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{{About|the Greek and Roman god||Apollo (disambiguation)|and|Phoebus (disambiguation)}} |
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{{Infobox deity |
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| type = Greek |
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| name = Apollo |
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| image = Belvedere Apollo Pio-Clementino Inv1015.jpg |
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| image_size = |
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| alt = |
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| caption = ''[[Apollo Belvedere]]'', ca. 120–140 CE |
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| god_of = God of music, poetry, plague, oracles, sun, medicine, light and knowledge |
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| abode = [[Mount Olympus]] |
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| symbol = [[Lyre]], [[Bay Laurel|laurel]] wreath, [[Python (mythology)|python]], [[raven]], bow and arrows |
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| consort = |
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| parents = [[Leto]] and [[Leto]] |
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| siblings = [[Artemis]] |
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| children = [[Asclepius]], [[Troilus]], [[Aristaeus]], [[Orpheus]] |
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| mount = |
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| Roman_equivalent = Apollo |
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}} |
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{{Ancient Greek religion}} |
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'''Apollo''' ([[Attic Greek|Attic]], [[Ionic Greek|Ionic]], and [[Homeric Greek]]: {{lang|grc|Ἀπόλλων}}, ''Apollōn'' (gen.: {{lang|grc|Ἀπόλλωνος}}); [[Doric Greek|Doric]]: {{lang|grc|Ἀπέλλων}}, ''Apellōn''; [[Arcadocypriot Greek|Arcadocypriot]]: {{lang|grc|Ἀπείλων}}, ''Apeilōn''; [[Aeolic Greek|Aeolic]]: {{lang|grc|Ἄπλουν}}, ''Aploun''; {{lang-la|Apollō}}) is one of the most important and complex of the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympian deities]] in [[Ancient Greek religion|classical Greek]] and [[Ancient Roman religion|Roman religion]] and [[Greek mythology|Greek]] and [[Roman mythology]]. The ideal of the ''[[kouros]]'' (a beardless, athletic youth), Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun, truth and prophecy, healing, plague, music, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of [[Zeus]] and [[Leto]], and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress [[Artemis]]. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced [[Etruscan mythology]] as ''Apulu''. |
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As the patron of [[Delphi]] (''Pythian Apollo''), Apollo was an [[oracular]] god—the prophetic deity of the [[Pythia|Delphic Oracle]]. Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son [[Asclepius]], yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly [[Plague (disease)|plague]]. Amongst the god's custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over [[Colonies in antiquity|colonists]], and as the patron defender of herds and flocks. As the leader of the [[Muse]]s (''Apollon Musegetes'') and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and poetry. [[Hermes]] created the [[lyre]] for him, and the instrument became a common [[Apollo#Attributes and symbols|attribute of Apollo]]. Hymns sung to Apollo were called [[paean]]s. |
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In Hellenistic times, especially during the 3rd century BCE, as ''Apollo Helios'' he became identified among Greeks with [[Helios]], [[Titan (mythology)|Titan]] [[solar deity|god of the sun]], and his sister Artemis similarly equated with [[Selene]], Titan [[lunar deity|goddess of the moon]].<ref>For the iconography of the Alexander–Helios type, see H. Hoffmann, 1963. "Helios", in ''Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt'' '''2''', pp. 117–23; cf. Yalouris 1980, no. 42.</ref> In Latin texts, on the other hand, [[Joseph Fontenrose]] declared himself unable to find any conflation of Apollo with [[Sol (mythology)|Sol]] among the [[Classical Latin|Augustan poets]] of the 1st century, not even in the conjurations of [[Aeneas]] and [[Latinus]] in ''[[Aeneid]]'' XII (161–215).<ref>Joseph Fontenrose, "Apollo and Sol in the Latin poets of the first century BC", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' '''30''' (1939), pp 439–55; "Apollo and the Sun-God in Ovid", ''American Journal of Philology'' '''61''' (1940) pp 429–44; and "Apollo and Sol in the Oaths of Aeneas and Latinus" ''Classical Philology'' '''38'''.2 (April 1943), pp. 137–138.</ref> Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the 3rd century CE. |
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==Etymology== |
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[[File:AGMA Apollon Lykeios.jpg|thumb|upright|Statuette of the ''Apollo Lykeios'' type, [[Ancient Agora of Athens|Museum of the Ancient Agora of Athens]] (inv. BI 236).]] |
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[[File:Tetradrachme de la région Illyro Péonienne.jpg|thumb|left|Tetradrachm from the Illyro-Paeonian region, representing Apollo]] |
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The etymology of ''Apollo'' is uncertain. The spelling Ἀπόλλων had almost superseded all other forms by the beginning of the common era, but the Doric form Απέλλων is more archaic, derived from an earlier *Απέλjων. The name is certainly cognate with the Doric month name Απέλλαιος and the Doric festival [[Apellai|απελλαι]].<ref name = "DDD">{{cite book| author = Karel van der Toorn| coauthors = Bob. Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst| title = Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible: DDD| url = http://books.google.com/?id=PHgUAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA73| year = 1999| publisher = Brill| isbn = 978-90-04-11119-6| page = 73 }}</ref> |
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Several instances of [[popular etymology]] are attested from ancient authors. Thus, the Greeks most often associated Apollo's name with the Greek verb ἀπόλλυμι (''apollymi''), "to destroy".<ref>{{cite web|author=Mike Campbell |url=http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=apollo |title=Meaning, Origin and History of the Name Apollo |publisher=Behind the Name |date= |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> [[Plato]] in ''[[Cratylus]]'' connects the name with {{lang|grc|ἀπόλυσις}} (''apolysis''), "redeem", with {{lang|grc|ἀπόλουσις}} (''apolousis''), "purification", and with {{lang|grc|ἁπλοῦν}} (''[h]aploun''), "simple",<ref>The {{lang|grc|ἁπλοῦν}} suggestion is repeated by [[Plutarch]] in ''[[Moralia]]'' in the sense of "[[1 (number)|unity]]".</ref> in particular in reference to the Thessalian form of the name, {{lang|grc|Ἄπλουν}}, and finally with {{lang|grc|Ἀει-βάλλων}} (''aeiballon''), "ever-shooting". [[Hesychius of Alexandria|Hesychius]] connects the name Apollo with the Doric απέλλα (''apella''), which means "assembly", so that Apollo would be the god of political life, and he also gives the explanation σηκός (''sekos''), "fold", in which case Apollo would be the god of flocks and herds. |
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Following the tradition of these Ancient Greek folk etymologies, in the Doric dialect the word {{lang|grc|απέλλα}} originally meant wall, fence from animals and later assembly within the ''[[agora]]''. In the [[Ancient Macedonian language]] {{lang|grc|πέλλα}} (pella) means stone, and some [[toponyms]] are derived from this word: {{lang|grc|Πέλλα}} ([[Pella]]:capital of [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Ancient Macedonia]]), {{lang|grc|Πελλήνη}} (''Pellini''-[[Pallini]]).<!--eta = long e in English; really should be transliterated as Pellēne--> |
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A number of non-Greek etymologies have been suggested for the name,<ref>Martin Nilsson, ''Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion'', vol. I (C.H. Beck) 1955:555-564.</ref> The form ''[[Apaliunas]]'' (''<sup>d</sup>{{lang|hit-Latn|x-ap-pa-li-u-na-aš}}'') is attested as a god of [[Wilusa]]<ref>The reading of ''Apaliunas'' and the possible identification with Apollo is due to [[Emil Forrer]] (1931). It was doubted by [[Paul Kretschmer|Kretschmer]], Glotta XXIV p.250.Martin Nilsson (1967) Vol I p.559</ref> in a treaty between [[Alaksandu]] of Wilusa and the [[Hittites|Hittite]] great king [[Muwatalli II]] c. 1280 BCE. ''Alaksandu'' could be [[Paris (mythology)|Paris-Alexander]] of [[Troy|Ilion]],<ref>Latacz, Joachim, ''Troia und Homer: Der Weg zur Lösung eines alten Rätsels.'' (Munich) 2001:138.</ref> whose name is Greek.<ref>αλέξανδρος. Henry George Lidell, Robert Scott:''A Greek English Lexicon''</ref> The [[Hittite language|Hittite]] testimony reflects an early form ''{{lang|grc-Latin|*Apeljōn}}'', which may also be surmised from comparison of Cypriot Απειλων with Doric Απελλων.<ref>{{cite book| author = John L. Angel| coauthors = Machteld Johanna Mellink| title = Troy and the Trojan War: A Symposium Held at Bryn Mawr College, October 1984| year = 1986| publisher = Bryn Mawr Commentaries| isbn = 978-0-929524-59-7| page = 42 }}</ref> |
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A [[Luwian language|Luwian]] etymology suggested for ''Apaliunas'' makes Apollo "The One of Entrapment", perhaps in the sense of "Hunter".<ref>{{cite book| author = Sara Anderson Immerwahr| coauthors = Anne Proctor. Chapin| title = Charis: Essays in Honor of Sara A. Immerwahr| year = 2004| publisher = Amer School of Classical| isbn = 978-0-87661-533-1| page = 254 }}</ref> |
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Among the proposed etymologies is the [[Hurrian]] and Hittite divinity, ''Aplu'', who was widely invoked during the "plague years". Aplu, it is suggested, comes from the [[Akkadian]] ''Aplu Enlil'', meaning "the son of Enlil", a title that was given to the god [[Nergal]], who was linked to [[Shamash]], Babylonian god of the sun.<ref name="Grummond">de Grummond, Nancy Thomson (2006) ''Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend''. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology); Mackenzie, Donald A. (2005) ''Myths of Babylonia and Assyria'' (Gutenberg)</ref> |
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===Greco-Roman epithets=== |
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Apollo, like other Greek deities, had a number of [[epithet]]s applied to him, reflecting the variety of roles, duties, and aspects ascribed to the god. However, while Apollo has a great number of appellations in Greek myth, only a few occur in [[Latin literature]], chief among them '''Phoebus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|iː|b|ə|s}} {{respell|FEE|bəs}}; Φοίβος, ''Phoibos'', literally "radiant"), which was very commonly used by both the Greeks and Romans in Apollo's role as the god of light. |
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As sun-god and god of light, Apollo was also known by the epithets '''Aegletes''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|ɡ|l|iː|t|iː|z}} {{respell|ə|GLEE|teez}}; Αἰγλήτης, ''Aiglētēs'', from αἴγλη, "light of the sun"),<ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes]], iv. 1730;'' Pseudo-Apollodorus, [[Bibliotheke|Biblioteca]]'', i. 9. § 26</ref> '''Helius''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|iː|l|i|ə|s}} {{respell|HEE|lee-əs}}; Ἥλιος, ''[[Helios]]'', literally "sun"),<ref name="simbolismo">{{cite book| last = Álvaro, Jr., Santos| first = Allan| title = Simbolismo divino| url = http://books.google.com/?id=uAiConL3xyYC| publisher = Allan Álvaro, Jr., Santos }}</ref> '''Phanaeus''' ({{IPAc-en|f|ə|ˈ|n|iː|ə|s}} {{respell|fə|NEE|əs}}; Φαναῖος, ''Phanaios'', literally "giving or bringing light"), and '''[[Apollo Lyceus|Lyceus]]''' ({{IPAc-en|l|aɪ|ˈ|s|iː|ə|s}} {{respell|ly|SEE|əs}}; Λύκειος, ''Lukeios'', from [[Proto-Greek language|Proto-Greek]] *λύκη, "light"). The meaning of the epithet "Lyceus" later became associated Apollo's mother [[Leto]], who was the patron goddess of [[Lycia]] (Λυκία) and who was identified with the wolf (λύκος),<ref>Aelian, ''On the Nature of Animals'' 4. 4 (A.F. Scholfield, tr.).</ref> earning him the epithets '''Lycegenes''' ({{IPAc-en|l|aɪ|ˈ|s|ɛ|dʒ|ə|n|iː|z}} {{respell|ly|SEJ|ə-neez}}; Λυκηγενής, ''Lukēgenēs'', literally "born of a wolf" or "born of Lycia") and '''Lycoctonus''' ({{IPAc-en|l|aɪ|ˈ|k|ɒ|k|t|ə|n|ə|s}} {{respell|ly|KOK|tə-nəs}}; Λυκοκτόνος, ''Lukoktonos'', from λύκος, "wolf", and κτείνειν, "to kill"). As god of the sun, the Romans referred to Apollo as '''[[Sol (mythology)|Sol]]''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɒ|l}} {{respell|SOL|'}}; literally "sun" in Latin). |
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In association with his birthplace, [[Cynthus|Mount Cynthus]] on the island of [[Delos]], Apollo was called '''Cynthius''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|n|θ|i|ə|s}} {{respell|SIN|thee-əs}}; Κύνθιος, ''Kunthios'', literally "Cynthian"), '''Cynthogenes''' ({{IPAc-en|s|ɪ|n|ˈ|θ|ɒ|dʒ|ɨ|n|iː|z}} {{respell|sin|THOJ|i-neez}}; Κύνθογενης, ''Kunthogenēs'', literally "born of Cynthus"), and '''Delius''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|iː|l|i|ə|s}} {{respell|DEE|lee-əs}}; Δήλιος, ''Delios'', literally "Delian"). As [[Artemis]]'s twin, Apollo had the epithet '''Didymaeus''' ({{IPAc-en|d|ɪ|d|ɨ|ˈ|m|iː|ə|s}} {{respell|did-i|MEE|əs}}; Διδυμαιος, ''Didumaios'', from δίδυμος, "twin"). |
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[[File:Bassai Temple Of Apollo Detail.jpg|250px|thumb|Partial view of the temple of Apollo Epikurios (healer) at [[Bassae]] in southern Greece]] |
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Apollo was worshipped as '''Actiacus''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|k|ˈ|t|aɪ|.|ə|k|ə|s}} {{respell|ak|TY|ə-kəs}}; Ἄκτιακός, ''Aktiakos'', literally "Actian"), '''Delphinius''' ({{IPAc-en|d|ɛ|l|ˈ|f|ɪ|n|i|ə|s}} {{respell|del|FIN|ee-əs}}; Δελφίνιος, ''Delphinios'', literally "Delphic"), and '''Pythius''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɪ|θ|i|ə|s}} {{respell|PITH|ee-əs}}; Πύθιος, ''Puthios'', from Πυθώ, ''Pūthō'', the area around Delphi), after [[Actium]] (Ἄκτιον) and [[Delphi]] (Δελφοί) respectively, two of his principal places of worship.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' xiii. 715</ref><ref>[[Strabo]], x. p. 451</ref> An [[etiology]] in the ''[[Homeric hymns]]'' associated the epithet "Delphinius" with dolphins. He was worshipped as '''Acraephius''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|k|r|iː|f|i|ə|s}} {{respell|ə|KREE|fee-əs}}; Ἀκραιφιος, ''Akraiphios'', literally "Acraephian") or '''Acraephiaeus''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˌ|k|r|iː|f|i|ˈ|iː|ə|s}} {{respell|ə|KREE|fee|EE|əs}}; Ἀκραιφιαίος, ''Akraiphiaios'', literally "Acraephian") in the [[Boeotia]]n town of [[Acraephia]] (Ἀκραιφία), reputedly founded by his son [[Acraepheus]]; and as '''[[Apollo Smintheus|Smintheus]]''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|m|ɪ|n|θ|j|uː|s}} {{respell|SMIN|thews}}; Σμινθεύς, ''Smintheus'', "Sminthian"—that is, "of the town of Sminthos or Sminthe")<ref>Entry [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D*sminqeu%2Fs Σμινθεύς] in [[LSJ]]</ref> near the [[Troad]] town of [[Hamaxitus]]. The epithet "Smintheus" has historically been confused with σμίνθος, "mouse", in association with Apollo's role as a god of disease. For this he was also known as '''Parnopius''' ({{IPAc-en|p|ɑr|ˈ|n|oʊ|p|i|ə|s}} {{respell|par|NOH|pee-əs}}; Παρνόπιος, ''Parnopios'', from πάρνοψ, "locust") and to the Romans as '''Culicarius''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|k|juː|l|ɨ|ˈ|k|ær|i|ə|s}} {{respell|KEW|li|KARR|ee-əs}}; from Latin ''culicārius'', "of midges"). |
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[[File:TempleDelos.jpg|thumb|250px|Temple of the Delians at [[Delos]], dedicated to Apollo (478 BC). 19th-century pen-and-wash restoration.]] |
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[[File:Chryse.jpg|thumb|250px|Temple of Apollo Smintheus at [[Çanakkale]], Turkey]] |
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In Apollo's role as a healer, his appellations included '''Acesius''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|s|iː|ʒ|ə|s}} {{respell|ə|SEE|zhəs}}; Ἀκέσιος, ''Akesios'', from ἄκεσις, "healing"), '''[[Acestor]]''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|s|ɛ|s|t|ər}} {{respell|ə|SES|tər}}; Ἀκέστωρ, ''Akestōr'', literally "healer"), '''[[Paean (god)|Paean]]''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|iː|ə|n}} {{respell|PEE|ən}}; Παιάν, ''Paiān'', from παίειν, "to touch"), and '''Iatrus''' ({{IPAc-en|aɪ|ˈ|æ|t|r|ə|s}} {{respell|eye|AT|rəs}}; Ἰατρός, ''Iātros'', literally "physician").<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Andromache (play)|Andromache]]'' 901</ref> Acesius was the epithet of Apollo worshipped in [[Elis]], where he had a temple in the [[agora]].<ref name="Smith">"Acesius". ''Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology''. London, 1880.</ref> The Romans referred to Apollo as '''Medicus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛ|d|ɨ|k|ə|s}} {{respell|MED|i-kəs}}; literally "physician" in Latin) in this respect. A [[Roman temple|temple]] was dedicated to ''Apollo Medicus'' at Rome, probably next to the temple of [[Bellona (goddess)|Bellona]]. |
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As a protector and founder, Apollo had the epithets '''[[Alexicacus]]''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˌ|l|ɛ|k|s|ɨ|ˈ|k|eɪ|k|ə|s}} {{respell|ə|LEK|si|KAY|kəs}}; Ἀλεξίκακος, ''Alexikakos'', literally "warding off evil"), '''Apotropaeus''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˌ|p|ɒ|t|r|ə|ˈ|p|iː|ə|s}} {{respell|ə|POT|rə|PEE|əs}}; Ἀποτρόπαιος, ''Apotropaios'', from ἀποτρέπειν, "to avert"), and '''Epicurius''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɛ|p|ɨ|ˈ|k|j|ʊr|i|ə|s}} {{respell|EP|i|KEWR|ee-əs}}; Ἐπικούριος, ''Epikourios'', from ἐπικουρέειν, "to aid"),<ref name=simbolismo/> and '''Archegetes''' ({{IPAc-en|ɑr|ˈ|k|ɛ|dʒ|ə|t|iː|z}} {{respell|ar|KEJ|ə-teez}}; Ἀρχηγέτης, ''Arkhēgetēs'', literally "founder"), '''Clarius''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|l|ær|i|ə|s}} {{respell|KLARR|ee-əs}}; Κλάριος, ''Klārios'', from [[Doric Greek|Doric]] κλάρος, "allotted lot"), and '''Genetor''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|ɛ|n|ɨ|t|ər}} {{respell|JEN|i-tər}}; Γενέτωρ, ''Genetōr'', literally "ancestor").<ref name=simbolismo/> To the Romans, he was known in this capacity as '''Averruncus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|æ|v|ə|ˈ|r|ʌ|ŋ|k|ə|s}} {{respell|AV|ər|RUNG|kəs}}; from Latin ''āverruncare'', "to avert"). He was also called '''[[Agyieus]]''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|dʒ|aɪ|.|ɨ|juː|s}} {{respell|ə|GWEE|ews}}; Ἀγυιεύς, ''Aguīeus'', from ἄγυια, "street") for his role in protecting roads and homes; and '''Nomius''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|n|oʊ|m|i|ə|s}} {{respell|NOH|mee-əs}}; Νόμιος, ''Nomios'', literally "pastoral") and '''Nymphegetes''' ({{IPAc-en|n|ɪ|m|ˈ|f|ɛ|dʒ|ɨ|t|iː|z}} {{respell|nim|FEJ|i-teez}}; Νυμφηγέτης, ''Numphēgetēs'', from Νύμφη, "Nymph", and ἡγέτης, "leader") for his role as a protector of shepherds and pastoral life. |
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In his role as god of prophecy and truth, Apollo had the epithets '''Manticus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|æ|n|t|ɨ|k|ə|s}} {{respell|MAN|ti-kəs}}; Μαντικός, ''Mantikos'', literally "prophetic"), '''Leschenorius''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|l|ɛ|s|k|ɨ|ˈ|n|ɔər|i|ə|s}} {{respell|LES|ki|NOHR|ee-əs}}; Λεσχηνόριος, ''Leskhēnorios'', from λεσχήνωρ, "converser"), and '''Loxias''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɒ|k||s|i|ə|s}} {{respell|LOK|see-əs}}; Λοξίας, ''Loxias'', from λέγειν, "to say").<ref name=simbolismo/> The epithet "Loxias" has historically been associated with λοξός, "ambiguous". In this respect, the Romans called him '''Coelispex''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɛ|l|ɨ|s|p|ɛ|k|s}} {{respell|SEL|i-speks}}; from Latin ''coelum'', "sky", and ''specere'', "to look at"). The epithet '''Iatromantis''' ({{IPAc-en|aɪ|ˌ|æ|t|r|ə|ˈ|m|æ|n|t|ɪ|s}} {{respell|eye|AT|rə|MAN|tis}}; Ἰατρομάντις, ''Iātromantis'', from ὶατρός, "physician", and μάντις, "prophet") refers to both his role as a god of healing and of prophecy. As god of music and arts, Apollo had the epithet '''Musagetes''' ({{IPAc-en|m|juː|ˈ|s|æ|dʒ|ɨ|t|iː|z}} {{respell|mew|SAJ|i-teez}}; [[Doric Greek|Doric]] Μουσαγέτας, ''Mousāgetās'')<ref>[[LSJ]] entry [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D*mousage%2Ftas Μουσαγέτας]</ref> or '''Musegetes''' ({{IPAc-en|m|juː|ˈ|s|ɛ|dʒ|ɨ|t|iː|z}} {{respell|mew|SEJ|i-teez}}; Μουσηγέτης, ''Mousēgetēs'', from Μούσα, "[[Muse]]", and ἡγέτης, "leader"). |
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As a god of archery, Apollo was known as '''Aphetor''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|f|iː|t|ər}} {{respell|ə|FEE|tər}}; Ἀφήτωρ, ''Aphētōr'', from ὰφίημι, "to let loose") or '''Aphetorus''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|f|ɛ|t|ər|ə|s}} {{respell|ə|FET|ər-əs}}; Ἀφητόρος, ''Aphētoros'', of the same origin), '''Argyrotoxus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɑr|dʒ|ɨ|r|ə|ˈ|t|ɒ|k|s|ə|s}} {{respell|AR|ji-rə|TOK|səs}}; Ἀργυρότοξος, ''Argurotoxos'', literally "with silver bow"), '''Hecaërgus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|h|ɛ|k|i|ˈ|ɜr|ɡ|ə|s}} {{respell|HEK|ee|UR|gəs}}; Ἑκάεργος, ''Hekaergos'', literally "far-shooting"), and '''Hecebolus''' ({{IPAc-en|h|ɨ|ˈ|s|ɛ|b|ə|l|ə|s}} {{respell|hi|SEB|ə-ləs}}; Ἑκηβόλος, ''Hekēbolos'', literally "far-shooting"). The Romans referred to Apollo as '''Articenens''' ({{IPAc-en|ɑr|ˈ|t|ɪ|s|ɨ|n|ə|n|z}} {{respell|ar|TISS|i-nənz}}; "bow-carrying"). Apollo was called '''Ismenius''' ({{IPAc-en|ɪ|z|ˈ|m|iː|n|i|ə|s}} {{respell|iz|MEE|nee-əs}}; Ἰσμηνιός, ''Ismēnios'', literally "of Ismenus") after Ismenus, the son of [[Amphion]] and [[Niobe]], whom he struck with an arrow. |
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===Celtic epithets and cult titles=== |
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Apollo was worshipped throughout the [[Roman Empire]]. In the traditionally [[Celtic nations|Celtic]] lands he was most often seen as a healing and sun god. He was often equated with [[List of Celtic gods|Celtic gods]] of similar character.<ref>Miranda J. Green, ''Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend'', Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1997</ref> |
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* '''[[Apollo Atepomarus]]''' ("the great horseman" or "possessing a great horse"). Apollo was worshipped at [[Mauvières]] ([[Indre]]). Horses were, in the Celtic world, closely linked to the sun.<ref>''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' XIII, 1863–1986; A. Ross,, ''Pagan Celtic Britain'', 1967; M.J. Green, ''The Gods of the Celts'', 1986, London</ref> |
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* '''[[Apollo Belenus]]''' ('bright' or 'brilliant'). This epithet was given to Apollo in parts of [[Gaul]], Northern Italy and [[Noricum]] (part of modern Austria). Apollo Belenus was a healing and sun god.<ref>J. Zwicker, ''Fontes Historiae Religionis Celticae'', 1934–36, Berlin; ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' V, XI, XII, XIII; J. Gourcest, "Le culte de Belenos en Provence occidentale et en Gaule", ''Ogam'' '''6'''.6 (1954:257–262); E. Thevonot, "Le cheval sacre dans la Gaule de l'Est", ''Revue archeologique de l'Est et du Centre-Est'' (vol 2), 1951; [], "Temoignages du culte de l'Apollon gaulois dans l'Helvetie romaine"'', Revue celtique'' (vol 51), 1934.</ref> |
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* '''[[Apollo Cunomaglus]]''' ('hound lord'). A title given to Apollo at a shrine in [[Wiltshire]]. Apollo Cunomaglus may have been a god of healing. Cunomaglus himself may originally have been an independent healing god.<ref>W.J. Wedlake, ''The Excavation of the Shrine of Apollo at Nettleton, Wiltshire, 1956–1971'', Society of Antiquaries of London, 1982.</ref> |
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* '''[[Apollo Grannus]]'''. Grannus was a healing spring god, later equated with Apollo.<ref>M. Szabo, ''The Celtic Heritage in Hungary'', (Budapest)1971, Budapest</ref><ref name="thevonat">Divinites et sanctuaires de la Gaule, E. Thevonat, 1968, Paris</ref><ref name="devries">La religion des Celtes, J. de Vries, 1963, Paris</ref> |
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* '''Apollo Maponus'''. A god known from inscriptions in Britain. This may be a local fusion of Apollo and [[Maponus]]. |
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* '''[[Apollo Moritasgus]]''' ('masses of sea water'). An epithet for Apollo at Alesia, where he was worshipped as god of healing and, possibly, of physicians.<ref>J. Le Gall, ''Alesia, archeologie et histoire'', (Paris) 1963.</ref> |
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* '''[[Apollo Vindonnus]]''' ('clear light'). Apollo Vindonnus had a temple at [[Essarois]], near [[Châtillon-sur-Seine]] in [[Bourgogne|Burgundy]]. He was a god of healing, especially of the eyes.<ref name=thevonat/> |
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* '''[[Apollo Virotutis]]''' ('benefactor of mankind?'). Apollo Virotutis was worshipped, among other places, at Fins d'Annecy ([[Haute-Savoie]]) and at [[Jublains]] ([[Maine-et-Loire]]).<ref name=devries/><ref>''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' XIII</ref> |
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==Origins== |
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[[File:Omphalos museum.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Omphalos]] in the Museum of [[Delphi]]]] |
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The cult centers of Apollo in Greece, [[Delphi]] and [[Delos]], date from the 8th century BCE. The Delos sanctuary was primarily dedicated to [[Artemis]], Apollo's twin sister. At Delphi, Apollo was venerated as the slayer of [[Pytho]]. For the Greeks, Apollo was all the Gods in one and through the centuries he acquired different functions which could originate from different gods. In [[archaic period in Greece|archaic Greece]] he was the [[prophet]], the oracular god who in older times was connected with "healing". In [[classical period in Greece|classical Greece]] he was the god of light and of music, but in popular religion he had a strong function to keep away evil.<ref>Martin Nilsson (1967)".Die Geschicte der Giechischen Religion.Vol I".C.F.Beck Verlag.Munchen. p 529</ref> [[Walter Burkert]]<ref>Burkert, Walter. ''Greek Religion'', 1985:144.</ref> discerned three components in the prehistory of Apollo worship, which he termed "a Dorian-northwest Greek component, a Cretan-Minoan component, and a Syro-Hittite component." |
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From his eastern-origin Apollo brought the art of inspection from "symbols and [[omen|omina]]" (σημεία και τέρατα : ''semeia kai terata''), and of the observation of the [[omen]]s of the days. The inspiration oracular-cult was probably introduced from [[Anatolia]]. The [[ritualism]] belonged to Apollo from the beginning. The Greeks created the [[Legalism (Western philosophy)|legalism]], the supervision of the orders of the gods, and the demand for moderation and harmony. Apollo became the god of shining youth, the protector of music, spiritual-life, moderation and perceptible order. The improvement of the old [[Anatolia]]n god, and his elevation to an intellectual sphere, may be considered an achievement of the [[Greek people|Greek]] people.<ref name="Nilsson563">[[Martin P. Nilsson|Martin Nilsson]]. ''Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion Vol I'' , pp. 563-564</ref> |
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===Healer and god-protector from evil=== |
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The function of Apollo as a "healer" is connected with [[Paean (god)|Paean]] (Παιών-Παιήων), the physician of the Gods in the ''[[Iliad]]'', who seems to come from a more primitive religion. Paeοn is probably connected with the [[Mycenean Greece|Mycenean]] Pa-ja-wo, but the etymology is the only evidence. He did not have a separate cult, but he was the personification of the holy magic-song sung by the magicians that was supposed to cure disease. Later the Greeks knew the original meaning of the relevant song "paean" (παιάν). The magicians were also called "seer-doctors" (ιατρομάντεις), and they used an ecstatic prophetic art which was used exactly by the god Apollo at the oracles.<ref>"επί καταπαύσει λοιμών και νόσων αδόμενος" (which is sung to stop the plagues and the diseases). Proklos: Chrestom from Photios Bibl. code. 239, p. 321: Martin Nilsson. Die Geschicthe der Griechischen religion. Vol I p.543</ref> |
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In the ''Iliad'', Apollo is the healer under the gods, but he is also the bringer of disease and death with his arrows, similar to the function of the terrible [[Vedic]] god of disease [[Rudra]].<ref name="Martin Nilsson 1967 p.541">"The conception that the diseases come from invisible shots sent by magicians or supernatural beings is common in primitive people and also in European folklore. In North-Europe they speak of the "Elf-shots". In Sweden where the Lapps were called magicians, they speak of the "Lappen-shots". Martin Nilsson (1967).Vol I p.541</ref> He sends a terrible plague (λοιμός) to the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans]]. The god who sends a disease can also prevent from it; therefore, when it stops, they make a purifying ceremony and offer him a [[hecatomb]] to ward off evil. When the oath of his priest appeases, they pray and with a song they call their own god, the beautiful ''Paean''.<ref>[[Ilias]] A 314. Martin Nilsson (1967). Vol I p.543</ref> |
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Some common epithets of Apollo as a healer are "paion" (παιών:touching), "epikourios" (επικουρώ:help), "oulios" (ουλή:cured wound), and "loimios" (λοiμός:plague). In classical times, his strong function in popular religion was to keep away evil, and was therefore called "apotropaios" (αποτρέπω:to divert) and "alexikakos" (αλέξω-κακό:defend, throw away the evil).<ref>Pausanias VIII 41, 8-IV 34, 7-Sittig. Nom P. 48. f-Aristoph. Vesp. V. 61-Paus. I 3, 4. Martin Nilsson (1967) Vol I, p. 540, 544</ref> In later writers, the word, usually spelled "Paean", becomes a mere epithet of Apollo in his capacity as a god of [[healing]].<ref>{{cite book| last = Graf| first = Fritz| title = Apollo| url = http://books.google.com/?id=it9n9_I-UOkC&pg=PA66| year = 2008| publisher = Taylor & Francis| isbn = 978-0-203-58171-1| page = 66 }}</ref> |
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Homer illustrated Paeon the god, and the song both of [[apotropaic]] thanksgiving or triumph.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} |
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Such songs were originally addressed to Apollo, and afterwards to other gods: to [[Dionysus]], to Apollo [[Helios]], to Apollo's son [[Asclepius]] the healer. About the 4th century BCE, the paean became merely a formula of adulation; its object was either to implore protection against disease and misfortune, or to offer thanks after such protection had been rendered. It was in this way that Apollo had become recognised as the god of music. Apollo's role as the slayer of the [[Python (mythology)|Python]] led to his association with battle and victory; hence it became the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] custom for a paean to be sung by an army on the march and before entering into battle, when a fleet left the harbour, and also after a victory had been won. |
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===Dorian origin=== |
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[[File:Apollo-WaltersArt.jpg|left|thumb|Sculpture depicting Apollo's first triumph, when he slew with his bow and arrows the serpent Python, which lies dead at his feet<ref>{{cite web | publisher=[[The Walters Art Museum]] |
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| url=http://art.thewalters.org/detail/7866 |
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| title=Apollo Victorious over the Python |
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| accessdate=2013-06-21}}</ref> The Walters Art Museum.]] |
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The connection with Dorians and their initiation festival ''[[apella]]i'' is reinforced by the month ''Apellaios'' in northwest Greek calendars,<ref>Graf, ''Apollo'' p. 104-113; Burkert also notes in this context [[Archilochus]] ''Fr.'' 94.</ref> but it can explain only the Doric type of the name, which is connected with the [[Ancient Macedonian language|Ancient Macedonian]] word "pella" ([[Pella]]), ''stone''. Stones played an important part in the cult of the god, especially in the oracular shrine of Delphi ([[Omphalos]]).<ref>Compare: [[Baetylus]]. In Semitic: sacred stone</ref><ref>Martin Nilsson (1967). Vol I. p. 556</ref> The "Homeric hymn" represents Apollo as a Northern intruder. His arrival must have occurred during the "dark ages" that followed the destruction of the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean civilization]], and his conflict with [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] (Mother Earth) was represented by the legend of his slaying her daughter the serpent [[Python (mythology)|Python]].<ref>Herbert W. Park (1956). ''The delphic oracle''. Vol.I, p.3</ref> |
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The earth deity had power over the ghostly world, and it is believed that she was the deity behind the oracle.<ref>Lewis Farnel(1909)''The cult of the city states. Clarendon Press. VIII pp.8-10''</ref> The older tales mentioned two dragons who were perhaps intentionally conflated. A female dragon named [[Delphyne]] (δελφύς: womb), who is obviously connected with Delphi and ''Apollo Delphinios'', and a male serpent [[Typhon]] (τύφειν: to smoke), the adversary of [[Zeus]] in the [[Titanomachy]], who the narrators confused with [[Python (mythology)|Python]].<ref>"Many pictures show the serpent Python living in amity with Apollo and guarding the Omphalos. Karl Kerenyi (1951). ed. 1980: ''The gods of the Greeks'' pp.36-37</ref><ref>"In a Pompeian fresco Python is lying peacefully on the ground and the priests with the sacred double axe in their hand bring the bull (''bouphronion''). Jane. H. Harisson (1912): ''Themis. A study of the social origins of the Greek religion''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 423-424</ref> Python was the good daemon (ἀγαθός δαίμων) of the temple as it appears in [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] religion,<ref>In Minoan religion the serpent is the protector of the household (underground stored corn). Also in Greek religion, "snake of the house" (οικουρός όφις) in the temple of [[Athena]] at Acropolis, etc., and in Greek folklore. Martin Nilsson Vol.I pp.213-214</ref> but she was represented as a dragon, as often happens in Northern European folklore as well as in the East.<ref>Nordig sagas. [[Hittites|Hittite]] myth of [[Illuyankas]]. Also in the Bible: [[Leviathan]]. W.Porzig (1930).'' Illuyankas and Typhon. Kleinasiatische Forschung'' pp. 379-386</ref> |
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Apollo and his sister [[Artemis]] can bring death with their arrows. The conception that diseases and death come from invisible shots sent by supernatural beings, or magicians is common in [[Germanic mythology|Germanic]] and [[Norse mythology|Norse]] mythology.<ref name="Martin Nilsson 1967 p.541"/> In [[Greek mythology]] Artemis was the leader (ἡγεμών: hegemon) of the [[nymphs]], who had similar functions with the [[Norse mythology|Nordic]] [[Elf|Elves]].<ref name="Nilsson499">. Martin Nilsson (1967), Vol I, pp. 499-500</ref> The "elf-shot" originally indicated disease or death attributed to the elves, but it was later attested denoting [[arrow (weapon)|arrow]]-heads which were used by witches to harm people, and also for healing rituals.<ref>Hall, Alaric. 2005. 'Getting Shot of Elves: Healing, Witchcraft and Fairies in the Scottish Witchcraft Trials', [http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/app/home/journal.asp?wasp=e3d05mvqtg0qujqugt33&referrer=parent&backto=linkingpublicationresults,1:104708,1 ''Folklore'']{{dead link|date=March 2013}}, 116 (2005), 19-36.</ref> |
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The [[Vedic]] Rudra has some similar functions with Apollo. The terrible god is called "The Archer", and the bow is also an attribute of [[Shiva]].<ref>For {{IAST|Śarva}} as a name of Shiva see: Apte, p. 910.</ref> Rudra could bring diseases with his arrows, but he was able to free people of them, and his alternative Shiba, is a healer physician god.<ref>For association between Rudra and disease, with Rigvedic references, see: Bhandarkar, p. 146.</ref> However the [[Indo-European language|Indo-European]] component of Apollo, does not explain his strong relation with omens, exorcisms, and with the oracular cult. |
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===Minoan origin=== |
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[[File:AMI - Goldene Doppelaxt.jpg|thumb|250px|Ornamented golden [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] [[labrys]]]] |
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It seems an oracular cult existed in Delphi from the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] ages.<ref>''[[Odyssey]]'' 8.80</ref> In historical times, the priests of Delphi were called [[labrys|Labryaden]], "the double-axe men", which indicates [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] origin. The double-axe (λάβρυς:[[labrys]]) was the holy symbol of the [[Crete|Cretan]] [[labyrinth]].<ref>Huxley (1975).''Cretan Paewones. Roman and Byzantine studies'' pp.129-134</ref><ref>H.G.Wunderlich. ''The secret of Creta'' Souvenir Press Ltd. London p. 319</ref> The Homeric hymn adds that Apollo appeared as a dolphin and carried Cretan priests to Delphi, where they evidently transferred their religious practices. ''Apollo Delphinios'' was a sea-god especially worshiped in Crete and in the islands, and his name indicates his connection with Delphi<ref>Martin Nilsson (1967). Vol I p. 529</ref> and the holy serpent [[Delphyne]] (womb). Apollo's sister [[Artemis]], who was the Greek goddess of hunting, is identified with [[Britomartis]] ([[Diktynna]]), the [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] "Mistress of the animals". In her earliest depictions she is accompanied by the "Mister of the animals", a male god of hunting who had the bow as his attribute. We don't know his original name, but it seems that he was absorbed by the more powerful Apollo, who stood by the "Mistress of the animals", becoming her brother.<ref name=Nilsson499/> |
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The old oracles in Delphi seem to be connected with a local tradition of the priesthood, and there is not clear evidence that a kind of inspiration-prophecy existed in the temple. This led some scholars to the conclusion that Pythia carried on the rituals in a consistent procedure through many centuries, according to the local tradition. In that regard, the mythical seeress [[Sibyl]] of [[Anatolia]]n origin, with her ecstatic art, looks unrelated to the oracle itself.<ref>Hugh Bowden (2005). ''Classical Athens and the Delphic oracle'' pp. 17-18</ref> However, the Greek tradition is referring to the existence of vapours and chewing of laurel-leaves, which seem to be confirmed by recent studies.<ref>{{cite book| author = William J. Broad| title = The oracle: the lost secrets and hidden message of ancient Delphi| year = 2006| publisher = Penguin Group USA| isbn = 1-59420-081-5| page = 32 }}</ref> |
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[[Plato]] describes the priestesses of Delphi and [[Dodona]] as frenzied women, obsessed by "mania" (μανία:frenzy), a Greek word connected with "mantis" (μάντις:prophet). Frenzied women like Sibyls from whose lips the god speaks are recorded in the [[Near East]] as [[Mari, Syria|Mari]] in the second millennium BC.<ref>Walter Burkert (1985).''The Greek religion''.p.116</ref> Although Crete had contacts with Mari from 2000 BC,<ref>F.Schachermeyer (1964).p.128</ref> there is no evidence that the ecstatic prophetic art existed during the Minoan and Mycenean ages. It is more probable that this art was introduced later from [[Anatolia]] and regenerated an existing oracular cult that was local to Delphi and dormant in several areas of Greece.<ref>Martin Nilsson (1967). Vol I, pp. 543-545</ref> |
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===Anatolian origin=== |
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[[File:Coin of Apollo Agyieus.png|thumb|250px|Illustration of a coin of Apollo Agyieus from [[Ambracia]]]] |
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A non-Greek origin of Apollo has long been assumed in scholarship.<ref name="DDD"/> The name of Apollo's mother [[Leto]] has [[Lydia]]n origin, and she was worshipped on the coasts of [[Asia Minor]]. The inspiration oracular cult was probably introduced into Greece from [[Anatolia]], which is the origin of [[Sibyl]], and where existed some of the oldest oracular shrines. Omens, symbols, purifications, and exorcisms appear in old [[Assyria|Assyro]]-[[Babylon]]ian texts, and these rituals were spread into the empire of the [[Hittites]]. In a Hittite text is mentioned that the king invited a Babylonian priestess for a certain "purification".<ref name=Nilsson563/> |
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A similar story is mentioned by [[Plutarch]]. He writes that the [[Creta]]n- [[prophet|seer]] [[Epimenides]], purified [[Athens]] after the pollution brought by the [[Alcmeonidae]], and that the seer's expertise in [[sacrifice]]s and reform of funeral practices were of great help to [[Solon]] in his reform of the Athenian state.<ref>Plutarch, ''Life of Solon'', 12; [[Aristotle]], ''[[Constitution of the Athenians#Aristotle|Ath. Pol]]''. 1</ref> The story indicates that Epimenides was probably heir to the shamanic religions of Asia, and proves together with the [[Homeric]] hymn, that Crete had a resisting religion up to the historical times. It seems that these rituals were dormant in Greece, and they were reinforced when the Greeks migrated to [[Anatolia]]. |
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[[Homer]] pictures Apollo on the side of the [[Troy|Trojans]], fighting against the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans]], during the [[Trojan War]]. He is pictured as a terrible god, less trusted by the Greeks than other gods. The god seems to be related to ''Appaliunas'', a tutelary god of [[Wilusa]] ([[Troy]]) in Asia Minor, but the word is not complete.<ref>[[Paul Kretschmer]] (1936). Glotta XXIV p. 250. Martin Nilsson (1967). Vol I p. 559</ref> The stones found in front of the gates of [[Homer]]ic Troy were the symbols of Apollo. The Greeks gave to him the name αγυιεύς [[agyieus]] as the protector god of public places and houses who wards off evil, and his symbol was a tapered stone or column.<ref>Martin Nilsson, ''Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion.'' vol. I (C.H. Beck) 1955:563f.</ref> However, while usually Greek festivals were celebrated at the [[full moon]], all the feasts of Apollo were celebrated at the seventh day of the month, and the emphasis given to that day (''sibutu'') indicates a [[Babylonian]] origin.<ref>Martin Nilsson (1967). Vol I, p. 561</ref> |
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The [[Late Bronze Age]] (from 1700 to 1200 BCE) [[Hittites|Hittite]] and [[Hurrian]] ''Aplu'' was a god of [[Plague (disease)|plague]], invoked during plague years. Here we have an [[apotrope|apotropaic]] situation, where a god originally bringing the plague was invoked to end it. Aplu, meaning ''the son of'', was a title given to the god [[Nergal]], who was linked to the [[Babylonian]] god of the sun [[Shamash]].<ref name=Grummond /> Homer interprets Apollo as a terrible god (δεινός θεός) who brings death and disease with his arrows, but who can also heal, possessing a magic art that separates him from the other Greek gods.<ref>Martin Nilsson (1967). Vol I. pp. 559-560</ref> In ''[[Iliad]]'', his priest prays to ''Apollo Smintheus'',<ref>"You Apollo Smintheus, let my tears become your arrows against the Danaans, for revenge".[[Ilias]] 1.33 (A 33)</ref> the mouse god who retains an older agricultural function as the protector from field rats.<ref>An ancient aetiological myth connects "sminthos" with mouse and suggests Cretan origin. Apollo is the mouse-god. (Strabo 13.1.48)[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=sminqeus&la#lexicon Σμινθεύς]</ref><ref>"Sminthia" in several areas of Greece. In [[Rhodes]] (Lindos) they belong to Apollo and Dionysos who have destroyed the rats that were swallowing the grapes". Martin Nilsson (1967). pp. 534-535</ref> All these functions, including the function of the healer-god [[Paean (god)|Paean]], who seems to have Mycenean origin, are fused in the cult of Apollo. |
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==Oracular cult== |
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[[File:Columns of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece.jpeg|thumb|250px|Columns of the [[Temple of Apollo (Delphi)|Temple of Apollo]] at Delphi, Greece]] |
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Unusually among the Olympic deities, Apollo had two cult sites that had widespread influence: [[Delos]] and [[Delphi]]. In cult practice, [[Delos|Delian Apollo]] and [[Pythian Apollo]] (the Apollo of Delphi) were so distinct that they might both have shrines in the same locality.<ref>Burkert 1985:143.</ref> Apollo's [[Cult (religion)|cult]] was already fully established when written sources commenced, about 650 BCE. Apollo became extremely important to the Greek world as an oracular deity in the [[Archaic Greece|archaic period]], and the frequency of [[theophoric names]] such as ''Apollodorus'' or ''Apollonios'' and cities named ''Apollonia'' testify to his popularity. Oracular sanctuaries to Apollo were established in other sites. In the 2nd and 3rd century CE, those at [[Didyma]] and [[Clarus]] pronounced the so-called "theological oracles", in which Apollo confirms that all deities are aspects or servants of an [[Monism#Monism, pantheism, and panentheism|all-encompassing, highest deity]]. "In the 3rd century, Apollo fell silent. [[Julian the Apostate]] (359 - 61) tried to revive the Delphic oracle, but failed."<ref name="DDD"/> |
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===Oracular shrines=== |
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[[File:Delos lions.jpg|thumb|250px|Delos lions]] |
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Apollo had a famous [[oracle]] in Delphi, and other notable ones in [[Clarus]] and [[Branchidae]]. His oracular shrine in [[Abae]] in [[Phocis]], where he bore the [[toponym]]ic epithet ''[[Abaeus]]'' ({{lang|grc|Ἀπόλλων Ἀβαῖος}}, ''Apollon Abaios'') was important enough to be consulted by [[Croesus]].<ref>[[Herodotus]], 1.46</ref> |
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His oracular shrines include: |
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* [[Abae]] in [[Phocis]] |
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* [[Bassae]] in the [[Peloponnese]] |
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* At [[Clarus]], on the west coast of [[Asia Minor]]; as at Delphi a holy spring which gave off a ''pneuma'', from which the priests drank. |
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* In [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]], the Oracle of Corinth came from the town of [[Tenea]], from prisoners supposedly taken in the Trojan War. |
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* At [[Khyrse]], in [[Troad]], the temple was built for Apollo Smintheus |
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* In [[Delos]], there was an oracle to the Delian Apollo, during summer. The Hieron (Sanctuary) of Apollo adjacent to the Sacred Lake, was the place where the god was said to have been born. |
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* In [[Delphi]], the [[Pythia]] became filled with the ''[[pneuma]]'' of Apollo, said to come from a spring inside the [[Adyton]]. |
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* In [[Didyma]], an oracle on the coast of [[Anatolia]], south west of [[Lydia]]n ([[Luwian]]) [[Sardis]], in which priests from the lineage of the Branchidae received inspiration by drinking from a healing spring located in the temple. Was believed to have been founded by [[Branchus]], son or lover of Apollo. |
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* In [[Manbij|Hierapolis Bambyce]], Syria (modern Manbij), according to the treatise ''[[De Dea Syria]]'', the sanctuary of the [[Atargatis|Syrian Goddess]] contained a robed and bearded image of Apollo. Divination was based on spontaneous movements of this image.<ref>[[Lucian]] (attrib.), ''[[De Dea Syria]]'' [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/tsg/tsg07.htm#35 35–37].</ref> |
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* At [[Patara (Lycia)|Patara]], in [[Lycia]], there was a seasonal winter oracle of Apollo, said to have been the place where the god went from Delos. As at Delphi the oracle at Patara was a woman. |
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* In [[Segesta]] in Sicily |
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Oracles were also given by sons of Apollo. |
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* In [[Oropus]], north of [[Athens]], the oracle [[Amphiaraus]], was said to be the son of Apollo; Oropus also had a sacred spring. |
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* in Labadea, {{convert|20|mi|km}} east of Delphi, [[Trophonius]], another son of Apollo, killed his brother and fled to the cave where he was also afterwards consulted as an oracle |
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==Mythology== |
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===Birth=== |
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[[File:Apollo Artemis Brygos Louvre G151.jpg|thumb|250px|Apollo (left) and [[Artemis]]. [[Brygos]] (potter signed), tondo of an Attic red-figure cup c. 470 BC, [[Musée du Louvre]].]] |
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When Zeus' wife [[Hera]] discovered that Leto was pregnant and that Zeus was the father, she banned [[Leto]] from giving birth on "terra firma". In her wanderings, Leto found the newly created floating island of Delos, which was neither mainland nor a real island. She gave birth there and was accepted by the people, offering them her promise that her son would be always favourable toward the city. Afterwards, Zeus secured Delos to the bottom of the ocean. This island later became sacred to Apollo. |
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It is also stated that Hera kidnapped [[Eileithyia]], the goddess of childbirth, to prevent Leto from going into labor. The other gods tricked Hera into letting her go by offering her a necklace, nine yards (8 m) long, of amber. Mythographers agree that [[Artemis]] was born first and then assisted with the birth of Apollo, or that Artemis was born one day before Apollo, on the island of [[Ortygia]] and that she helped Leto cross the sea to Delos the next day to give birth to Apollo. Apollo was born on the seventh day ({{lang|grc|ἑβδομαγενής}})<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3De%28bdomagenh%2Fs ἑβδομαγενής], |
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Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus</ref> of the month Thargelion —according to Delian tradition—or of the month Bysios—according to Delphian tradition. The seventh and twentieth, the days of the new and full moon, were ever afterwards held sacred to him. |
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===Youth=== |
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Four days after his birth, Apollo killed the [[chthonic]] dragon [[Python (mythology)|Python]], which lived in [[Delphi]] beside the [[Castalian Spring]]. This was the spring which emitted vapors that caused the oracle at Delphi to give her prophecies. Hera sent the serpent to hunt Leto to her death across the world. To protect his mother, Apollo begged [[Hephaestus]] for a bow and arrows. After receiving them, Apollo cornered Python in the sacred cave at Delphi.<ref>''Children of the Gods'' by Kenneth McLeish, page 32.</ref> Apollo killed Python but had to be punished for it, since Python was a child of [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]]. |
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Hera then sent the giant [[Tityos]] to kill Leto. This time Apollo was aided by his sister Artemis in protecting their mother. During the battle Zeus finally relented his aid and hurled Tityos down to [[Tartarus]]. There he was pegged to the rock floor, covering an area of {{convert|9|acre|m2}}, where a pair of [[vulture]]s feasted daily on his liver. |
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===Trojan War=== |
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Apollo shot arrows infected with the plague into the Greek encampment during the [[Trojan War]] in retribution for [[Agamemnon]]'s insult to [[Chryses]], a priest of Apollo whose daughter [[Chryseis]] had been captured. He demanded her return, and the Achaeans complied, indirectly causing the anger of Achilles, which is the theme of the ''[[Iliad]]''. |
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In the ''[[Iliad]]'', when [[Diomedes]] injured [[Aeneas]], Apollo rescued him. First, [[Aphrodite]] tried to rescue Aeneas but Diomedes injured her as well. Aeneas was then enveloped in a cloud by Apollo, who took him to Pergamos, a sacred spot in [[Troy]]. |
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Apollo aided [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]] in the killing of [[Achilles]] by guiding the arrow of his bow into [[Achilles]]' heel. One interpretation of his motive is that it was in revenge for Achilles' sacrilege in murdering [[Troilus]], the god's own son by [[Hecuba]], on the very altar of the god's own temple. |
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===Admetus=== |
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When Zeus struck down Apollo's son Asclepius with a lightning bolt for resurrecting [[Hippolytus (mythology)|Hippolytus]] from the dead (transgressing [[Themis]] by stealing [[Hades]]'s subjects), Apollo in revenge killed the [[Cyclops|Cyclopes]], who had fashioned the bolt for Zeus.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliothke]]'' iii. 10.4.</ref> Apollo would have been banished to [[Tartarus]] forever for this, but was instead sentenced to one year of [[Penal labour|hard labor]], due to the intercession of his mother, [[Leto]]. During this time he served as shepherd for [[Admetus|King Admetus]] of [[Pherae]] in [[Thessaly]]. Admetus treated Apollo well, and, in return, the god conferred great benefits on Admetus. |
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Apollo helped Admetus win [[Alcestis]], the daughter of [[Pelias|King Pelias]] and later convinced the [[Moirai|Fates]] to let Admetus live past his time, if another took his place. But when it came time for Admetus to die, his parents, whom he had assumed would gladly die for him, refused to cooperate. Instead, Alcestis took his place, but [[Heracles]] managed to "''[[Coercion|persuade]]''" [[Thanatos]], the god of death, to return her to the world of the living. |
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[[File:Niobe JacquesLouisDavid 1772 Dallas Museum of Art.jpg|thumb|250px|''Artemis and Apollo Piercing Niobe's Children with their Arrows'' by [[Jacques-Louis David]], [[Dallas Museum of Art]]]] |
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===Niobe=== |
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[[Niobe]], the queen of [[Thebes (Greece)|Thebes]] and wife of [[Amphion]], boasted of her superiority to Leto because she had fourteen children ([[Niobids]]), seven male and seven female, while Leto had only two. Apollo killed her sons, and Artemis her daughters. Apollo and Artemis used poisoned arrows to kill them, though according to some versions of the myth, a number of the Niobids were spared ([[Chloris]], usually). Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, either killed himself or was killed by Apollo after swearing revenge. |
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A devastated Niobe fled to [[Spil Mount|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. |
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===Consorts and children=== |
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Love affairs ascribed to Apollo are a late development in Greek mythology.<ref>"The love-stories themselves were not told until later." [[Karl Kerenyi]], ''The Gods of the Greeks'' 1951:140.</ref> 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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====Female lovers==== |
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{{Main|Apollo and Daphne}} |
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[[File:ApolloAndDaphne.JPG|thumb|250px|[[Apollo and Daphne]] by [[Bernini]] in the [[Galleria Borghese]]]] |
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[[Daphne]] was a [[nymph]], daughter of the [[Sea and river deity|river god]] [[Peneus]], who had scorned Apollo. The myth explains the connection of Apollo with δάφνη (''daphnē''), the [[Bay Laurel|laurel]] whose leaves his priestess employed at [[Delphi]].<ref>The ancient Daphne episode is noted in late narratives, notably in [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', in [[Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'', 203 and by the fourth-century-CE teacher of rhetoric and Christian convert, [[Libanius]], in ''Narrationes''.</ref> In [[Ovid]]'s [[Metamorphoses]], Phoebus Apollo chaffs Cupid for toying with a weapon more suited to a man, whereupon Cupid wounds him with a golden dart; simultaneously, however, Cupid shoots a leaden arrow into Daphne, causing her to be repulsed by Apollo. Following a spirited chase by Apollo, Daphne prays to her father, Peneus, for help, and he changes her into the laurel tree, sacred to Apollo. |
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''Artemis Daphnaia'', who had her temple among the Lacedemonians, at a place called Hypsoi<ref>G. Shipley, "The Extent of Spartan Territory in the Late Classical and Hellenistic Periods", ''The Annual of the British School at Athens'', 2000.</ref> in Antiquity, on the slopes of Mount Cnacadion near the Spartan frontier,<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], 3.24.8 ([http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias3B.html on-line text]); Lilius Gregorius Gyraldus , ''Historiae Deorum Gentilium'', Basel, 1548, Syntagma 10, is noted in this connection in [http://www.textlog.de/40739.html Benjamin Hederich, ''Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon'', 1770]</ref> had her own sacred laurel trees.<ref>[[Karl Kerenyi]], ''The Gods of the Greeks'', 1951:141</ref> At [[Eretria]] the identity of an excavated 7th- and 6th-century temple to ''Apollo Daphnephoros'', "Apollo, laurel-bearer", or "carrying off Daphne", a "place where the citizens are to take the oath", is identified in inscriptions.<ref>Rufus B. Richardson, "A Temple in Eretria" ''The American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts'', '''10'''.3 (July - September 1895:326-337); Paul Auberson, ''Eretria. Fouilles et Recherches I, Temple d'Apollon Daphnéphoros, Architecture'' (Bern, 1968). See also [[Plutarch]], ''Pythian Oracle'', 16.</ref> |
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[[Leucothea]] was daughter of [[Orchamus]] and sister of [[Clytia]]. She fell in love with Apollo who disguised himself as Leucothea's mother to gain entrance to her chambers. Clytia, jealous of her sister because she wanted Apollo for herself, told Orchamus the truth, betraying her sister's trust and confidence in her. Enraged, Orchamus ordered Leucothea to be buried alive. Apollo refused to forgive Clytia for betraying his beloved, and a grieving Clytia wilted and slowly died. Apollo changed her into an incense plant, either heliotrope or sunflower, which follows the sun every day. |
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[[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. |
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[[Castalia]] was a [[nymph]] whom Apollo loved. She fled from him and dove into the [[castalian Spring|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. In the last [[oracle]] is mentioned that the "water which could speak", has been lost for ever. |
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By [[Cyrene (mythology)|Cyrene]], Apollo had a son named [[Aristaeus]], who became the patron god of cattle, [[fruit trees]], hunting, husbandry and [[bee-keeping]]. He was also a [[culture-hero]] and taught humanity dairy skills, the use of nets and traps in hunting, and how to cultivate olives. |
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[[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]]. |
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[[Cassandra]], was daughter of Hecuba and Priam, and Troilus' half-sister. Apollo fell in love with Cassandra and promised her the gift of prophecy to seduce her, but she rejected him afterwards. Enraged, Apollo indeed gifted her with the ability to know the future, with a curse that she could only see the future tragedies and that no one would ever believe her. |
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[[Coronis (Greek mythology)|Coronis]], was daughter of [[Phlegyas]], King of the [[Lapiths]]. Pregnant with [[Asclepius]], Coronis fell in love with [[Ischys]], son of [[Elatus]]. A crow informed Apollo of the affair. When first informed he disbelieved the crow and turned all crows black (where they were previously white) as a punishment for spreading untruths. When he found out the truth he sent his sister, Artemis, to kill Coronis (in other stories, Apollo himself had killed Coronis). As a result he also made the crow sacred and gave them the task of announcing important deaths. Apollo rescued the baby and gave it to the [[centaur]] [[Chiron]] to raise. Phlegyas was irate after the death of his daughter and burned the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Apollo then killed him for what he did. |
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In [[Euripides]]' play ''[[Ion (play)|Ion]]'', Apollo fathered [[Ion (mythology)|Ion]] by [[Creusa]], wife of [[Xuthus]]. Creusa left Ion to die in the wild, but Apollo asked [[Hermes]] to save the child and bring him to the oracle at [[Delphi]], where he was raised by a priestess. |
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[[Acantha]], was the spirit of the [[Acanthus (genus)|acanthus]] tree, and Apollo had one of his other liaisons with her. Upon her death, Apollo transformed her into a sun-loving herb. |
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According to the ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Biblioteca]]'', the "library" of mythology mis-attributed to Apollodorus, he fathered the [[Corybantes]] on the Muse [[Thalia (muse)|Thalia]].<ref>Apollodorus, [http://www.theoi.com/Text/Apollodorus1.html ''Bibliotheca'', 1.3.4]. Other ancient sources, however, gave the Corybantes different parents; see [[James George Frazer|Sir James Frazer]]'s [http://www.theoi.com/Text/Ap1a.html#46 note] on the passage in the ''Bibliotheca''.</ref> |
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====Consorts and children: extended list==== |
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<div style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;"> |
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# [[Acacallis (mythology)|Acacallis]] |
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## Amphithemis (Garamas)<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''Argonautica'', 1491 ff</ref> |
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## Naxos, [[eponym]] of the island [[Naxos (island)|Naxos]]<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''Argonautica'', 1491 ff</ref> |
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## Phylacides |
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## Phylander<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'', 10. 16. 5</ref> |
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# [[Acantha]] |
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# [[Aethusa]] |
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## [[Eleuther]] |
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# [[Aganippe]] |
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## Chios<ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''On Rivers'', 7. 1</ref> |
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# Alciope<ref>[[Photius]], ''Lexicon'' s. v. Linos</ref> |
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## Linus (possibly) |
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# [[Amphissa (mythology)|Amphissa / Isse]], daughter of Macareus |
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# Anchiale / [[Acacallis (mythology)|Acacallis]] |
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## Oaxes<ref>[[Servius]] on [[Virgil]]'s Eclogue 1, 65</ref> |
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# Areia, daughter of Cleochus / [[Acacallis (mythology)|Acacallis]] / Deione |
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## [[Miletus (mythology)|Miletus]] |
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# Astycome, nymph |
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## Eumolpus (possibly)<ref>[[Photius]], ''Lexicon'', s. v. ''Eumolpidai''</ref> |
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# Arsinoe, daughter of [[Leucippus]] |
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## [[Asclepius]] (possibly) |
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## [[Eriopis]] |
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# Babylo |
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## Arabus<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Naturalis Historia]]'', 7. 56 - 57 p. 196</ref> |
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# [[Bolina]] |
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# [[Calliope]], Muse |
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## [[Orpheus]] (possibly) |
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## [[Linus (mythology)|Linus]] (possibly) |
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## [[Ialemus]] |
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# [[Cassandra]] |
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# [[Castalia]] |
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# [[Celaeno]], daughter of Hyamus / [[Melaina]] / [[Thyia]] |
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## [[Delphus]] |
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# [[Chione (daughter of Daedalion)|Chione]] / Philonis / [[Leuconoe]] |
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## [[Philammon]] |
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# Chrysorthe |
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## [[Coronus (Greek mythology)|Coronus]] |
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# Chrysothemis |
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## [[Parthenos (mythology)|Parthenos]] |
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# [[Coronis (mythology)|Coronis]] |
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## [[Asclepius]] |
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# [[Corycia|Coryceia]] |
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## [[Lycorus]] (Lycoreus) |
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# [[Creusa]] |
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## [[Ion (mythology)|Ion]] |
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# [[Cyrene (mythology)|Cyrene]] |
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## [[Aristaeus]] |
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## [[Idmon]] (possibly) |
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## Autuchus<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''Argonautica'', 2. 498</ref> |
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# Danais, Cretan nymph |
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## The [[Korybantes|Curetes]]<ref>[[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 77</ref> |
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# [[Daphne]] |
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# Dia, daughter of [[Lycaon (Arcadia)|Lycaon]] |
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## Dryops |
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# [[Dryope]] |
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## Amphissus |
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# Euboea (daughter of Macareus of [[Locris]]) |
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## [[Agreus]] |
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# [[Evadne]], daughter of Poseidon |
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## [[Iamus]] |
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# [[Gryne]] |
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# [[Hecate]] |
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## [[Scylla]] (possibly)<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''Argonautica'' 4.828, referring to "[[Hesiod]]", ''[[Megalai Ehoiai]]'' fr.</ref> |
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# [[Hecuba]] |
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## [[Troilus]] |
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## [[Hector]] (possibly)<ref>[[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 266</ref> |
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# [[Hestia]] (wooed her unsuccessfully) |
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# [[Hypermnestra#Daughter of Thestius and Eurythemis|Hypermnestra]], wife of [[Oicles]] |
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## [[Amphiaraus]] (possibly) |
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# Hypsipyle<ref>[[Arnobius]], ''Adversus Nationes'', 4. 26; not the same as [[Hypsipyle]] of [[Lemnos]]</ref> |
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# Hyria (Thyria) |
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## [[Cycnus#Son of Apollo|Cycnus]] |
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# Lycia, nymph or daughter of Xanthus |
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## Eicadius<ref>[[Servius]] on ''[[Aeneid]]'', 3. 332</ref> |
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## Patarus<ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]] s. v. ''Patara''</ref> |
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# [[Manto (mythology)|Manto]] |
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## [[Mopsus]] |
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# [[Marpessa]] |
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# [[Meliae|Melia]] |
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## Ismenus<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'', 9. 10. 5</ref> |
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## Tenerus<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'', 9. 26. 1</ref> |
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# [[Ocyrhoe]] |
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# [[Othreis]] |
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## Phager |
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# Parnethia, nymph |
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## Cynnes<ref>[[Photius]], Lexicon, s. v. ''Kynneios''</ref> |
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# Parthenope |
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## [[Lycomedes]] |
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# Phthia |
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## Dorus |
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## [[Laodocus]] |
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## [[Polypoetes]] |
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# Prothoe<ref>[[Arnobius]], ''Adversus Nationes'', 4. 26</ref> |
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# [[Procleia]] |
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## [[Tenes]] (possibly) |
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# [[Psamathe]] |
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## Linus, not the same as the singer Linus |
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# [[Rhoeo]] |
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## [[Anius]] |
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# Rhodoessa, nymph |
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## Ceos, eponym of the island [[Ceos]]<ref>''[[Etymologicum Magnum]]'' 507, 54, under ''Keios''</ref> |
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# Rhodope |
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## Cicon, eponym of the tribe [[Cicones]]<ref>''[[Etymologicum Magnum]]'' 513, 37, under ''Kikones''</ref> |
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# [[Sinope (mythology)|Sinope]] |
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## [[Syrus]] |
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# [[Stilbe]] |
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## Centaurus |
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## [[Lapithes (hero)|Lapithes]] |
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## Aineus |
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# Syllis / Hyllis |
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## [[Zeuxippus (mythology)|Zeuxippus]] |
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# [[Thaleia]], Muse / Rhetia, nymph |
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## The [[Corybantes]] |
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# Themisto, daughter of Zabius of [[Hyperborea]]<ref>Stephanus of Byzantium, s. v. ''Galeōtai''</ref> |
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## Galeotes |
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## Telmessus (?) |
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# [[Thero (Greek mythology)|Thero]] |
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## Chaeron |
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# [[Urania]], Muse |
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## Linus (possibly) |
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# Urea, daughter of Poseidon |
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## Ileus ([[Oileus]]?) |
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# Wife of [[Erginus]] |
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## [[Trophonius]] (possibly) |
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# Unknown consorts |
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## [[Acraepheus]], eponym of the city Acraephia<ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], s. v. ''Akraiphia''</ref> |
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## [[Chariclo]] (possibly)<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Pindar]], Pythian Ode 4. 181</ref> |
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## [[Erymanthus (person)|Erymanthus]] |
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## Marathus, eponym of [[Marathon]]<ref>[[Suda]] s. v. Marathōn</ref> |
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## Megarus<ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]] s. v ''Megara''</ref> |
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## [[Melaneus]] |
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## [[Oncius]]<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'', 8. 25. 4</ref><ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]] s. v. ''Ogkeion''</ref> |
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## [[Phemonoe]] |
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## Pisus, founder of [[Pisa]] in [[Etruria]]<ref>[[Servius]] on ''Aeneid'', 10. 179</ref> |
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## Younger Muses |
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### [[Cephisso]] |
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### [[Apollonis]] |
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### [[Borysthenis]] |
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</div> |
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====Male lovers==== |
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[[File:Hyacinthus.jpg|thumb|upright|''Apollo and Hyacinthus'', 16th-century Italian engraving by [[Jacopo Caraglio]]]] |
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[[Hyacinth (mythology)|Hyacinth]] or Hyacinthus was one of Apollo's male lovers. He was a [[Sparta]]n prince, beautiful and athletic. The pair was practicing throwing the [[Discus throw|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 [[hyacinth (plant)|flower]] named after him as a memorial to his death, and his tears stained the flower petals with ''άί'' ''άί'', meaning alas. The Festival of Hyacinthus was a celebration of Sparta. |
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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 [[Pilum|javelin]] as it lay asleep in the undergrowth. Cyparissus asked Apollo to let his tears fall forever. Apollo granted the request by turning him into the [[Cupressaceae|Cypress]] named after him, which was said to be a sad tree because the sap forms droplets like tears on the trunk. |
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Other male lovers of Apollo include: |
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* [[Admetus]]<ref>[[Callimachus]], Hymn to Apollo, 49</ref><ref name="Plutarch, Numa" /> |
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* [[Atymnius]],<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'', 11. 258; 19. 181</ref> otherwise known as a beloved of [[Sarpedon]] |
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* [[Branchus]] (alternately, a son of Apollo) |
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* [[Carnus]] |
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* Clarus<ref>[[Philostratus]], ''Letters'', 5. 3</ref> |
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* Hippolytus of [[Sicyon]] (not the same as [[Hippolytus (mythology)|Hippolytus]])<ref name="Plutarch, Numa">[[Plutarch]], ''Life of Numa'', 4. 5</ref> |
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* [[Hymenaios]]<ref>[[Antoninus Liberalis]], ''Metamorphoses'', 23</ref> |
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* [[Iapis]] |
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* Leucates, who threw himself off a rock when Apollo attempted to carry him off<ref>[[Servius]] on ''[[Aeneid]]'', 3. 279</ref> |
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* [[Phorbas]] (probably the son of Triopas)<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Life of Numa'', 4. 5, cf. also [[Hyginus]], ''Poetical Astronomy'', 2. 14</ref> |
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* Potnieus<ref>[[Clement of Rome]], ''Homilia'', 5. 15</ref> |
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===Apollo's lyre=== |
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[[File:Apollo with his lyre.jpg|thumb|upright|Apollo with his [[lyre]]. Statue from [[Pergamon Museum]], Berlin.]] |
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[[Hermes]] was born on [[Mount Kyllini|Mount Cyllene]] in Arcadia. The story is told in the [[Homeric Hymn]] to [[Hermes]]. His mother, [[Maia (mythology)|Maia]], had been secretly impregnated by [[Zeus]]. Maia wrapped the infant in blankets but Hermes escaped while she was asleep. |
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Hermes ran to [[Thessaly]], where Apollo was grazing his cattle. The infant Hermes stole a number of his 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 the first [[lyre]]. |
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Apollo complained to Maia that her son had stolen his cattle, but Hermes had already replaced himself in the blankets she had wrapped him in, so Maia refused to believe Apollo's claim. Zeus intervened and, claiming to have seen the events, sided with Apollo. Hermes then began to play music on the lyre he had invented. Apollo, a god of music, fell in love with the instrument and offered to allow exchange of the cattle for the lyre. Hence, Apollo then became a master of the lyre. |
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===Apollo in the ''Oresteia''=== |
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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, and [[Cassandra]], a prophetess of Apollo. 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]] (Furies, female personifications of [[revenge|vengeance]]). |
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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 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 with Apollo. |
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===Other stories=== |
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Apollo killed the [[Aloadae]] when they attempted to storm [[Mount Olympus (Mountain)|Mt. Olympus]]. |
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[[Callimachus]] sang<ref>Callimachus, ''Hymn to Apollo''2.5</ref> that Apollo rode on the back of a swan to the land of the [[Hyperboreans]] during the winter months. |
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Apollo turned [[Cephissus (mythology)|Cephissus]] into a [[sea monster]]. |
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Another contender for the birthplace of Apollo is the Cretan islands of [[Paximadia (islands)|Paximadia]]. |
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====Musical contests==== |
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=====Pan===== |
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Once [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]] had the audacity to compare his music with that of Apollo, and to challenge Apollo, the god of the [[kithara]], to a trial of skill. [[Tmolus]], the mountain-god, 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. Tmolus at once awarded the victory to Apollo, and all but Midas agreed with the judgment. He dissented, and questioned the justice of the award. Apollo would not suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer, and caused them to become the ears of a [[donkey]]. |
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=====Marsyas===== |
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[[File:IAM 400T - Statue of Marsyas.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Marsyas]] under Apollo's punishment, [[Istanbul Archaeology Museums|İstanbul Archaeology Museum]]]] |
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Apollo has ominous aspects aside from his plague-bringing, death-dealing arrows: [[Marsyas]] was a [[satyr]] who challenged Apollo to a contest of music. He had found an [[aulos]] on the ground, tossed away after being invented by [[Athena]] because it made her cheeks puffy. The contest was judged by the [[Muse]]s. |
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After they each performed, both were deemed equal until Apollo decreed they play and sing at the same time. As Apollo played the [[lyre]], this was easy to do. Marsyas could not do this, as he only knew how to use the flute and could not sing at the same time. Apollo was declared the winner because of this. Apollo [[flaying|flayed]] Marsyas alive in a cave near [[Celaenae]] in [[Phrygia]] for his [[hubris]] to challenge a god. He then nailed Marsyas' shaggy skin to a nearby pine-tree. Marsyas' blood turned into the river [[Marsyas (river)|Marsyas]]. |
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Another variation is that Apollo played his instrument (the lyre) upside down. Marsyas could not do this with his instrument (the [[flute]]), and so Apollo hung him from a tree and flayed him alive.<ref>''Man Myth and Magic'' by Richard Cavendish</ref> |
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=====Cinyras===== |
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Apollo also had a [[lyre]]-playing contest with [[Cinyras]], his son, who committed suicide when he lost. |
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[[File:Apollo Anzio Musei Capitolini MC286.jpg||thumb|upright=.75|left|Head of Apollo, marble, Roman copy of a Greek original of the 4th century BCE, from the collection of [[Cardinal Albani]]]] |
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===Roman Apollo=== |
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The Roman worship of Apollo was adopted from the Greeks. As a quintessentially [[List of Greek mythological figures|Greek god]], Apollo had no direct Roman equivalent, although later Roman poets often referred to him as '''Phoebus'''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theoi.com/Heroine/Koronis.html |title=Koronis |publisher=Theoi |date= |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> There was a tradition that the Delphic oracle was consulted as early as the period of the [[Roman Kingdom|kings of Rome]] during the reign of [[Tarquinius Superbus]].<ref>[[Livy]] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Liv.+1.56 1.56].</ref> |
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On the occasion of a pestilence in the 430s BCE, Apollo's [[Temple of Apollo Sosianus|first temple]] at Rome was established in the Flaminian fields, replacing an older cult site there known as the "Apollinare".<ref>Livy [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0026:book=3:chapter=63 3.63.7], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0145:book=4:chapter=25 4.25.3].</ref> 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.<ref>Livy [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0147:book=25:chapter=12 25.12].</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |author=J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz |title=Continuity and Change in Roman Religion |year=1979 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-814822-4 |pages=82–85 }}</ref> |
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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.<ref>[[Suetonius]], ''[[On the Life of the Caesars#Life of Augustus|Augustus]]'' [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html#18.2 18.2]; [[Cassius Dio]] [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/51*.html#1 51.1.1–3].</ref> He also erected [[Temple of Apollo (Palatine)|a new temple]] to the god on the [[Palatine Hill|Palatine hill]].<ref>Cassius Dio [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/53*.html#1.3 53.1.3].</ref> Sacrifices and prayers on the Palatine to Apollo and [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] formed the culmination of the [[Secular Games]], held in 17 BCE to celebrate the dawn of a new era.<ref>''[[Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae]]'' 5050, translated by {{cite book |author=Mary Beard |authorlink=Mary Beard (classicist) |coauthors=John North and Simon Price |title=Religions of Rome: Volume 2: A Sourcebook |year=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-45015-2|page=5.7b }}</ref> |
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==Festivals== |
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The chief Apollonian festivals were the [[Boedromia]], [[Carneia]], Carpiae, [[Daphnephoria]], [[Delia (festival)|Delia]], [[Hyacinthia]], [[Metageitnia]], [[Pyanepsia]], [[Pythia]] and [[Thargelia]]. |
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==Attributes and symbols== |
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[[File:Ai-Khanoum-gold stater of Antiochos1.jpg|thumb|250px|Gold stater of the [[Seleucid]] king [[Antiochus I Soter]] (reigned 281–261 BCE) showing on the reverse a nude Apollo holding his key attributes: two arrows and a bow]] |
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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 [[laurel wreath|crown of victory]] at these games. |
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The [[palm tree]] was also sacred to Apollo because he had been born under one in [[Delos]]. Animals sacred to Apollo included [[wolf|wolves]], dolphins, [[roe deer]], [[swan]]s, [[cicada]]s (symbolizing music and song), [[hawk]]s, [[raven]]s, [[crow]]s, snakes (referencing Apollo's function as the god of prophecy), mice and [[griffin]]s, mythical eagle–lion hybrids of Eastern origin. |
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[[File:Apolocitaredo8.jpg|thumb|250px||''[[Apollo Citharoedus]]'' ("Apollo with a kithara"), [[Musei Capitolini]], Rome]] |
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As god of colonization, Apollo gave oracular guidance on colonies, especially during the height of colonization, 750–550 BCE. According to Greek tradition, he helped [[Crete|Cretan]] or [[Arcadia]]n colonists found the city of [[Troy]]. However, this story may reflect a cultural influence which had the reverse direction: [[Hittites|Hittite]] [[Cuneiform script|cuneiform]] texts mention a Minor Asian 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 [[Troy|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]]). |
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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]]. |
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Apollo is often associated with the [[Golden mean (philosophy)|Golden Mean]]. This is the Greek [[Ideal (ethics)|ideal]] of [[moderation]] and a [[virtue]] that opposes [[gluttony]]. |
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==Apollo in the arts== |
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[[File:Apollo Saurocton Louvre.jpg|thumb|180px|The Louvre ''Apollo Sauroctonos'', Roman copy after [[Praxiteles]] (360 BC)]] |
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'''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" (άγαλμα: agalma), and the sculptors tried to create forms which would inspire such guiding vision. Greek art puts into '''Apollo''' 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. |
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The naked bodies of the statues are associated with the cult of the body that was essentially a religious activity. 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. The statues of Apollo embody beauty, balance and inspire awe before the beauty of the world. |
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The evolution of the Greek sculpture can be observed in his depictions from the almost static formal [[Kouros]] type in [[Archaic period in Greece|early archaic period]], to the representation of motion in a relative harmonious whole in [[Archaic period in Greece|late archaic period]]. In [[classical Greece]] the emphasis is not given to the illusive imaginative reality represented by the ideal forms, but to the analogies and the interaction of the members in the whole, a method created by [[Polykleitos]]. Finally [[Praxiteles]] seems to be released from any art and religious conformities, and his masterpieces are a mixture of [[Realism (arts)|naturalism]] with stylization. |
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===Art and Greek philosophy=== |
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The evolution of the Greek art seems to go parallel with the Greek philosophical conceptions, which changed from the natural-philosophy of [[Thales]] to the [[Metaphysics|metaphysical]] theory of [[Pythagoras]]. Thales searched for a simple material-form directly perceptible by the senses, behind the appearances of things, and his theory is also related to the older [[animism]]. This was paralleled in sculpture by the absolute representation of vigorous life, through unnaturally simplified forms.<ref name="Homann63">E.Homann-Wedeking.Transl.J.R.Foster (1968). ''Art of the world. Archaic Greece'', Methuen & Co Ltd. London, pp 63-65, 193.</ref> |
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Pythagoras believed that behind the appearance of things, there was the permanent principle of mathematics, and that the forms were based on a transcendental mathematical relation.<ref>C.M. Bowra (1957). ''The Greek experience'', p.166.</ref> The forms on earth, are imperfect imitations ( εικών, ''ikon'' :image) of the celestial world of numbers. His ideas had a great influence on post-Archaic art, and the Greek architects and sculptors were always trying to find the mathematical relation, that would lead to the esthetic perfection.<ref name="Carpenter55">R.Carpenter (1975).''The esthetic basis of Greek art''. Indiana University Press.p.55-58.</ref> ([[Aesthetic canon|canon]]). |
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In classical Greece, [[Anaxagoras]] asserted that a divine reason (mind) gave order to the seeds of the universe, and [[Plato]] extended the Greek belief of ''ideal forms'' to his metaphysical theory of ''forms'' (''ideai'': ideas). The forms on earth are imperfect duplicates of the intellectual celestial ideas. The Greek words "ida" ( οίδα:know) and "idos" (είδος:species) have the same root as the word "idea" (ιδέα),<ref name =Carpenter55/> indicating how the Greek mind moved from the gift of the senses, to the principles beyond the senses. The artists in Plato's time moved away from his theories and art tends to be a mixture of naturalism with stylization. The Greek sculptors considered the senses more important, and the proportions were used to unite the sensible with the intellectual. |
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===Archaic sculpture=== |
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[[File:KAMA Kouros Porte Sacrée.jpg|thumb|180px|left|Sacred Gate Kouros, marble (610–600 BC), [[Kerameikos|Kerameikos Archaeological Museum in Athens]]]] |
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[[Kouros]] (''male youth'') is the modern term given to those representations of standing male youths which first appear in the [[archaic period in Greece]]. This type served certain religious needs and was first proposed for what was previously thought to be depictions of ''Apollo''.<ref>V.I.Leonardos(1895).''Archaelogiki Ephimeris'' Col 75, n 1.</ref><ref>Lechat (1904).''La sculpture Attic avant Phidias'' p.23</ref> The first statues are certainly still and formal. The formality of their stance seems to be related with the [[Egypt]]ian precedent, but it was accepted for a good reason. The sculptors had a clear idea of what a young man is, and embodied the archaic smile of good manners, the firm and springy step, the balance of the body, dignity, and youthful happiness. When they tried to depict the most abiding qualities of men, it was because men had common roots with the unchanging gods. .<ref name="Bowra144">C.M.Bowra (1957). ''The Greek experience'', pp. 144-152</ref> The adoption of a standard recognizable type for a long time, is probably because nature gives preference in survival of a type which has long be adopted by the climatic conditions, and also due to the general Greek belief that nature expresses itself in ''ideal forms'' that can be imagined and represented.<ref name=Carpenter55/> These forms expressed immortality. Apollo was the immortal god of ''ideal balance and order''. His shrine in [[Delphi]], that he shared in winter with Dionysius had the inscriptions: γνῶθι σεαυτόν (gnōthi seautón = "know thyself") and μηδέν άγαν (mēdén ágan = "nothing in excess"), and Ἑγγύα πάρα δ'ἄτη (eggýa pára d'atē = "make a pledge and mischief is nigh"). |
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[[File:WLA metmuseum Marble statue of a kouros youth 2.jpg|thumb|200px|right|New York Kouros, Met. Mus. 32.11.1, marble (620–610 BC), [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]]] |
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In the first large-scale depictions during the early archaic period (640–580 BC), the artists tried to draw one's attention to look into the interior of the face and the body which were not represented as lifeless masses, but as being full of life. The Greeks maintained, until late in their civilization, an almost [[animism|animistic]] idea that the statues are in some sense alive. This embodies the belief that the image was somehow the god or man himself.<ref>C.N.Bowra.''The Greek experience'' p.159</ref> A fine example is the statue of the ''Sacred gate Kouros'' which was found at the cemetery of [[Dipylon]] in Athens ([[Dipylon]] [[Kouros]]). The statue is the "thing in itself", and his slender face with the deep eyes express an intellectual eternity. According to the Greek tradition the [[Dipylon|Dipylon master]] was named [[Daedalus]], and in his statues the limbs were freed from the body, giving the impression that the statues could move. It is considered that he created also the ''New York kouros'', which is the oldest fully preserved statue of ''Kouros'' type, and seems to be the incarnation of the god himself.<ref name=Homann63/> |
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[[File:7262 - Piraeus Arch. Museum, Athens - The Piraeus Apollo - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 14 2009.jpg|thumb|left|180px|[[Piraeus Apollo]], archaic-style bronze, [[Archaeological Museum of Piraeus]]]] |
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The animistic idea as the representation of the imaginative reality, is sanctified in the [[Homeric]] poems and in Greek myths, in stories of the god [[Hephaestus]] ([[Phaistos]]) and the mythic [[Daedalus]] (the builder of the [[labyrinth]]) that made images which moved of their own accord. This kind of art goes back to the [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] period, when its main theme was the representation of motion in a specific moment.<ref name="Schachermeyer242">F.Schachermeyer (1964). ''Die Minoische Kultur des alten Creta'', Kohlhammer Stuttgart, pp. 242-244</ref> These free-standing statues were usually marble, but also the form rendered in limestone, bronze, ivory and terracotta. |
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The earliest examples of life-sized statues of Apollo, may be two figures from the [[Ionians|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.<ref>J.Ducat (1971).''Les Kouroi des Ptoion''</ref> The last stage in the development of the ''Kouros type'' is the late archaic period (520–485 BC), in which the Greek sculpture attained a full knowledge of human anatomy and used to create a relative harmonious whole. Ranking from the very few bronzes survived to us is the masterpiece bronze [[Piraeus Apollo]]. It was found in [[Piraeus]], the harbour of Athens. The statue originally held the bow in its left hand, and a cup of pouring libation in its right hand. It probably comes from north-eastern [[Peloponnesus]]. The emphasis is given in anatomy, and it is one of the first attempts to represent a kind of motion, and beauty relative to proportions, which appear mostly in post-Archaic art. The statue throws some light on an artistic centre which, with an independently developed harder, simpler, and heavier style, restricts [[Ionia]]n influence in Athens. Finally, this is the germ from which the art of [[Polykleitos]] was to grow two or three generations later.<ref name="Homann144">Homann-Wedeking (1966). ''Art of the World. Archaic Greece'' pp. 144-150</ref> |
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===Classical Sculpture=== |
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[[File:Apollon de Mantoue Louvre MA689.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Apollo of the "Mantoua type", marble Roman copy after a 5th-century-BC Greek original attributed to [[Polykleitos]], Musée du Louvre]] |
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In the next century which is the beginning of the [[Classical Greece|Classical period]], it was considered that beauty in visible things as in everything else, consisted of symmetry and proportions. The artists tried also to represent motion in a specific moment ([[Myron]]), which may be considered as the reappearance of the dormant [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] element.<ref name=Schachermeyer242/> Anatomy and geometry are fused in one, and each does something to the other. The Greek sculptors tried to clarify it by looking for mathematical proportions, just as they sought some reality behind appearances. [[Polykleitos]] in his ''Canon'' wrote that beauty consists in the proportion not of the elements (materials), but of the parts, that is the interrelation of parts with one another and with the whole. It seems that he was influenced by the theories of [[Pythagoras]].<ref>"Each part (finger, palm, arm, etc) transmitted its individual existence to the next, and then to the whole. " : ''Canon of [[Polykleitos]]'', also [[Plotinus]], ''Ennead'' I vi. i : Nigel Spivey (1997). ''Greek art'', Phaidon Press Ltd. London pp. 290-294</ref> |
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The famous ''Apollo of Mantua'' and its variants are early forms of the [[Apollo Citharoedus]] statue type, in which the god holds the [[cithara]] in his left arm. The type is represented by [[neo-Attic]] Imperial Roman copies of the late 1st or early 2nd century, modelled upon a supposed Greek bronze original made in the second quarter of the 5th century BCE, in a style similar to works of [[Polykleitos]] but more archaic. The Apollo held the ''cythara'' against his extended left arm, of which in the Louvre example, a fragment of one twisting scrolling horn upright remains against his biceps. |
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Though the proportions were always important in Greek art, the appeal of the Greek sculptures eludes any explanation by proportion alone. The statues of Apollo were thought to incarnate his living presence, and these representations of illusive imaginative reality had deep roots in the [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] period, and in the beliefs of the first [[Greek language|Greek]] speaking people who entered the region during the bronze-age. Just as the Greeks saw the mountains, forests, sea and rivers as inhabited by concrete beings, so nature in all of its manifestations possesses clear form, and the form of a work of art. Spiritual life is incorporated in matter, when it is given artistic form. Just as in the arts the Greeks sought some reality behind appearances, so in mathematics they sought permanent principles which could be applied wherever the conditions were the same. Artists and sculptors tried to find this ideal order in relation with mathematics, but they believed that this ideal order revealed itself not so much to the dispassionate intellect, as to the whole sentient self.<ref name=Homann63/> Things as we see them, and as they really are, are one, that each stresses the nature of the other in a single unity. |
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===Pediments and Friezes=== |
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[[File:Apollo west pediment Olympia copy MFA Munich.jpg|thumb|upright|Apollo, West Pediment Olympia. Munich, copy from original, 460 BC at the [[Temple of Zeus]], [[Olympia, Greece]].]] |
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In the archaic pediments and friezes of the temples, the artists had a problem to fit a group of figures into an isosceles triangle with acute angles at the base. |
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The [[Siphnian Treasury]] in [[Delphi]] was one of the first Greek buildings utilizing the solution to put the dominating form in the middle, and to complete the descending scale of height with other figures sitting or kneeling. The pediment shows the story of [[Heracles]] stealing Apollo's tripod that was strongly associated with his oracular inspiration. Their two figures hold the centre. In the pediment of the temple of [[Zeus]] in [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]], the single figure of Apollo is dominating the scene.<ref name=Bowra144/> |
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[[File:Part of the Bassae Frieze at the British Museum.jpg|thumb|left|Part of the [[Bassae Frieze]] at the [[British Museum]]. Apollo and Artemis in the northeast corner.]] |
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These representations rely on presenting scenes directly to the eye for their own visible sake. They care for the schematic arrangements of bodies in space, but only as parts in a larger whole. While each scene has its own character and completeness it must fit into the general sequence to which it belongs. In these archaic pediments the sculptors use empty intervals, to suggest a passage to and fro a busy battlefield. The artists seem to have been dominated by geometrical pattern and order, and this was improved when classical art brought a greater freedom and economy.<ref name=Bowra144/> |
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===Hellenistic Greece-Rome=== |
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Apollo as a handsome beardless young man, is often depicted with a [[kithara]] (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 Greece|Hellenistic]] or Roman copy of a bronze original by the Greek sculptor [[Leochares]], made between 350 and 325 BCE. |
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The life-size so-called "[[Adonis]]" found in 1780 on the site of a ''[[Roman villa|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 [[Helios|Apollo Helios]] by his effulgent [[Halo (religious iconography)|halo]], though now even a god's divine [[nudity|nakedness]] is concealed by his cloak, a mark of increasing conventions of modesty in the later [[Roman Empire|Empire]]. |
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Another haloed Apollo in mosaic, from [[Hadrumentum]], is in the museum at [[Sousse]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20080708143541/http://www.tunisiaonline.com/mosaics/mosaic05b.html |title=Mosaics in Tunisia,Apollo and the Muses |publisher=Web.archive.org |date=2008-07-08 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> The conventions of this representation, head tilted, lips slightly parted, large-eyed, curling [[Hairstyle|hair cut]] in locks grazing the neck, were developed in the 3rd century BCE to depict [[Alexander the Great]].<ref>Bieber 1964, Yalouris 1980</ref> Some time after this mosaic was executed, the earliest depictions of Christ would also be beardless and haloed. |
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==Modern reception== |
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[[File:Onthemorningthomas4.jpg|thumb|''The Overthrow of Apollo and the Pagan Gods'', watercolour from [[William Blake's illustrations of On the Morning of Christ's Nativity|William Blake's illustrations of ''On the Morning of Christ's Nativity'']] (1809)]] |
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Apollo has often featured in postclassical art and literature. [[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). |
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In 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. [[Carl Jung]]'s [[Apollo archetype]] represents what he saw as the disposition in people to over-intellectualise and maintain emotional distance. |
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==Genealogy of the Olympians in Greek mythology== |
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{{Genealogy of the Olympians in Greek mythology}} |
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==See also== |
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*[[Dryad]] |
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*[[Epirus]] |
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*[[Pasiphaë]] |
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*[[Sibylline oracles]] |
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*[[Tegyra]] |
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*[[Temple of Apollo (disambiguation)]] |
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==Notes== |
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{{Reflist|20em}} |
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==References== |
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* {{1911 |article=Apollo |author=John Henry Freese |url=http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=User:Tim_Starling/ScanSet_TIFF_demo&vol=02&page=EB2A196}} |
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===Primary sources=== |
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[[File:Belvedere Apollo Pio-Clementino Inv1015 n3.jpg|thumb|Head of the ''[[Apollo Belvedere]]'']] |
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* [[Homer]], ''Iliad'' ii.595–600 (c. 700 BCE) |
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* [[Sophocles]], ''Oedipus Rex'' |
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* [[Palaephatus]], ''On Unbelievable Tales'' 46. Hyacinthus (330 BCE) |
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* Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' 1.3.3 (140 BCE) |
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* [[Ovid]], ''Metamorphoses'' 10. 162–219 (1–8 CE) |
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* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' 3.1.3, 3.19.4 (160–176 CE) |
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* [[Philostratus the Elder]], ''Images'' i.24 Hyacinthus (170–245 CE) |
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* [[Philostratus the Younger]], ''Images'' 14. Hyacinthus (170–245 CE) |
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* [[Lucian]], ''Dialogues of the Gods'' 14 (170 CE) |
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* [[First Vatican Mythographer]], 197. Thamyris et Musae |
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===Secondary sources=== |
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* M. Bieber, 1964. ''Alexander the Great in Greek and Roman Art''. Chicago. |
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* Hugh Bowden, 2005. ''Classical Athens and the Delphic Oracle: Divination and Democracy''. Cambridge University Press. |
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* [[Walter Burkert]], 1985. ''Greek Religion'' (Harvard University Press) III.2.5 ''passim'' |
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* {{cite book| author = Fritz Graf| title = Apollo| year = 2009| publisher = Taylor & Francis US| isbn = 978-0-415-31711-5 }} |
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* [[Robert Graves]], 1960. ''The Greek Myths'', revised edition. Penguin. |
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* Miranda J. Green, 1997. ''Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend'', Thames and Hudson. |
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* [[Karl Kerenyi]], 1953. ''Apollon: Studien über Antiken Religion und Humanität'' revised edition. |
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* Karl Kerenyi, 1951. ''The Gods of the Greeks'' |
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* Martin Nilsson, 1955. ''Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion'', vol. I. C.H. Beck. |
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* [[Pauly–Wissowa]], ''Realencyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft'': II, "Apollon". The best repertory of cult sites (Burkert). |
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* Pfeiff, K.A., 1943. ''Apollon: Wandlung seines Bildes in der griechischen Kunst''. Traces the changing iconography of Apollo. |
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* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]]; ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=heracles-bio-1&highlight=orthrus "Apollo"] |
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==External links== |
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{{Commons|Apollo}} |
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{{Wiktionary|Apollo}} |
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* [http://www.maicar.com/GML/Apollo.html Apollo] at the Greek Mythology Link, by Carlos Parada |
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* [http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/vpc/VPC_search/subcats.php?cat_1=5&cat_2=80 The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database: ca 1650 images of Apollo] |
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{{Greek religion}} |
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{{Roman religion}} |
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[[Category:Apollo| ]] |
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[[Category:Arts gods]] |
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[[Category:Deities in the Iliad]] |
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[[Category:Dragonslayers]] |
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[[Category:Health gods]] |
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[[Category:Knowledge gods]] |
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[[Category:LGBT history in Greece]] |
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[[Category:LGBT themes in mythology]] |
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[[Category:Muses]] |
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[[Category:Mythological Greek archers]] |
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[[Category:Oracular gods]] |
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[[Category:Roman gods]] |
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[[Category:Solar gods]] |
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{{Link GA|no}} |
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{{Link FA|es}} |
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{{Link FA|ia}} |
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{{Link FA|pt}} |
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Revision as of 16:55, 27 November 2013
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