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The Gods of Ancient Greece: Apollon Basic information
Apollo is the god of healing, prophecy, purification, music, light, and plagues. Leto and Zeus are his parents. In art he is depicted as a handsome young man who often holds a lyre. He is one of the youngest gods, as he wears his hair long and loose, as was the custom for Greek boys.
His sacred tree is the bay laurel. According to myth, Apollo loved a nymph named Daphne, but she was not interested in him. She tried to escape from him, by running up into the mountains, but he followed her. One of the river gods agreed to help her. When Apollo caught up to her and tried to embrace her, she was transformed into a laurel tree. (In Greek the word daphne means “bay-laurel tree.”)
Animals sacred to Apollo are the raven, crow, wolf, swan, and dolphin. (Delphis in Greek means “dolphin,” and this is likely how Delphi received its name.) The tripod and the lyre are also sacred to him. You may see Apollo himself seated upon a winged tripod in ancient art.
The Thargelia is a grand 2-day festival in honor of Apollo and Artemis. The first day, falling on the 6th of the month Thargelion, was dedicated to Artemis, as it was her birthday. The second day is said to be the birthday of Apollo. (The date in modern times is sometime in May. The exact date varies, as the ancient calendars were lunar, and so functioned much differently from our own solar calendars.) On the first day of the festival, two people were chosen from the city to be the scapegoats, called pharmakoi in Greek which means “medicines.” They represented the ills of the society, and were thus run out of town. On the second day, that is after the city had been purified, the people took part in a large ritual in which sacrifices from the harvest were made to the twin gods Apollo and Artemis. In the city of Athens, these two days were perhaps the most sacred days of the whole year.
One of his most famous temples is at Delphi. Originally the town was called Pytho, named after the monster Python, who had a temple there. The priestess of Python would induce a trance by inhaling vapors that came up from a crack in the ground. Then, she would give out prophesies. The Python was a bad creature; it destroyed crops and generally terrorized the people there. Thus, Apollo challenged the monster, eventually killing it with his bow and arrows. However, for the killing he was punished, and sent away for 9 years. Afterwards he returned in the form of a dolphin, and brought some devotees with him. He took charge of the temple, and the priestess there was from then on known as the Pythia. He gave her a tripod to sit upon, and gave her his gift of prophesy. Phrases were engraved into the temple, and some have become rather like ethical rules to live by. Two of the most famous are “Know Thyself” and “Everything in Moderation.”
Delos is another place where he had an important temple, as it was also the island on which he was born. However, we will read more about this in the information on Artemis.
In Greek his name is spelled Apollon, and another version of his name is Apellon. He is also called Paian, an alternate name.
Epithets
Akesios, “healer”
Apotropaios, “averter of evil”
Daphnephoros, “bay-bearer”
Hekatos, “striking from afar”
Iatros, “doctor”
Kitharodos, “singer to the lyre”
Lukeios, “of the wolf”
Mousagetes, “leader of the Muses”
Phoibos, “bright”
Puthios, “Pythian”
(Campbell, pp. 63-64)
Myths
I have already mentioned some myths, so I will only add one more. This particular myth deals with one of Apollo’s homosexual affairs.
Apollo was in love with a young boy named Cyparissos, and gave him a gift as a token of his love. The gift was a deer, which was very tame. That deer stayed right with Cyparissos at all times, and the two were never far from one another. One day, Cyparissos was practicing with his javelin as the deer lay napping in some bushes. Unfortunately, one of the times he threw the javelin it struck the deer, and killed it. When he realized what he had done, he was inconsolable. Apollo offered to help, but all Cyparissos asked was that he could cry forever. Apollo agreed, and turned him into the cypress tree, which releases sap that looks like teardrops. The tree is still associated with loss and grief.
Here are some hymns to Apollon.