Apollo is a Greek god of music, poetry, prophecy, and light, and is one of the 12 Olympians. He is the son of Zeus and Leto, and his symbols are the lyre and laurel wreath. Apollo’s myths involve killing Python, his brother Hermes, and his love interests Cyrene, Coronis, and Daphne. The Apollo space program and a ballet are named after him.
In Greek mythology, Apollo is one of the Olympians, usually numbered at 12, and like many of the Olympians – Athena, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus and his twin sister Artemis – he is a son of Zeus. He is the god of music, poetry and prophecy. Like Phoebus Apollo, he is the god of light. His symbol is the lyre, and he is also known as the patron saint of shepherds. He is the only of the Olympian gods to exist in Roman mythology in his own right, being called by the same name by both the Romans and the Greeks.
Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, the daughter of the Titans Phoebe and Coeus, or Koios. Leto was one of Zeus’ loves whose existence infuriated her wife Hera, who retaliated by trying to punish Leto. In this case, she tried to prevent Leto from giving birth to her by forbidding anyone, including Earth, to help her. But the floating islands of Ortygia and Delos were beyond Hera’s reach, and it was there that Leto gave birth to her twins, Apollo and Artemis.
Fed on nectar and ambrosia, Apollo became an adult in four days. His first mission was to kill Python, a snake that Hera had sent to chase his mother, mission accomplished in Delphi, near the place sacred to the oracle. The Pythian Games were established in commemoration. After the purification, Apollo returned to Delphi and adopted the sanctuary as his.
Some of Apollo’s myths involve his younger brother, Hermes. One of Hermes’ adventures while still a child involved stealing Apollo’s herd of cattle. An old man who had seen little Hermes driving cattle told Apollo, who – when he went to confront the thief – found Hermes innocently asleep in his cradle. Finally Hermes confessed and offered in return a lyre made from a tortoise shell. His brother accepted the lyre and gave Hermes the herd of cattle for himself. He also gave Hermes his staff, kerykeion in Greek or caduceus in Latin, with the two coiled serpents.
The Amateur Adventures of Apollo met with mixed success. He fell in love with Cyrene, daughter of the naiad Creusa, and took her to Africa where she built a city of hers in his honor. Their son, Aristaeus, the patron saint of beekeepers, was born there. Coronis accepted Apollo as her lover, even though she was in love with Ischys, whom she went off with while she was pregnant with Apollo’s child. Artemis sought revenge on her brother’s behalf and killed Coronis, but Apollo saved his son, Asclepius, the Greek god of healing and medicine, from Coronis’ funeral pyre.
Daphne, nymph and priestess of Gea, was not so helpful: she ran away from the god, and when he caught her, she begged Gea to help her, and she was transformed into a laurel tree. Apollo is often depicted wearing a laurel wreath. Cassandra begged Apollo for the gift of prophecy, which he granted, hoping to win her affection. Cassandra was not interested and in punishing her, the god chose not to take away her gift but to punish her by making sure that her prophecies would never be believed.
The Apollo space program, which took astronauts to the moon on July 20, 1969, was named after the god. Apollo or Apollon musagète, is a ballet by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. There are and were a number of statues and paintings of the god, most notably the Colossus of Rhodes, although it is sometimes identified as depicting Helios.
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