Apollo

God of the sun and music, as in harmony

Apollo is associated as a Greek god of many different things. First he is the sun god like his predecessors Hyperion and Helius. He is also the Greek god of music, specifically harmony, and his instrument is the lyre. The sun god also is the god of medicine, which is manifested in his son, Asclepis.

He and his sister, Artemis, are skilled in archery. It is said that his arrows never miss their mark. A point he showed too much pride in to the god Eros and paid for with unrequited love from Daphne. His bird is the raven.

Birth of Apollo and Artemis

Apollo and his twin sister Artemis are children of Zeus and Leto, daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe. According to the Homeric Hymns Artemis was born first in Ortygia and Apollo was born on the island of Delos, by Mt. Cynthus. Both children are known for their skill with a bow and arrow. Apollo carries a curved bow, while Artemis has a silver bow.

The Homeric Hymn to Apollo says that Leto traveled all over the Greek world looking for a location that would rejoice in the birth of her son. She could find none because they feared the prediction that her son would have uncontrollable powers. She came to the barren, rocky island of Delos and there she promised Delos that a great temple would be built there and people would come from all over to worship her son if she could give birth to him there. Delos agreed and became the home to the sun god.

Leto was in labor for nine days and nine nights. Accompanying her was Dione, Rhea, Themis, and Poseidon's wife, Amphitrite. Hera was not present and in her jealousy, she distracted Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth, from knowing about Leto's distress. The goddesses called upon Iris, a swift-footed messenger, to Mt. Olympus instructing her to call Eileithyia away from Hera before telling her the news. Iris did as they had instructed and soon Eileithyia was on Delos assisting in the birth of bright shining Apollo.

Love Affairs

Cassandra

Cassandra is the daughter of the Trojan king, Priam and Agamemnon's war prize during the Trojan War. Before all of that though she was sought after by the Greek God Apollo. Cassandra told the Greek god that she would give herself to him, and so he bestowed upon her the give of prophecy. But when he came to her to get what she promised, Cassandra changed her mind and rejected him. Instead of taking back his gift, Apollo cursed her with the fact that no one would ever believe her prophecies.

Daphne

This myth explains why the laurel was sacred to the Greek god Apollo, because the word daphne means laurel in Greek. In all of the Greek world bad things happen to people who show too much hubris, or pride, and this myth shows that even the powerful gods are not above this.

This myth starts out after Apollo has killed the Python. He sees Eros drawing his bow and Apollo begins to taunt him about the fact that he just kindles love between mortals with his arrows, but he wouldn't be able to match Apollo in his glories. This of course angered Eros, who warned Apollo of his mistake and flew off. Upon reaching his destination, Eros pulled out two arrows. One arrow had a dull, leaden point and it repelled love. This he shot at Daphne. The other arrow was bright, golden and sharp, and this one aroused the feeling of love. With this arrow Eros pierced Apollo's heart.

Daphne was the daughter of Peneus, a nymph, and a follower of Apollo's sister, Artemis. Daphne wished to remain a virgin, much to her father's grief, and loved to roam the forests. She ran away from any suitor who chased her. Apollo, aided by Eros, loved her and wished to marry her, but she ran from him. There was nothing she could do to stop him and so she ran and he chased, calling after her his desires.

Daphne's strength started to wane. Tired from running, she saw her father's waters and pleaded for help. She pleaded for him to change her and to destroy her beauty so that men would not chase her. Suddenly her limbs grew heavy, her hair turned to leaves, bark enveloped her skin, her feet clung to the earth, and her face became the tree's top. Apollo kissed her bark and declared that since she wouldn't be his, she would be his tree.

Marpessa

Marpessa is the daughter Evenus, who is a son of Ares. She was originally carried off by Idas, one of the Argonauts, against her father's will. Her father unsuccessfully tried to get her back and eventually out of grief, killed himself. Apollo was also attracted to the girl and stole her away from Idas. Apollo and Idas met to face off for the girl's hand, when Zeus intervened and made the girl choose which lover she would go with. Out of fear that the undying god might leave her when she turned old, she chose to leave with the mortal Idas.

Cyrene

Not all of his affairs were unsuccessful though. Cyrene is one of the nymphs and an athletic one at that. The sun god apparently fell in love with her when he saw her wrestling with a lion. She accepted his advances and with his swift chariot, he drove her away to Libya. They had a son together named Aristaeus. And later on there was a city named after her in Libya.

Coronis

The sun god fell in love with a young maiden from Larissa, in Thessaly. He was unaware that she was pregnant with his son when his bird, the raven, told the god that he had seen her lying with a Thessslian youth. In his rage, Apollo took up his bow and arrow and shot her in the breast. In her last moments, Coronis told him she was pregnant with his child, then she died.

Apollo, distraught by his rash punishment, tried to use his art of healing to no avail. He could not bring her back, the funeral pyre was already being built. He anointed her body for the pyre and as she burned he couldn't bear to see his seed be burned to ashes. Apollo grabbed his son from the womb of Coronis and took him to the cave of the centaur Chiron. The centaur fostered the infant son of Apollo and taught him the art of healing. And that is the birth of Apollo's son Asclepius.

Hyacinthus

Apollo also had a love for young men. One of these young men being a Spartan youth named Hyacinthus. As the story goes the sun god and the boy were competing with the discus one afternoon. Apollo had thrown the discus with great strength and as it was coming back down to the earth, Hyacinthus went to retrieve it. The discus hit the earth, but bounced back up and struck the boy in his face.

Apollo did whatever he could to try and revive the boy in his arms, but nothing worked and the boy went limp in his arms. In his grief, Apollo promised that a flower would be named after him. No sooner had he spoken this when the blood that had spilled to the ground turned into a purple flower that bears the boy's name.

Musical Contests

Marsyas

This myth comes from the Roman poet Ovid.

Pan

This one also comes from Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Apollo
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