The Apollo Belvedere epitomises the ideals of Classical antiquity. This celebrated marble is a Greek or Roman copy of the bronze original, which was created in 350-325 BC by the Greek sculptor Leochares. |
Apollo
The most widely revered and influential of Greek gods
Also commonly known as Phoebus.
Depicted as a handsome young man, clean shaven, often with his lyre or the laurel.
Attributes include the lyre, the laurel and the tripod. Sacred animals include the dolphin and the swan.
God of many things
Apollo was a powerful and multifaceted god.
At his most awesome, Apollo operated from afar. He oversaw divine justice; making men aware of their guilt and then ritually purging the penitent of their immoral acts. By means of prophets and oracles, he communicated to Man his knowledge of the future and of his father Zeus’ will. He presided over religious law and the constitution of cities. He was also the god of both plague and healing (in Homer’s The Iliad, Apollo fired plague-diseased arrows into the Greek camp at Troy).
However, Apollo was also more accessible as the god of music, poetry and dance. These art forms were supposed to imitate the joy of communion with the Olympian gods. Apollo directed the choir of the muses and his principle instrument was the lyre. He perfected his mastery of the instrument whilst serving as a lowly herdsman (see below), and he was also the god responsible for shielding crops and herds from pests, which is why he is also known as Alexikakos (Averter of Evil).
Apollo’s forename is Phoebus, meaning ‘bright’ or ‘pure’. He was associated with the sun and, in subsequent literature, was often wrongly identified with Helios the sun god.
Apollo, Artemis and the Delphic Oracle
Apollo was the son of Zeus and Leto.
Zeus’ main consort, Hera, was furious when she learned that Leto was pregnant and she would not allow Leto to give birth on land or in water. Leto found her way to Delos, which broke neither injunction as it was a floating island in the middle of the Aegean, and there she gave birth to the twins Apollo and his sister Artemis.
In another story Hera imprisoned the goddess of childbirth, Ilithyia, but then the other gods freed her, and Leto was able to deliver the divine twins.
The Oracle at Delphi
Apollo left Delos for the island of Pytho, which was terrorised by a giant serpent, Python, who guarded an oracular sanctuary. Apollo killed the Python, replenished the island, and took over the oracle.
Apollo chose one priestess, a local woman over 50 years of age, to be his medium: the Pythia. Under his inspiration she delivered oracles in the main temple of Apollo. A priest would then translate and versify her declarations for the supplicant.
There were numerous Apollonian oracles, but the oracle at Delphi was by far the most important and famous.
Apollo had to make amends for killing Python, who was the son of Gaia (Earth), so he spent eight (or nine, depending on the source) years serving King Admetus as a lowly shepherd.
Unlucky in love, brutal in vengeance
Apollo had many lovers, divine and mortal, male and female. But his love affairs were generally ill-fated.
Apollo's female consorts
Apollo became infatuated with the nymph Daphne, but she rejected his advances and was turned into a laurel tree to avoid him. The laurel became his sacred shrub.
Coronis was pregnant by Apollo when she fell in love with Ischys. When Apollo learned of the affair, he commanded his twin sister Artemis to kill Coronis. While Coronis’ body was burning on the funeral pyre, Apollo removed the body of his unborn son, and took him to Chiron who raised the child Asclepius, the god of healing.
Apollo wooed Cassandra by promising to teach her the art of prophecy. But once she had learned the art, she rejected Apollo, so he punished her by ensuring that her true prophecies would never be believed.
Apollo's male consorts
Apollo fell in love with the beautiful athletic youth Hyacinthus. The god Zephyrus (West Wind) was jealous of their love, and when Apollo and the boy were throwing discus together, Zephyrus blew the god’s discus off course so it struck and killed Hyacinthus. Distraught, Apollo made a flower (the hyacinth) grow where the youth’s blood had stained the ground.
Apollo also fell in love with the youth Cyparissus, and gave him a beautiful sacred deer. The animal grew tame and became the boy’s constant companion. When Cyparissus killed his deer in a javelin accident, he was inconsolable. The youth wanted his tears to fall for eternity so Apollo turned him into the Cyprus tree, which is a symbol of sorrow, because its sap forms droplets like tears.
The vengeful Apollo
Apollo was ferocious when angered.
The mortal Niobe boasted that, as she was mother to fourteen sons and daughters, she was superior to Leto who had borne only two children. Furious, Apollo murdered Niobe’s sons, and Artemis killed her daughters. Niobe wept so much that she turned into a pillar of stone.
The shepherd Marsyas challenged Apollo to a musical competition on the lyre. (King Midas foolishly judged in Marsyas’ favour). Afterwards Apollo flayed Marsyas alive for his presumption in challenging a god.