Apollo
God of Medicine, Music, Plague and Prophecy
By: Hayley McCune
Origins
- His mother was Leto and his father was Zeus. (Ron Leadbetter)
- He was born on Delos Island; Hera, Zeus' wife, later chased his mother there. (Graf Fritz)
- His twin sister was Artemis. ( Ron Leadbetter)
- He was the favorite son of Zeus. (Graf Fritz)
- He grew to manhood within days of birth. (Michael Stapleton)
Powers and Personality Traits
From Homer’s time, Apollo was the god of divine distance - he sent threats from afar, made men aware of their guilt, and cleansed them. Controlled religious law and the constitutions of cities. (Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica)
- Other Gods feared him; only his father and mother could stand his presence. (Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica)
- His symbolic bow summoned distance, fear, and terror. (Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica)
- His kinder side was shown when he played the lyre. He also spread joy through poetry and dance. (Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica)
- He represented a level of moral excellence. (Michael Stapleton)
Appearance
He was a good-looking young man. (Ron Leadbetter)
He had no facial hair. (Ron Leadbetter)
- He always carried a lyre or a bow and arrow. (Ron Leadbetter)
Artemis
- Apollo's twin sister. (Ron Leadbetter)
Apollo and Daphne
- Daphne was a nymph that Apollo had loved. (Ron Leadbetter)
Love Life
Apollo loved the Nymph Daphne. He was cursed by the God of Love, Eros, because Apollo always teased him about his archery skills. (Ron Leadbetter)
Daphne did not like Apollo, so she asked for help from the river god Peneus. Peneus turned Daphne into a laurel tree. Apollo was devastated so he made Laurel his sacred tree. (Ron Leadbetter)
Apollo also loved Cyrene- a nymph who gave him his son Aristaeus. Aristaeus was a demi-god who later became the protector of fruit trees and cattle. (Ron Leadbetter)
Apollo had a love affair with the mortal Hecuba who was the wife of Priam, the king of Troy- they had Troilius. (Ron Leadbetter)
- Apollo also had a love affair with another man, Hyacinthus, a Spartan prince. (Ron Leadbetter)
Popularity
- Most widely influential god after Zeus (Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica)
- Only god common in both Greece and Rome (Michael Stapleton)
- He was honored by the Emperor Augustus who made a temple for him on Palatine Hill (Michael Stapleton)
- People looked at Apollo as a person who kept evil and darkness away (Fritz Graf)