Apollo Apollo For other uses see disambiguation.
Apollo Greek Ap ll n is a god in Greek and Roman mythology the son of Zeus and Leto and the twin of Artemis goddess of the hunt one of the most important and many sided of the Olympian divinities In later times he became in part confused or equated with Helios god of the sun and his sister similarly equated with Selene goddess of the moon in religious contexts But Apollo and Helios Sol remained quite separate beings in literary mythological texts In Etruscan mythology he was known as Aplu.
Worship
Apollo is considered to have dominion over the plague light healing colonists medicine archery poetry prophecy dance reason intellectualism Shamans and as the patron defender of herds and flocks Apollo had a famous oracle in Crete and other notable ones in Clarus and Branchidae Apollo the son of Zeus and the mortal Leto.
Apollo is known as the leader of the Muses musagetes and director of their choir His attributes include swans wolves dolphins bows and arrows a laurel crown the cithara or lyre and plectrum The sacrificial tripod is another attribute representative of his prophetic powers The Pythian Games were held in his honor every four years at Delphi Paeans were the name of hymns sung to Apollo.
The most usual attributes of Apollo were the lyre and the bow the tripod especially was dedicated to him as the god of prophecy Among plants the bay used in expiatory sacrifices and also for making the crown of victory at the Pythian games and the palm tree under which he was born in Delos were sacred to him among animals and birds the wolf the roe the swan the hawk the raven the crow the snake the mouse the grasshopper and the griffin a mixture of the eagle and the lion evidently of Eastern origin The swan and grasshopper symbolize music and song the hawk raven crow and snake have reference to his functions as the god of prophecy.
The chief festivals held in honour of Apollo were the Carneia Daphnephoria Delia Hyacinthia Pyanepsia Pythia and Thargelia.
Among the Romans the worship of Apollo was adopted from the Greeks There is a tradition that the Delphian oracle was consulted as early as the period of the kings during the reign of Tarquinius Superbus and in a temple was dedicated to Apollo on the occasion of a pestilence and during the Second Punic War in the Ludi Apollinares were instituted in his honour It was in the time of Augustus who considered himself under the special protection of Apollo and was even said to be his son that his worship developed and he became one of the chief gods of Rome After the battle of Actium Augustus enlarged his old temple dedicated a portion of the spoil to him and instituted quinquennial games in his honour He also erected a new temple on the Palatine hill and transferred the secular games for which Horace composed his Carmen Saeculare to Apollo and Diana.
As god of colonization Apollo gave guidance on colonies especially during the height of colonization BC According to Greek tradition he helped Cretan or Arcadian colonists find the city of Troy However this story may reflect a cultural influence which had the reverse direction Hittite cuneiform texts mention a Minor Asian god called Appaliunas or Apalunas in connection with the city of Wilusa which is now regarded as being identical with the Greek Illios 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.
Apollo popularly e g in literary criticism represents harmony order and reason characteristics contrasted by those of Dionysus god of wine who popularly represents emotion and chaos The contrast between the roles of these gods is reflected in the adjectives Apollonian and Dionysian However Greeks thought of the two qualities as complementary the two gods are brothers and when Apollo at winter left for Hyperborea he would leave the Delphi Oracle to Dionysus.
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