The God ApolloBy: Timothy Buff Tom MacDonald

David DelucaPeter Thomann

The Greek God Apollo General Information

• Apollo is the god of music, medicine, light, prophecy, law, intellectual pursuits, plague, and the sun.

• Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians. • Apollo in the Trojan War helped Paris kill

Achilles.• He greatly enjoyed the charms of nymphs.

The Symbols of Apollo

• His symbols are the bow and arrow, the lyre, the laurel, the sun, swans, wolves, raven, snakes, gold, flute, grasshoppers.

Apollo’s Attributes Animals and Powers

• He is depicted as a beardless young man. • His attributes are the tripod, omphalos, lyre, bow

and arrows, laurel, hawk, raven or crow, swan, fawn, roe, snake, mouse, grasshopper, and griffin.

• He had the power of plague, healing and many others.

• The cow, snake, crow, deer, dolphin, and swans represented him.

The Birthplace

• The god Apollo was born on the Greek island of Delos with his twin sister Artemis who was the goddess of the hunt.

• Hera cursed his mother that she could not give birth on land because Leto, his mother, had an affair with Zeus.

• She found an island called Delos that was not attached to the ocean floor and gave birth to Apollo and his sister on it.

The Story of His Birth

• When Zeus’s wife Hera figured out that Leto was pregnant she forbade her to give birth on the Earth besides the island of Delos. She gave birth to Apollo and Artemis there. Hera also kidnapped the goddess of birth to prevent her from going into labor.

Youth

• Apollo as a child killed the dragon Python. Hera sent the snake to follow Leto around. Apollo begged Hephaestus for a bow and arrows.

Family

• His father was Zeus, the God of all Gods. His Roman name was Jupiter. He was chief of Mount Olympus and had the child with Leto.

• His mother was Leto. She was the goddess of motherhood and the bride of Zeus.

• He had a twin sister Artemis.

Artemis

• She was the twin sister of Apollo. • She never married nor had any children.• She was the Greek God of hunting, wilderness

and wild animals.

Female and Male Lovers

• His female lovers are Daphne, Marpessa, Chione, Koronis, Daphne, Arsinoe, Kassandra,Kyrene, Melia, Eudne, Thero, Psamathe, Linos, Philonis, Philammon and Chrysothemis.

• His male lovers are Hyakinthos, Kyparissos.

Apollo and His Love for Daphne • One day while Apollo was out hunting he came upon

Eros, the God of Love who was also out hunting with his bow. Apollo started to insult his archery skills saying that being his size he cannot shoot an arrow very far. Eros then shot two arrows, one that as gold and would make the person it hits fall in love and another that if it hits someone they would not fall in love. The golden arrow hit Apollo and the lead one hit Daphne, the daughter of the river god Peneus, so she was a nymph and she loved to hunt. Apollo fell in love with her and she wanted nothing to do with him, so he chased her four hours. Eventually when she was far enough from him she stopped and begged her father for help. So Peneus turned her into a Laurel tree. That is why the Laurel tree is a symbol of Apollo, and also that is one of the reasons the Olympic champions won laurel reefs when they won.

Strengths and Weaknesses

• Some of the strengths of Apollo was that he was creative, handsome, and supportive of all of the arts of civilization.

• The weaknesses of Apollo was that he enjoyed the charms of nymphs, as well as the youth, and his conquests number in the dozens.

The Conflicts and Myths of Apollo

• Apollo has many myths. They include The Slaying of the serpent Python, the Destruction of Neobe, The Trojan War, The Conflict with Hermes.

The Trojan War

• In the Trojan War, Apollo took the side of the Trojans.

• He helped guide Paris’s arrow into Achilles’ heel, and thus allowed the Trojans to escape.

• He also plagued the Greeks.

The Destruction of Neobe

• When Neobe, a Queen who had 14 children, insulted Apollo’s mom, he and his sister, Artemis joined up and killed all of Neobe’s children. They killed all of the children because she boasted she was more fertile than Leto.

Apollo, Hermes and the Lyre.

– The reason that the lyre is a symbol of Apollo has to do with a story involving the baby Hermes. Hermes was the son of Zeus and Maia. Hermes was born the morning he was conceived , in Arcadia. While his mother was sleeping Hermes squirmed and freed himself from his blankets and walked to Thessaly, the place were his brother Apollo kept his cattle. He stole many of them and hid them in a grotto near Pylos. Then on the way back to the cave he caught a turtle, and removed its organs, then with the intestines of one of Apollo’s cattle he made the strings and attached them to the turtle shell with branches. Thus he created the first lyre and wrapped himself in back up in his blankets. The next day Apollo went to check on his cattle and realized they were missing. He then went to Maia and accused Hermes of stealing them. Hermes denied this and Zeus had to intervene and he said the he saw Hermes steal the cattle and that he would have to return them. While the argument went on Hermes started to play his lyre. Enchanted by the music Apollo offered to let Hermes keep the cattle if he could have the lyre. So Hermes took the offer and now the lyre is a very well known symbol of Apollo.

The Slaying of the Serpent Python

• Greek god Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto. Apollo was four days old when he demanded a bow and arrows. Hephaestus created them for him.

• He immediately went in pursuit of the serpent that Hera sent to torment his mother, Leto. The serpent, Python , sought refuge at Dephi. But Apollo followed it into the shrine of the Oracle of Mother Earth and killed him.

His Struggle with Hercules • Fo l l o w i n g t h e m u rd e r o f I p hy t u s , H e rc u l e s

b e c a m e s i c k a n d s e t o ff t o fi n d a p r i e s t e s s w h o c o u l d te l l h i m a w ay to c u r e t h i s d i s e a s e . H e rc u l e s wa s o u t ra g e d t h a t t h e p r i e s t e s s h a d n o t h i n g a n d s t o l e t h e D e l p h i c Tr i p o d . T h e n A p o l l o , H e rc u l e s , A r t e m i s , a n d At h e n a fo u g ht o v e r t h e Tr i p o d . Ev e nt u a l l y Ze u s s to p p e d t h e h a l f b r o t h e r s f r o m fi g hti n g a n d p u n i s h e d t h e m . T h e Tr i p o d r e m a i n e d i n D e l p h i .

The Golden Chariot

• The Chariot was given to him by his father, Zeus.

• When the twins were born they were both given silver bows and arrows.

• Zeus promised Artemis she never had to marry if she didn’t want to and gave Apollo a golden chariot pulled by horses.

Music Contests

• Marsyas had challenged Apollo to a music contest over the flute he got from Athena. Marsyas lwon in the first round and in the second round Apollo said they would both play instruments upside down. He then had Marsyas tied to a tree and flayed alive.

Apollo Today

• The famous Apollo Space Program was named after the god. It was from 1963 to 1972. There are about 20 Apollo Programs that have sent the United States into space.

Temple Sites To Apollo

• There are many temples to Apollo. They are in Greece, Italy, Cyprus and Turkey. There are 13.

Hymns to Apollo

• Paeans were the name of hymns sung to Apollo.

• The most famous paeans are those of Bacchylides and Pindar. Paeans were sung at the festivals of Apollo. In later times they were addressed not only to the gods, but to human beings as well.

Festivals

• The chief Apollonian festivals were the Boedromia, Carneia, Carpiae, Daphnephoria, Delia, Hyacinthia, Metageitnia, Pyanepsia, Pythia and Thargelia.

The End

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