lo entrenaron y mejoraron sus habilidades proféticas. [168] También se decía que el dios Pan lo había instruido en el arte profético. [169] También se dice que Apolo inventó la lira y, junto con Artemisa, el arte del tiro con arco. Luego enseñó a los humanos el arte de la curación y el tiro con arco. [170]
Poco después de dar a luz a sus gemelos, Leto huyó de Delos por temor a Hera. Al llegar a Licia, sus crías habían bebido toda la leche de su madre y lloraban pidiendo más para saciar su hambre. La exhausta madre intentó beber de un lago cercano, pero algunos campesinos licios se lo impidieron . Cuando les rogó que la dejaran saciar su sed, los altivos campesinos no solo la amenazaron, sino que también revolvieron el barro del lago para ensuciar las aguas. Enfadada por esto, Leto los convirtió en ranas. [171]
En una versión ligeramente variada, Leto tomó a sus hijos y cruzó a Licia, donde intentó bañarlos en un manantial que encontró allí, pero los pastores locales la echaron. Después de eso, unos lobos encontraron a Leto y la guiaron hasta el río Xantos, donde Leto pudo bañar a sus hijos y saciar su sed. Luego regresó al manantial y convirtió a los pastores en ranas. [172]
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Pitón , una serpiente-dragón ctónica , era hija de Gea y guardiana del Oráculo de Delfos . En el himno de Calímaco a Delos, Apolo fetal prevé la muerte de Pitón a manos de él. [165]
En el himno homérico a Apolo, Pitón era un dragón hembra y la nodriza del gigante Tifón , que Hera había creado para derrocar a Zeus. Se la describía como un monstruo aterrador y una "plaga sangrienta". Apolo, en su afán por establecer su culto, se encontró con Pitón y la mató con una sola flecha disparada desde su arco. Dejó que el cadáver se pudriera bajo el sol y se declaró a sí mismo la deidad oracular de Delfos. [173] Otros autores dicen que Apolo mató al monstruo usando cien flechas [174] [175] o mil flechas. [176]
Según Eurípides, Leto había llevado a sus gemelos a los acantilados del Parnaso poco después de darlos a luz. Al ver al monstruo allí, Apolo, todavía un niño llevado en brazos de su madre, saltó y mató a Pitón. [177] Algunos autores también mencionan que Pitón fue asesinada por mostrar afectos lujuriosos hacia Leto. [178] [179]
En otro relato, Pitón persiguió a Leto, embarazada, con la intención de matarla porque su muerte estaba destinada a llegar a manos del hijo de Leto. Sin embargo, tuvo que detener la persecución cuando Leto quedó bajo la protección de Poseidón. Después de su nacimiento, Apolo, de cuatro días de edad, mató a la serpiente con el arco y las flechas que le había regalado Hefesto y vengó el mal causado a su madre. Luego, el dios puso los huesos del monstruo asesinado en un caldero y lo depositó en su templo. [180]
Esta leyenda también se narra como el origen del grito " Hië paian ". Según Ateneo, Pitón atacó a Leto y sus gemelos durante su visita a Delfos. Tomando a Artemisa en sus brazos, Leto trepó a una roca y gritó a Apolo que disparara al monstruo. El grito que soltó, "ιε, παῖ" ("Dispara, muchacho"), más tarde se alteró ligeramente como "ἰὴ παιών" ( Hië paian ), una exclamación para evitar males. [181] Calímaco atribuye el origen de esta frase a los habitantes de Delfos, que lanzaron el grito para animar a Apolo cuando el joven dios luchó con Pitón. [182]
Estrabón ha registrado una versión ligeramente diferente, en la que Pitón era en realidad un hombre cruel y sin ley, también conocido por el nombre de "Drakon". Cuando Apolo estaba enseñando a los humanos a cultivar frutas y civilizarse, los habitantes del Parnaso se quejaron al dios sobre Pitón. En respuesta a sus súplicas, Apolo mató al hombre con sus flechas. Durante la lucha, los parnasianos gritaron "Hië paian" para animar al dios. [183]
Continuando con su victoria sobre Pitón, el himno homérico describe cómo el joven dios estableció su adoración entre los humanos. Mientras Apolo reflexionaba sobre qué tipo de hombres debería reclutar para que lo sirvieran, vio un barco lleno de mercaderes o piratas cretenses. Tomó la forma de un delfín y saltó a bordo del barco. Cada vez que los desprevenidos miembros de la tripulación intentaban arrojar al delfín por la borda, el dios sacudía el barco hasta que la tripulación se sometía. Entonces Apolo creó una brisa que dirigió el barco a Delfos. Al llegar a la tierra, se reveló como un dios y los inició como sus sacerdotes. Les instruyó para que protegieran su templo y mantuvieran siempre la rectitud en sus corazones. [184]
Alceo narra el siguiente relato: Zeus, que había adornado a su hijo recién nacido con una diadema de oro, también le proporcionó un carro tirado por cisnes y le ordenó a Apolo que visitara Delfos para establecer sus leyes entre el pueblo. Pero Apolo desobedeció a su padre y fue a la tierra de Hiperbórea . Los habitantes de Delfos cantaban continuamente himnos en su honor y le rogaban que regresara. El dios regresó solo después de un año y luego llevó a cabo las órdenes de Zeus. [166] [185]
En otras variantes, el santuario de Delfos fue simplemente entregado a Apolo por su abuela Febe como regalo, [163] o la propia Temis lo inspiró a ser la voz oracular de Delfos. [186]
Sin embargo, en muchos otros relatos, Apolo tuvo que superar ciertos obstáculos antes de poder establecerse en Delfos. Gea entró en conflicto con Apolo por matar a Pitón y reclamar el oráculo de Delfos para sí mismo. Según Píndaro, ella intentó desterrar a Apolo al Tártaro como castigo. [187] [188] Según Eurípides, poco después de que Apolo tomara la propiedad del oráculo, Gea comenzó a enviar sueños proféticos a los humanos. Como resultado, la gente dejó de visitar Delfos para obtener profecías. Preocupado por esto, Apolo fue al Olimpo y suplicó a Zeus. Zeus, admirando las ambiciones de su joven hijo, le concedió su petición poniendo fin a las visiones oníricas. Esto selló el papel de Apolo como la deidad oracular de Delfos. [189]
Como Apolo había cometido un crimen de sangre, también tuvo que ser purificado. Pausanias ha registrado dos de las muchas variantes de esta purificación. En una de ellas, tanto Apolo como Artemisa huyeron a Sición y se purificaron allí. [190] En la otra tradición que había prevalecido entre los cretenses, Apolo viajó solo a Creta y fue purificado por Carmanor . [191] En otro relato, el rey argivo Crotopo fue quien realizó los ritos de purificación en Apolo solo. [192]
According the Aristonous and Aelian, Apollo was purified by the will of Zeus in the Vale of Tempe.[193] Aristonous has continued the tale, saying that Apollo was escorted back to Delphi by Athena. As a token of gratitude, he later built a temple for Athena at Delphi, which served as a threshold for his own temple.[194] Upon reaching Delphi, Apollo convinced Gaea and Themis into handing over the seat of oracle to him. To celebrate this event, other immortals also graced Apollo with gifts – Poseidon gave him the land of Delphi, the Delphian nymphs gifted him the Corycian cave, and Artemis set her dogs to patrol and safeguard the land.[195]
Some others have also said that Apollo was exiled and subjected to servitude under king Admetus as a means of punishment for the murder he had committed.[196] It was when he was serving as a cowherd under Admetus that the theft of the cattle by Hermes happened.[197][198] The servitude was said to have lasted for either one year,[199][200] or one great year (a cycle of eight years),[201][202] or nine years.[203]
Plutarch, however, has mentioned a variation where Apollo was neither purified in Tempe nor banished to Earth as a servant for nine years, but was driven out to another world for nine great years. The god who returned was cleansed and purified, thus becoming a "true Phoebus – that is to say, clear and bright". He then took over the Delphic oracle, which had been under the care of Themis in his absence.[204] Henceforth, Apollo became the god who cleansed himself from the sin of murder, made men aware of their guilt and purified them.[205]
The Pythian games were also established by Apollo, either as funeral games to honor Python[180][206] or to celebrate his own victory.[207][208][176] The Pythia was Apollo's high priestess and his mouthpiece through whom he gave prophecies.
Tityus was another giant who tried to rape Leto, either on his own accord when she was on her way to Delphi[209][210] or at the order of Hera.[211] Leto called upon on her children who instantly slew the giant. Apollo, still a young boy, shot him with his arrows.[212][213] In some accounts, Artemis also joined him in protecting their mother by attacking Tityos with her arrows.[214][215] For this act, he was banished to Tartarus and there he was pegged to the rock floor and stretched on an area of 9 acres (36,000 m2), while a pair of vultures feasted daily on his liver[209] or his heart.[210]
Another account recorded by Strabo says that Tityus was not a giant but a lawless man whom Apollo killed at the request of the residents.[183]
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Admetus was the king of Pherae, who was known for his hospitality. When Apollo was exiled from Olympus for killing Python, he served as a herdsman under Admetus, who was then young and unmarried. Apollo is said to have shared a romantic relationship with Admetus during his stay.[155] After completing his years of servitude, Apollo went back to Olympus as a god.
Because Admetus had treated Apollo well, the god conferred great benefits on him in return. Apollo's mere presence is said to have made the cattle give birth to twins.[216][155] Apollo helped Admetus win the hand of Alcestis, the daughter of King Pelias,[217][218] by taming a lion and a boar to draw Admetus' chariot. He was present during their wedding to give his blessings. When Admetus angered the goddess Artemis by forgetting to give her the due offerings, Apollo came to the rescue and calmed his sister.[217] When Apollo learnt of Admetus' untimely death, he convinced or tricked the Fates into letting Admetus live past his time.[217][218]
According to another version, or perhaps some years later, when Zeus struck down Apollo's son Asclepius with a lightning bolt for resurrecting the dead, Apollo in revenge killed the Cyclopes, who had fashioned the bolt for Zeus.[216] Apollo would have been banished to Tartarus for this, but his mother Leto intervened, and reminding Zeus of their old love, pleaded with him not to kill their son. Zeus obliged and sentenced Apollo to one year of hard labor once again under Admetus.[216]
The love between Apollo and Admetus was a favored topic of Roman poets like Ovid and Servius.
The fate of Niobe was prophesied by Apollo while he was still in Leto's womb.[155] Niobe was the queen of Thebes and wife of Amphion. She displayed hubris when she boasted that she was superior to Leto because she had fourteen children (Niobids), seven male and seven female, while Leto had only two. She further mocked Apollo's effeminate appearance and Artemis' manly appearance. Leto, insulted by this, told her children to punish Niobe. Accordingly, Apollo killed Niobe's sons, and Artemis her daughters. According to some versions of the myth, among the Niobids, Chloris and her brother Amyclas were not killed because they prayed to Leto. Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, either killed himself or was killed by Apollo after swearing revenge.
A devastated Niobe fled to Mount Sipylos in Asia Minor and turned into stone as she wept. 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.
When Chloris married and had children, Apollo granted her son Nestor the years he had taken away from the Niobids. Hence, Nestor was able to live for 3 generations.[219]
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Once Apollo and Poseidon served under the Trojan king Laomedon in accordance with Zeus' words. Apollodorus states that the gods willingly went to the king disguised as humans in order to check his hubris.[220] Apollo guarded the cattle of Laomedon in the valleys of Mount Ida, while Poseidon built the walls of Troy.[221] Other versions make both Apollo and Poseidon the builders of the wall. In Ovid's account, Apollo completes his task by playing his tunes on his lyre.
In Pindar's odes, the gods took a mortal named Aeacus as their assistant.[222] When the work was completed, three snakes rushed against the wall, and though the two that attacked the sections of the wall built by the gods fell down dead, the third forced its way into the city through the portion of the wall built by Aeacus. Apollo immediately prophesied that Troy would fall at the hands of Aeacus's descendants, the Aeacidae (i.e. his son Telamon joined Heracles when he sieged the city during Laomedon's rule. Later, his great-grandson Neoptolemus was present in the wooden horse that leads to the downfall of Troy).
However, the king not only refused to give the gods the wages he had promised, but also threatened to bind their feet and hands, and sell them as slaves. Angered by the unpaid labour and the insults, Apollo infected the city with a pestilence and Poseidon sent the sea monster Cetus. To deliver the city from it, Laomedon had to sacrifice his daughter Hesione (who would later be saved by Heracles).
During his stay in Troy, Apollo had a lover named Ourea, who was a nymph and daughter of Poseidon. Together they had a son named Ileus, whom Apollo loved dearly.[223]
Apollo sided with the Trojans during the Trojan War waged by the Greeks against the Trojans.
During the war, the Greek king Agamemnon captured Chryseis, the daughter of Apollo's priest Chryses, and refused to return her. Angered by this, Apollo shot arrows infected with the plague into the Greek encampment. He demanded that they return the girl, and the Achaeans (Greeks) complied, indirectly causing the anger of Achilles, which is the theme of the Iliad.
Receiving the aegis from Zeus, Apollo entered the battlefield as per his father's command, causing great terror to the enemy with his war cry. He pushed the Greeks back and destroyed many of the soldiers. He is described as "the rouser of armies" because he rallied the Trojan army when they were falling apart.
When Zeus allowed the other gods to get involved in the war, Apollo was provoked by Poseidon to a duel. However, Apollo declined to fight him, saying that he would not fight his uncle for the sake of mortals.
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When the Greek hero Diomedes injured the Trojan hero Aeneas, Aphrodite tried to rescue him, but Diomedes injured her as well. Apollo then enveloped Aeneas in a cloud to protect him. He repelled the attacks Diomedes made on him and gave the hero a stern warning to abstain from attacking a god. Aeneas was then taken to Pergamos, a sacred spot in Troy, where he was healed.
After the death of Sarpedon, a son of Zeus, Apollo rescued the corpse from the battlefield as per his father's wish and cleaned it. He then gave it to Sleep (Hypnos) and Death (Thanatos). Apollo had also once convinced Athena to stop the war for that day, so that the warriors can relieve themselves for a while.
The Trojan hero Hector (who, according to some, was the god's own son by Hecuba[224]) was favored by Apollo. When he got severely injured, Apollo healed him and encouraged him to take up his arms. During a duel with Achilles, when Hector was about to lose, Apollo hid Hector in a cloud of mist to save him. When the Greek warrior Patroclus tried to get into the fort of Troy, he was stopped by Apollo. Encouraging Hector to attack Patroclus, Apollo stripped the armour of the Greek warrior and broke his weapons. Patroclus was eventually killed by Hector. At last, after Hector's fated death, Apollo protected his corpse from Achilles' attempt to mutilate it by creating a magical cloud over the corpse, shielding it from the rays of the sun.
Apollo held a grudge against Achilles throughout the war because Achilles had murdered his son Tenes before the war began and brutally assassinated his son Troilus in his own temple. Not only did Apollo save Hector from Achilles, he also tricked Achilles by disguising himself as a Trojan warrior and driving him away from the gates. He foiled Achilles' attempt to mutilate Hector's dead body.
Finally, Apollo caused Achilles' death by guiding an arrow shot by Paris into Achilles' heel. In some versions, Apollo himself killed Achilles by taking the disguise of Paris.
Apollo helped many Trojan warriors, including Agenor, Polydamas, Glaucus in the battlefield. Though he greatly favored the Trojans, Apollo was bound to follow the orders of Zeus and served his father loyally during the war.
Apollo Kourotrophos is the god who nurtures and protects children and the young, especially boys. He oversees their education and their passage into adulthood. Education is said to have originated from Apollo and the Muses. Many myths have him train his children. It was a custom for boys to cut and dedicate their long hair to Apollo after reaching adulthood.
Chiron, the abandoned centaur, was fostered by Apollo, who instructed him in medicine, prophecy, archery and more. Chiron would later become a great teacher himself.
Asclepius in his childhood gained much knowledge pertaining to medicinal arts from his father. However, he was later entrusted to Chiron for further education.
Anius, Apollo's son by Rhoeo, was abandoned by his mother soon after his birth. Apollo brought him up and educated him in mantic arts. Anius later became the priest of Apollo and the king of Delos.
Iamus was the son of Apollo and Evadne. When Evadne went into labour, Apollo sent the Moirai to assist his lover. After the child was born, Apollo sent snakes to feed the child some honey. When Iamus reached the age of education, Apollo took him to Olympia and taught him many arts, including the ability to understand and explain the languages of birds.[225]
Idmon was educated by Apollo to be a seer. Even though he foresaw his death that would happen in his journey with the Argonauts, he embraced his destiny and died a brave death. To commemorate his son's bravery, Apollo commanded Boeotians to build a town around the tomb of the hero, and to honor him.[226]
Apollo adopted Carnus, the abandoned son of Zeus and Europa. He reared the child with the help of his mother Leto and educated him to be a seer.
When his son Melaneus reached the age of marriage, Apollo asked the princess Stratonice to be his son's bride and carried her away from her home when she agreed.
Apollo saved a shepherd boy (name unknown) from death in a large deep cave, by means of vultures. To thank him, the shepherd built Apollo a temple under the name Vulturius.[227]
Immediately after his birth, Apollo demanded a lyre and invented the paean, thus becoming the god of music. As the divine singer, he is the patron of poets, singers and musicians. The invention of string music is attributed to him. Plato said that the innate ability of humans to take delight in music, rhythm and harmony is the gift of Apollo and the Muses.[228] According to Socrates, ancient Greeks believed that Apollo is the god who directs the harmony and makes all things move together, both for the gods and the humans. For this reason, he was called Homopolon before the Homo was replaced by A.[229][230] Apollo's harmonious music delivered people from their pain, and hence, like Dionysus, he is also called the liberator.[155] The swans, which were considered to be the most musical among the birds, were believed to be the "singers of Apollo". They are Apollo's sacred birds and acted as his vehicle during his travel to Hyperborea.[155] Aelian says that when the singers would sing hymns to Apollo, the swans would join the chant in unison.[231]
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Among the Pythagoreans, the study of mathematics and music were connected to the worship of Apollo, their principal deity.[232][233][234] Their belief was that music purifies the soul, just as medicine purifies the body. They also believed that music was delegated to the same mathematical laws of harmony as the mechanics of the cosmos, evolving into an idea known as the music of the spheres.[235]
Apollo appears as the companion of the Muses, and as Musagetes ("leader of Muses") he leads them in dance. They spend their time on Parnassus, which is one of their sacred places. Apollo is also the lover of the Muses and by them he became the father of famous musicians like Orpheus and Linus.
Apollo is often found delighting the immortal gods with his songs and music on the lyre.[236] In his role as the god of banquets, he was always present to play music at weddings of the gods, like the marriage of Eros and Psyche, Peleus and Thetis. He is a frequent guest of the Bacchanalia, and many ancient ceramics depict him being at ease amidst the maenads and satyrs.[237] Apollo also participated in musical contests when challenged by others. He was the victor in all those contests, but he tended to punish his opponents severely for their hubris.
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The invention of the lyre is attributed either to Hermes or to Apollo himself.[238] Distinctions have been made that Hermes invented lyre made of tortoise shell, whereas the lyre Apollo invented was a regular lyre.[239]
Myths tell that the infant Hermes stole a number of Apollo's 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 his lyre.
Upon discovering the theft, Apollo confronted Hermes and asked him to return his cattle. When Hermes acted innocent, Apollo took the matter to Zeus. Zeus, having seen the events, sided with Apollo, and ordered Hermes to return the cattle.[240] Hermes then began to play music on the lyre he had invented. Apollo fell in love with the instrument and offered to exchange the cattle for the lyre. Hence, Apollo then became the master of the lyre.
According to other versions, Apollo had invented the lyre himself, whose strings he tore in repenting of the excess punishment he had given to Marsyas. Hermes' lyre, therefore, would be a reinvention.[241]
Once Pan had the audacity to compare his music with that of Apollo and to challenge the god of music to a contest. The mountain-god Tmolus was chosen to umpire. Pan blew on his pipes, and with his rustic melody gave great satisfaction to himself and his faithful follower, Midas, who happened to be present. Then, Apollo struck the strings of his lyre. It was so beautiful that Tmolus at once awarded the victory to Apollo, and everyone was pleased with the judgement. Only Midas dissented and questioned the justice of the award. Apollo did not want to suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer, and caused them to become the ears of a donkey.
Marsyas was a satyr who was punished by Apollo for his hubris. He had found an aulos on the ground, tossed away after being invented by Athena because it made her cheeks puffy. Athena had also placed a curse upon the instrument, that whoever would pick it up would be severely punished. When Marsyas played the flute, everyone became frenzied with joy. This led Marsyas to think that he was better than Apollo, and he challenged the god to a musical contest. The contest was judged by the Muses, or the nymphs of Nysa. Athena was also present to witness the contest.
Marsyas taunted Apollo for "wearing his hair long, for having a fair face and smooth body, for his skill in so many arts".[242] He also further said,
'His [Apollo] hair is smooth and made into tufts and curls that fall about his brow and hang before his face. His body is fair from head to foot, his limbs shine bright, his tongue gives oracles, and he is equally eloquent in prose or verse, propose which you will. What of his robes so fine in texture, so soft to the touch, aglow with purple? What of his lyre that flashes gold, gleams white with ivory, and shimmers with rainbow gems? What of his song, so cunning and so sweet? Nay, all these allurements suit with naught save luxury. To virtue they bring shame alone!'[242]
The Muses and Athena sniggered at this comment. The contestants agreed to take turns displaying their skills and the rule was that the victor could "do whatever he wanted" to the loser.
According to one account, after the first round, they both were deemed equal by the Nysiads. But in the next round, Apollo decided to play on his lyre and add his melodious voice to his performance. Marsyas argued against this, saying that Apollo would have an advantage and accused Apollo of cheating. But Apollo replied that since Marsyas played the flute, which needed air blown from the throat, it was similar to singing, and that either they both should get an equal chance to combine their skills or none of them should use their mouths at all. The nymphs decided that Apollo's argument was just. Apollo then played his lyre and sang at the same time, mesmerising the audience. Marsyas could not do this. Apollo was declared the winner and, angered with Marsyas' haughtiness and his accusations, decided to flay the satyr.[243]
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According to another account, Marsyas played his flute out of tune at one point and accepted his defeat. Out of shame, he assigned to himself the punishment of being skinned for a wine sack.[244] Another variation is that Apollo played his instrument upside down. Marsyas could not do this with his instrument. So the Muses who were the judges declared Apollo the winner. Apollo hung Marsyas from a tree to flay him.[245]
Apollo flayed the limbs of Marsyas alive in a cave near Celaenae in Phrygia for his hubris to challenge a god. He then gave the rest of his body for proper burial[246] and nailed Marsyas' flayed skin to a nearby pine-tree as a lesson to the others. Marsyas' blood turned into the river Marsyas. But Apollo soon repented and being distressed at what he had done, he tore the strings of his lyre and threw it away. The lyre was later discovered by the Muses and Apollo's sons Linus and Orpheus. The Muses fixed the middle string, Linus the string struck with the forefinger, and Orpheus the lowest string and the one next to it. They took it back to Apollo, but the god, who had decided to stay away from music for a while, laid away both the lyre and the pipes at Delphi and joined Cybele in her wanderings to as far as Hyperborea.[243][247]
Cinyras was a ruler of Cyprus, who was a friend of Agamemnon. Cinyras promised to assist Agamemnon in the Trojan war, but did not keep his promise. Agamemnon cursed Cinyras. He invoked Apollo and asked the god to avenge the broken promise. Apollo then had a lyre-playing contest with Cinyras, and defeated him. Either Cinyras committed suicide when he lost, or was killed by Apollo.[248][249]
Apollo functions as the patron and protector of sailors, one of the duties he shares with Poseidon. In the myths, he is seen helping heroes who pray to him for a safe journey.
When Apollo spotted a ship of Cretan sailors that were caught in a storm, he quickly assumed the shape of a dolphin and guided their ship safely to Delphi.[250]
When the Argonauts faced a terrible storm, Jason prayed to his patron, Apollo, to help them. Apollo used his bow and golden arrow to shed light upon an island, where the Argonauts soon took shelter. This island was renamed "Anaphe", which means "He revealed it".[251]
Apollo helped the Greek hero Diomedes, to escape from a great tempest during his journey homeward. As a token of gratitude, Diomedes built a temple in honor of Apollo under the epithet Epibaterius ("the embarker").[252]
During the Trojan War, Odysseus came to the Trojan camp to return Chriseis, the daughter of Apollo's priest Chryses, and brought many offerings to Apollo. Pleased with this, Apollo sent gentle breezes that helped Odysseus return safely to the Greek camp.[253]
Arion was a poet who was kidnapped by some sailors for the rich prizes he possessed. Arion requested them to let him sing for the last time, to which the sailors consented. Arion began singing a song in praise of Apollo, seeking the god's help. Consequently, numerous dolphins surrounded the ship and when Arion jumped into the water, the dolphins carried him away safely.
Apollo played a pivotal role in the entire Trojan War. He sided with the Trojans, and sent a terrible plague to the Greek camp, which indirectly led to the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon. He killed the Greek heroes Patroclus, Achilles, and numerous Greek soldiers. He also helped many Trojan heroes, the most important one being Hector. After the end of the war, Apollo and Poseidon together cleaned the remains of the city and the camps.
A war broke out between the Brygoi and the Thesprotians, who had the support of Odysseus. The gods Athena and Ares came to the battlefield and took sides. Athena helped the hero Odysseus while Ares fought alongside of the Brygoi. When Odysseus lost, Athena and Ares came into a direct duel. To stop the battling gods and the terror created by their battle, Apollo intervened and stopped the duel between them.[254][255]
When Zeus suggested that Dionysus defeat the Indians in order to earn a place among the gods, Dionysus declared war against the Indians and travelled to India along with his army of Bacchantes and satyrs. Among the warriors was Aristaeus, Apollo's son. Apollo armed his son with his own hands and gave him a bow and arrows and fitted a strong shield to his arm.[256] After Zeus urged Apollo to join the war, he went to the battlefield.[257] Seeing several of his nymphs and Aristaeus drowning in a river, he took them to safety and healed them.[258] He taught Aristaeus more useful healing arts and sent him back to help the army of Dionysus.
During the war between the sons of Oedipus, Apollo favored Amphiaraus, a seer and one of the leaders in the war. Though saddened that the seer was fated to be doomed in the war, Apollo made Amphiaraus' last hours glorious by "lighting his shield and his helm with starry gleam". When Hypseus tried to kill the hero with a spear, Apollo directed the spear towards the charioteer of Amphiaraus instead. Then Apollo himself replaced the charioteer and took the reins in his hands. He deflected many spears and arrows away from them. He also killed many of the enemy warriors like Melaneus, Antiphus, Aetion, Polites and Lampus. At last, when the moment of departure came, Apollo expressed his grief with tears in his eyes and bid farewell to Amphiaraus, who was soon engulfed by the Earth.[259]
Apollo killed the giants Python and Tityos, who had assaulted his mother Leto.
During the gigantomachy, Apollo and Heracles blinded the giant Ephialtes by shooting him in his eyes, Apollo shooting his left and Heracles his right.[260] He also killed Porphyrion, the king of giants, using his bow and arrows.[261]
The Aloadae, namely Otis and Ephialtes, were twin giants who decided to wage war upon the gods. They attempted to storm Mt. Olympus by piling up mountains, and threatened to fill the sea with mountains and inundate dry land.[262] They even dared to seek the hand of Hera and Artemis in marriage. Angered by this, Apollo killed them by shooting them with arrows.[263] According to another tale, Apollo killed them by sending a deer between them; as they tried to kill it with their javelins, they accidentally stabbed each other and died.[264]
Phorbas was a savage giant king of Phlegyas who was described as having swine-like features. He wished to plunder Delphi for its wealth. He seized the roads to Delphi and started harassing the pilgrims. He captured the old people and children and sent them to his army to hold them for ransom. And he challenged the young and sturdy men to a match of boxing, only to cut their heads off when they would get defeated by him. He hung the chopped-off heads to an oak tree. Finally, Apollo came to put an end to this cruelty. He entered a boxing contest with Phorbas and killed him with a single blow.[265]
In the first Olympic games, Apollo defeated Ares and became the victor in wrestling. He outran Hermes in the race and won first place.[266]
Apollo divides months into summer and winter.[267] He rides on the back of a swan to the land of the Hyperboreans during the winter months, and the absence of warmth in winter is due to his departure. During his absence, Delphi was under the care of Dionysus, and no prophecies were given during winters.
Periphas was an Attican king and a priest of Apollo. He was noble, just and rich. He did all his duties justly. Because of this people were very fond of him and started honouring him to the same extent as Zeus. At one point, they worshipped Periphas in place of Zeus and set up shrines and temples for him. This annoyed Zeus, who decided to annihilate the entire family of Periphas. But because he was a just king and a good devotee, Apollo intervened and requested his father to spare Periphas. Zeus considered Apollo's words and agreed to let him live. But he metamorphosed Periphas into an eagle and made the eagle the king of birds. When Periphas' wife requested Zeus to let her stay with her husband, Zeus turned her into a vulture and fulfilled her wish.[268]
Molpadia and Parthenos were the sisters of Rhoeo, a former lover of Apollo. One day, they were put in charge of watching their father's ancestral wine jar but they fell asleep while performing this duty. While they were asleep, the wine jar was broken by the swine their family kept. When the sisters woke up and saw what had happened, they threw themselves off a cliff in fear of their father's wrath. Apollo, who was passing by, caught them and carried them to two different cities in Chersonesus, Molpadia to Castabus and Parthenos to Bubastus. He turned them into goddesses and they both received divine honors. Molpadia's name was changed to Hemithea upon her deification.[269]
Prometheus was the titan who was punished by Zeus for stealing fire. He was bound to a rock, where each day an eagle was sent to eat Prometheus' liver, which would then grow back overnight to be eaten again the next day. Seeing his plight, Apollo pleaded with Zeus to release the kind Titan, while Artemis and Leto stood behind him with tears in their eyes. Zeus, moved by Apollo's words and the tears of the goddesses, finally sent Heracles to free Prometheus.[270]
After Heracles (then named Alcides) was struck with madness and killed his family, he sought to purify himself and consulted the oracle of Apollo. Apollo, through the Pythia, commanded him to serve king Eurystheus for twelve years and complete the ten tasks the king would give him. Only then would Alcides be absolved of his sin. Apollo also renamed him Heracles.[271]
To complete his third task, Heracles had to capture the Ceryneian Hind, a hind sacred to Artemis, and bring back it alive. After chasing the hind for one year, the animal eventually got tired, and when it tried crossing the river Ladon, Heracles captured it. While he was taking it back, he was confronted by Apollo and Artemis, who were angered at Heracles for this act. However, Heracles soothed the goddess and explained his situation to her. After much pleading, Artemis permitted him to take the hind and told him to return it later.[272]
After he was freed from his servitude to Eurystheus, Heracles fell in conflict with Iphytus, a prince of Oechalia, and murdered him. Soon after, he contracted a terrible disease. He consulted the oracle of Apollo once again, in the hope of ridding himself of the disease. The Pythia, however, denied to give any prophesy. In anger, Heracles snatched the sacred tripod and started walking away, intending to start his own oracle. However, Apollo did not tolerate this and stopped Heracles; a duel ensued between them. Artemis rushed to support Apollo, while Athena supported Heracles. Soon, Zeus threw his thunderbolt between the fighting brothers and separated them. He reprimanded Heracles for this act of violation and asked Apollo to give a solution to Heracles. Apollo then ordered the hero to serve under Omphale, queen of Lydia for one year in order to purify himself.
After their reconciliation, Apollo and Heracles together founded the city of Gythion.[273]
A long time ago, there were three kinds of human beings: male, descended from the sun; female, descended from the earth; and androgynous, descended from the moon. Each human being was completely round, with four arms and four legs, two identical faces on opposite sides of a head with four ears, and all else to match. They were powerful and unruly. Otis and Ephialtes even dared to scale Mount Olympus.
To check their insolence, Zeus devised a plan to humble them and improve their manners instead of completely destroying them. He cut them all in two and asked Apollo to make necessary repairs, giving humans the individual shape they still have now. Apollo turned their heads and necks around towards their wounds, he pulled together their skin at the abdomen, and sewed the skin together at the middle of it. This is what we call navel today. He smoothened the wrinkles and shaped the chest. But he made sure to leave a few wrinkles on the abdomen and around the navel so that they might be reminded of their punishment.[274]
"As he [Zeus] cut them one after another, he bade Apollo give the face and the half of the neck a turn... Apollo was also bidden to heal their wounds and compose their forms. So Apollo gave a turn to the face and pulled the skin from the sides all over that which in our language is called the belly, like the purses which draw in, and he made one mouth at the centre [of the belly] which he fastened in a knot (the same which is called the navel); he also moulded the breast and took out most of the wrinkles, much as a shoemaker might smooth leather upon a last; he left a few wrinkles, however, in the region of the belly and navel, as a memorial of the primeval state.
Leukatas was believed to be a white-colored rock jutting out from the island of Leukas into the sea. It was present in the sanctuary of Apollo Leukates. A leap from this rock was believed to have put an end to the longings of love.[275]
Once, Aphrodite fell deeply in love with Adonis, a young man of great beauty who was later accidentally killed by a boar. Heartbroken, Aphrodite wandered looking for the rock of Leukas. When she reached the sanctuary of Apollo in Argos, she confided in him her love and sorrow. Apollo then brought her to the rock of Leukas and asked her to throw herself from the top of the rock. She did so and was freed from her love. When she sought the reason behind this, Apollo told her that Zeus, before taking another lover, would sit on this rock to free himself from his love for Hera.[206]
Another tale relates that a man named Nireus, who fell in love with the cult statue of Athena, came to the rock and jumped in order to relieve himself. After jumping, he fell into the net of a fisherman in which, when he was pulled out, he found a box filled with gold. He fought with the fisherman and took the gold, but Apollo appeared to him in the night in a dream and warned him not to appropriate gold which belonged to others.[206]
It was an ancestral custom among the Leukadians to fling a criminal from this rock every year at the sacrifice performed in honor of Apollo for the sake of averting evil. However, a number of men would be stationed all around below rock to catch the criminal and take him out of the borders in order to exile him from the island.[276][206] This was the same rock from which, according to a legend, Sappho took her suicidal leap.[275]
Once Hera, out of spite, aroused the Titans to war against Zeus and take away his throne. Accordingly, when the Titans tried to climb Mount Olympus, Zeus with the help of Apollo, Artemis and Athena, defeated them and cast them into Tartarus.[277]
Apollo is said to have been the lover of all nine Muses, and not being able to choose one of them, he decided to remain unwed. He fathered the Corybantes by the Muse Thalia.[278] By Calliope, he had Hymenaios, Ialemus, Orpheus[279] and Linus. Alternatively, Linus was said to be the son of Apollo and either Urania or Terpsichore.
In the Great Eoiae that is attributed to Hesoid, Scylla is the daughter of Apollo and Hecate.[280]
Cyrene was a Thessalian princess whom Apollo loved. In her honor, he built the city Cyrene and made her its ruler. She was later granted longevity by Apollo who turned her into a nymph. The couple had two sons, Aristaeus, and Idmon.
Evadne was a nymph daughter of Poseidon and a lover of Apollo. They had a son, Iamos. During the time of the childbirth, Apollo sent Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth to assist her.
Rhoeo, a princess of the island of Naxos was loved by Apollo. Out of affection for her, Apollo turned her sisters into goddesses. On the island Delos she bore Apollo a son named Anius. Not wanting to have the child, she entrusted the infant to Apollo and left. Apollo raised and educated the child on his own.
Ourea, a daughter of Poseidon, fell in love with Apollo when he and Poseidon were serving the Trojan king Laomedon. They both united on the day the walls of Troy were built. She bore to Apollo a son, whom Apollo named Ileus, after the city of his birth, Ilion (Troy). Ileus was very dear to Apollo.[281]
Thero, daughter of Phylas, a maiden as beautiful as the moonbeams, was loved by the radiant Apollo, and she loved him in return. Through their union, she became the mother of Chaeron, who was famed as "the tamer of horses". He later built the city Chaeronea.[282]
Hyrie or Thyrie was the mother of Cycnus. Apollo turned both the mother and son into swans when they jumped into a lake and tried to kill themselves.[283]
Hecuba was the wife of King Priam of Troy, and Apollo had a son with her named Troilus. An oracle prophesied that Troy would not be defeated as long as Troilus reached the age of twenty alive. He was ambushed and killed by Achilleus, and Apollo avenged his death by killing Achilles. After the sack of Troy, Hecuba was taken to Lycia by Apollo.[284]
Coronis was daughter of Phlegyas, King of the Lapiths. While pregnant with Asclepius, Coronis fell in love with Ischys, son of Elatus and slept with him. When Apollo found out about her infidelity through his prophetic powers or thanks to his raven who informed him, he sent his sister, Artemis, to kill Coronis. Apollo rescued the baby by cutting open Coronis' belly and gave it to the centaur Chiron to raise.
Dryope, the daughter of Dryops, was impregnated by Apollo in the form of a snake. She gave birth to a son named Amphissus.[285]
In Euripides' play Ion, Apollo fathered Ion by Creusa, wife of Xuthus. He used his powers to conceal her pregnancy from her father. Later, when Creusa left Ion to die in the wild, Apollo asked Hermes to save the child and bring him to the oracle at Delphi, where he was raised by a priestess.
Apollo loved and kidnapped an Oceanid nymph, Melia. Her father Oceanus sent one of his sons, Caanthus, to find her, but Caanthus could not take her back from Apollo, so he burned Apollo's sanctuary. In retaliation, Apollo shot and killed Caanthus.[286]
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Hyacinth (or Hyacinthus), a beautiful and athletic Spartan prince, was one of Apollo's favourite lovers.[287] The pair was practicing throwing the discus when a discus thrown by Apollo was blown off course by the jealous Zephyrus and struck Hyacinthus in the head, killing him instantly. Apollo is said to be filled with grief. Out of Hyacinthus' blood, Apollo created a flower named after him as a memorial to his death, and his tears stained the flower petals with the interjection αἰαῖ, meaning alas.[288] He was later resurrected and taken to heaven. The festival Hyacinthia was a national celebration of Sparta, which commemorated the death and rebirth of Hyacinthus.[289]
Another male lover was Cyparissus, a descendant of Heracles. Apollo gave him a tame deer as a companion but Cyparissus accidentally killed it with a javelin as it lay asleep in the undergrowth. Cyparissus was so saddened by its death that he asked Apollo to let his tears fall forever. Apollo granted the request by turning him into the Cypress named after him, which was said to be a sad tree because the sap forms droplets like tears on the trunk.[290]
Admetus, the king of Pherae, was also Apollo's lover.[291][292] During his exile, which lasted either for one year or nine years,[293] Apollo served Admetus as a herdsman. The romantic nature of their relationship was first described by Callimachus of Alexandria, who wrote that Apollo was "fired with love" for Admetus.[155] Plutarch lists Admetus as one of Apollo's lovers and says that Apollo served Admetus because he doted upon him.[294] Latin poet Ovid in his Ars Amatoria said that even though he was a god, Apollo forsook his pride and stayed in as a servant for the sake of Admetus.[295] Tibullus describes Apollo's love to the king as servitium amoris (slavery of love) and asserts that Apollo became his servant not by force but by choice. He would also make cheese and serve it to Admetus. His domestic actions caused embarrassment to his family.[296]
Oh how often his sister (Diana) blushed at meeting her brother as he carried a young calf through the fields!....often Latona lamented when she saw her son's disheveled locks which were admired even by Juno, his step-mother...[297]
When Admetus wanted to marry princess Alcestis, Apollo provided a chariot pulled by a lion and a boar he had tamed. This satisfied Alcestis' father and he let Admetus marry his daughter. Further, Apollo saved the king from Artemis' wrath and also convinced the Moirai to postpone Admetus' death once.
Branchus, a shepherd, one day came across Apollo in the woods. Captivated by the god's beauty, he kissed Apollo. Apollo requited his affections and wanting to reward him, bestowed prophetic skills on him. His descendants, the Branchides, were an influential clan of prophets.[298]
Other male lovers of Apollo include:
Apollo sired many children, from mortal women and nymphs as well as the goddesses. His children grew up to be physicians, musicians, poets, seers or archers. Many of his sons founded new cities and became kings.
Asclepius is the most famous son of Apollo. His skills as a physician surpassed that of Apollo's. Zeus killed him for bringing back the dead, but upon Apollo's request, he was resurrected as a god. Aristaeus was placed under the care of Chiron after his birth. He became the god of beekeeping, cheese-making, animal husbandry and more. He was ultimately given immortality for the benefits he bestowed upon humanity. The Corybantes were spear-clashing, dancing demigods.
The sons of Apollo who participated in the Trojan War include the Trojan princes Hector and Troilus, as well as Tenes, the king of Tenedos, all three of whom were killed by Achilles over the course of the war.
Apollo's children who became musicians and bards include Orpheus, Linus, Ialemus, Hymenaeus, Philammon, Eumolpus and Eleuther. Apollo fathered 3 daughters, Apollonis, Borysthenis and Cephisso, who formed a group of minor Muses, the "Musa Apollonides".[307] They were nicknamed Nete, Mese and Hypate after the highest, middle and lowest strings of his lyre.[citation needed] Phemonoe was a seer and poet who was the inventor of Hexameter.
Apis, Idmon, Iamus, Tenerus, Mopsus, Galeus, Telmessus and others were gifted seers. Anius, Pythaeus and Ismenus lived as high priests. Most of them were trained by Apollo himself.
Arabus, Delphos, Dryops, Miletos, Tenes, Epidaurus, Ceos, Lycoras, Syrus, Pisus, Marathus, Megarus, Patarus, Acraepheus, Cicon, Chaeron and many other sons of Apollo, under the guidance of his words, founded eponymous cities.
He also had a son by Agathippe who was named Chrysorrhoas who was a mechanic artist.[308] His other daughters include Eurynome, Chariclo wife of Chiron, Eurydice the wife of Orpheus, Eriopis, famous for her beautiful hair, Melite the heroine, Pamphile the silk weaver, Parthenos, and by some accounts, Phoebe, Hilyra and Scylla. Apollo turned Parthenos into a constellation after her early death.
Additionally, Apollo fostered and educated Chiron, the centaur who later became the greatest teacher and educated many demigods, including Apollo's sons. Apollo also fostered Carnus, the son of Zeus and Europa.
Love affairs ascribed to Apollo are a late development in Greek mythology.[376] Their vivid anecdotal qualities have made some of them favorites of painters since the Renaissance, the result being that they stand out more prominently in the modern imagination.
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Daphne was a nymph who scorned Apollo's advances and ran away from him. When Apollo chased her in order to persuade her, she changed herself into a laurel tree. According to other versions, she cried for help during the chase, and Gaia helped her by taking her in and placing a laurel tree in her place.[377] According to Roman poet Ovid, the chase was brought about by Cupid, who hit Apollo with a golden arrow of love and Daphne with a leaden arrow of hatred.[378] The myth explains the origin of the laurel and the connection of Apollo with the laurel and its leaves, which his priestess employed at Delphi. The leaves became the symbol of victory and laurel wreaths were given to the victors of the Pythian games.
Marpessa was kidnapped by Idas but was loved by Apollo as well. Zeus made her choose between them, and she chose Idas on the grounds that Apollo, being immortal, would tire of her when she grew old.[379]
Sinope, a nymph, was approached by the amorous Apollo. She made him promise that he would grant to her whatever she would ask for, and then cleverly asked him to let her stay a virgin. Apollo kept his promise and went back.
Bolina was admired by Apollo but she refused him and jumped into the sea. To avoid her death, Apollo turned her into a nymph, saving her life.
Castalia was a nymph whom Apollo loved. She fled from him and dove 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 the priestesses.[380]
Cassandra, was a daughter of Hecuba and Priam. Apollo wished to court her. Cassandra promised to return his love on one condition – he should give her the power to see the future. Apollo fulfilled her wish, but she went back on her word and rejected him soon after. Angered that she broke her promise, Apollo cursed her that even though she would see the future, no one would ever believe her prophecies.
The Sibyl of Cumae like Cassandra promised Apollo her love if he would give her a boon. The Sibyl took a handful of sand and asked Apollo to grant her years of life as many as the grains of sand she held in her hands. Apollo granted her wish, but Sibyl went back on her word. Although Sibyl did live an extended life as Apollo had promised, he did not give her agelessness along with it, so she shrivelled and shrank and only her voice remained.[381]
Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, rejected both Apollo's and Poseidon's marriage proposals and swore that she would always stay unmarried.
In one version of the prophet Tiresias's origins, he was originally a woman who promised Apollo to sleep with him if he would give her music lessons. Apollo gave her her wish, but then she went back on her word and refused him. Apollo in anger turned her into a man.[382]
Artemis as the sister of Apollo, is thea apollousa, that is, she as a female divinity represented the same idea that Apollo did as a male divinity. In the pre-Hellenic period, their relationship was described as the one between husband and wife, and there seems to have been a tradition which actually described Artemis as the wife of Apollo.[citation needed] However, this relationship was never sexual but spiritual,[383] which is why they both are seen being unmarried in the Hellenic period.[citation needed]
Artemis, like her brother, is armed with a bow and arrows. She is the cause of sudden deaths of women. She also is the protector of the young, especially girls. Though she has nothing to do with oracles, music or poetry, she sometimes led the female chorus on Olympus while Apollo sang.[384] The laurel (daphne) was sacred to both. Artemis Daphnaia had her temple among the Lacedemonians, at a place called Hypsoi.[385] Apollo Daphnephoros had a temple in Eretria, a "place where the citizens are to take the oaths".[386] In later times when Apollo was regarded as identical with the sun or Helios, Artemis was naturally regarded as Selene or the moon.
Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft and magic, is the chthonic counterpart of Apollo. They both are cousins, since their mothers – Leto and Asteria – are sisters. One of Apollo's epithets, Hecatos, is the masculine form of Hecate, and both names mean "working from afar". While Apollo presided over the prophetic powers and magic of light and heaven, Hecate presided over the prophetic powers and magic of night and chthonian darkness.[citation needed] If Hecate is the "gate-keeper", Apollo Agyieus is the "door-keeper". Hecate is the goddess of crossroads and Apollo is the god and protector of streets.[387]
The oldest evidence found for Hecate's worship is at Apollo's temple in Miletos. There, Hecate was taken to be Apollo's sister counterpart in the absence of Artemis.[387] Hecate's lunar nature makes her the goddess of the waning moon and contrasts and complements, at the same time, Apollo's solar nature.
As a deity of knowledge and great power, Apollo was seen being the male counterpart of Athena. Being Zeus' favorite children, they were given more powers and duties. Apollo and Athena often took up the role of protectors of cities, and were patrons of some of the important cities. Athena was the principal goddess of Athens, Apollo was the principal god of Sparta.[388]
As patrons of arts, Apollo and Athena were companions of the Muses, the former a much more frequent companion than the latter.[389] Apollo was sometimes called the son of Athena and Hephaestus.[390]
In the Trojan War, as Zeus' executive, Apollo is seen holding the aegis like Athena usually does.[391] Apollo's decisions were usually approved by his sister Athena, and they both worked to establish the law and order set forth by Zeus.[392]
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In Aeschylus' Oresteia trilogy, Clytemnestra kills her husband, King Agamemnon because he had sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia to proceed forward with the Trojan war. Apollo gives an order through the Oracle at Delphi that Agamemnon's son, Orestes, is to kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, her lover. Orestes and Pylades carry out the revenge, and consequently Orestes is pursued by the Erinyes or Furies (female personifications of vengeance).
Apollo and the Furies argue about whether the matricide was justified; Apollo holds that the bond of marriage is sacred and Orestes was avenging his father, whereas the Erinyes say that the bond of blood between mother and son is more meaningful than the bond of marriage. They invade his temple, and he drives them away. He says that the matter should be brought before Athena. Apollo promises to protect Orestes, as Orestes has become Apollo's supplicant. Apollo advocates Orestes at the trial, and ultimately Athena rules in favor of Apollo.
The Roman worship of Apollo was adopted from the Greeks.[393] As a quintessentially Greek god, Apollo had no direct Roman equivalent, although later Roman poets often referred to him as Phoebus.[citation needed] There was a tradition that the Delphic oracle was consulted as early as the period of the kings of Rome during the reign of Tarquinius Superbus.[394]
On the occasion of a pestilence in the 430s BCE, Apollo's first temple at Rome was established in the Flaminian fields, replacing an older cult site there known as the "Apollinare".[395] During the Second Punic War in 212 BCE, the Ludi Apollinares ("Apollonian Games") were instituted in his honor, on the instructions of a prophecy attributed to one Marcius.[396] In the time of Augustus, who considered himself under the special protection of Apollo and was even said to be his son, his worship developed and he became one of the chief gods of Rome.[397][393]
After the Battle of Actium, which was fought near a sanctuary of Apollo, Augustus enlarged Apollo's temple, dedicated a portion of the spoils to him, and instituted quinquennial games in his honour.[398] He also erected a new temple to the god on the Palatine hill.[399] Sacrifices and prayers on the Palatine to Apollo and Diana formed the culmination of the Secular Games, held in 17 BCE to celebrate the dawn of a new era.[400]
The chief Apollonian festival was the Pythian Games held every four years at Delphi and was one of the four great Panhellenic Games. Also of major importance was the Delia held every four years on Delos. Athenian annual festivals included the Boedromia, Metageitnia,[401] Pyanepsia, and Thargelia. Spartan annual festivals were the Carneia and the Hyacinthia.Thebes every nine years held the Daphnephoria.
Apollo's most common attributes were the bow and arrow. Other attributes of his included the kithara (an advanced version of the common lyre), the plectrum and the sword. Another common emblem was the sacrificial tripod, representing his prophetic powers. The Pythian Games were held in Apollo's honor every four years at Delphi. The bay laurel plant was used in expiatory sacrifices and in making the crown of victory at these games.[393]
The palm tree was also sacred to Apollo because he had been born under one in Delos. Animals sacred to Apollo included wolves, dolphins, roe deer, swans, cicadas (symbolizing music and song), ravens, hawks, crows (Apollo had hawks and crows as his messengers),[402] snakes (referencing Apollo's function as the god of prophecy), mice and griffins, mythical eagle–lion hybrids of Eastern origin.[393]
Homer and Porphyry wrote that Apollo had a hawk as his messenger.[403][402] In many myths Apollo is transformed into a hawk.[404][405][406] In addition, Claudius Aelianus wrote that in Ancient Egypt people believed that hawks were sacred to the god[407] and that according to the ministers of Apollo in Egypt there were certain men called "hawk-keepers" (ἱερακοβοσκοί) who fed and tended the hawks belonging to the god.[408] Eusebius wrote that the second appearance of the moon is held sacred in the city of Apollo in Egypt and that the city's symbol is a man with a hawklike face (Horus).[409] Claudius Aelianus wrote that Egyptians called Apollo Horus in their own language.[407]
As god of colonization,[410] Apollo gave oracular guidance on colonies, especially during the height of colonization, 750–550 BCE. According to Greek tradition, he helped Cretan or Arcadian colonists found the city of Troy. However, this story may reflect a cultural influence which had the reverse direction: Hittite cuneiform texts mention an Asia Minor god called Appaliunas or Apalunas in connection with the city of Wilusa attested in Hittite inscriptions, which is now generally regarded as being identical with the Greek Ilion by most scholars. In this interpretation, Apollo's title of Lykegenes can simply be read as "born in Lycia", which effectively severs the god's supposed link with wolves (possibly a folk etymology).
In literary contexts, Apollo represents harmony, order, and reason—characteristics contrasted with those of Dionysus, god of wine, who represents ecstasy and disorder. The contrast between the roles of these gods is reflected in the adjectives Apollonian and Dionysian. However, the Greeks thought of the two qualities as complementary: the two gods are brothers, and when Apollo at winter left for Hyperborea, he would leave the Delphic oracle to Dionysus. This contrast appears to be shown on the two sides of the Borghese Vase.
Apollo is often associated with the Golden Mean. This is the Greek ideal of moderation and a virtue that opposes gluttony.
In antiquity, Apollo was associated with the planet Mercury. The ancient Greeks believed that Mercury as observed during the morning was a different planet than the one during the evening, because each twilight Mercury would appear farther from the Sun as it set than it had the night before. The morning planet was called Apollo, and the one at evening Hermes/Mercury before they realised they were the same, thereupon the name 'Mercury/Hermes' was kept, and 'Apollo' was dropped.[1]
Apollo is a common theme in Greek and Roman art and also in the art of the Renaissance. The earliest Greek word for a statue is "delight" (ἄγαλμα, agalma), and the sculptors tried to create forms which would inspire such guiding vision. Maurice Bowra notices that the Greek artist puts into a god the highest degree of power and beauty that can be imagined. The sculptors derived this from observations on human beings, but they also embodied in concrete form, issues beyond the reach of ordinary thought.[411]
The naked bodies of the statues are associated with the cult of the body which was essentially a religious activity.[412] The muscular frames and limbs combined with slim waists indicate the Greek desire for health, and the physical capacity which was necessary in the hard Greek environment.[413] The statues of Apollo and the other gods present them in their full youth and strength. "In the balance and relation of their limbs, such figures express their whole character, mental and physical, and reveal their central being, the radiant reality of youth in its heyday".[414]
Numerous free-standing statues of male youths from Archaic Greece exist, and were once thought to be representations of Apollo, though later discoveries indicated that many represented mortals.[415] In 1895, V. I. Leonardos proposed the term kouros ("male youth") to refer to those from Keratea; this usage was later expanded by Henri Lechat in 1904 to cover all statues of this format.[416][417]
The earliest examples of life-sized statues of Apollo may be two figures from the Ionic sanctuary on the island of Delos. Such statues were found across the Greek-speaking world, the preponderance of these were found at the sanctuaries of Apollo with more than one hundred from the sanctuary of Apollo Ptoios, Boeotia alone.[418] Significantly more rare are the life-sized bronze statues. One of the few originals which survived into the present day—so rare that its discovery in 1959 was described as "a miracle" by Ernst Homann-Wedeking—is the masterpiece bronze, Piraeus Apollo. It was found in Piraeus, a port city close to Athens, and is believed to have come from north-eastern Peloponnesus. It is the only surviving large-scale Peloponnesian statue.[419]
The famous Apollo of Mantua and its variants are early forms of the Apollo Citharoedus statue type, in which the god holds the cithara, a sophisticated seven-stringed variant of the lyre, in his left arm. While none of the Greek originals have survived, several Roman copies from approximately the late 1st or early 2nd century exist, of which an example is the Apollo Barberini.
Apollo as a handsome beardless young man, is often depicted with a cithara (as Apollo Citharoedus) or bow in his hand, or reclining on a tree (the Apollo Lykeios and Apollo Sauroctonos types). The Apollo Belvedere is a marble sculpture that was rediscovered in the late 15th century; for centuries it epitomized the ideals of Classical Antiquity for Europeans, from the Renaissance through the 19th century. The marble is a Hellenistic or Roman copy of a bronze original by the Greek sculptor Leochares, made between 330 and 320 BCE.[420]
The life-size so-called "Adonis" found in 1780 on the site of a villa suburbana near the Via Labicana in the Roman suburb of Centocelle is identified as an Apollo by modern scholars. In the late 2nd century CE floor mosaic from El Djem, Roman Thysdrus, he is identifiable as Apollo Helios by his effulgent halo, though now even a god's divine nakedness is concealed by his cloak, a mark of increasing conventions of modesty in the later Empire.[citation needed]
Another haloed Apollo in mosaic, from Hadrumentum, is in the museum at Sousse.[421] The conventions of this representation, head tilted, lips slightly parted, large-eyed, curling hair cut in locks grazing the neck, were developed in the 3rd century BCE to depict Alexander the Great.[422] Some time after this mosaic was executed, the earliest depictions of Christ would also be beardless and haloed.
Apollo often appears in modern and popular culture due to his status as the god of music, dance and poetry.
Apollo has featured in dance and music in modern culture. Percy Bysshe Shelley composed a "Hymn of Apollo" (1820), and the god's instruction of the Muses formed the subject of Igor Stravinsky's Apollon musagète (1927–1928). In 1978, the Canadian band Rush released an album with songs "Apollo: Bringer of Wisdom"/"Dionysus: Bringer of Love".[423]
Apollo has been portrayed in modern literature, such as when Charles Handy in Gods of Management (1978) uses Greek gods as a metaphor to portray various types of organizational culture. Apollo represents a "role" culture where order, reason, and bureaucracy prevail.[424] In 2016, author Rick Riordan published the first book in the Trials of Apollo series,[425][426] publishing four other books in the series in 2017,[427] 2018,[428] 2019[429] and 2020.[430]
Apollo has been depicted in modern films—for instance, by Keith David in the 1997 animated feature film Hercules,[431] by Luke Evans in the 2010 action film Clash of the Titans,[432] and by Dimitri Lekkos in the 2010 film Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.[433]
Apollo has appeared in many modern video games. Apollo appears as a minor character in Santa Monica Studio's 2010 action-adventure game God of War III with his bow being used by Peirithous.[434] He also appears in the 2014 Hi-Rez Studios Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game Smite as a playable character.[435]
In the philosophical discussion of the arts, a distinction is sometimes made between the Apollonian and Dionysian impulses, where the former is concerned with imposing intellectual order and the latter with chaotic creativity. Friedrich Nietzsche argued that a fusion of the two was most desirable.[436] Psychologist Carl Jung's Apollo archetype represents what he saw as the disposition in people to over-intellectualise and maintain emotional distance.[437]
In spaceflight, the 1960s and 1970s NASA program for orbiting and landing astronauts on the Moon was named after Apollo, by NASA manager Abe Silverstein:
Apollo riding his chariot across the Sun was appropriate to the grand scale of the proposed program.[438]
— Abe Silverstein, Release 69-36
Schmitz, Leonhard (1870). "Epactaeus". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Artemis". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. London: John Murray.
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