Strengths: Creative, handsome, supportive of all the arts of civilization. Weaknesses: Like his father Zeus, Apollo gets in trouble over love. Birthplace: On the sunny Greek island of Delos, where he was born along with his twin sister, Artemis.
Apollo bragged to Cupid that his bow was bigger than Cupid's. Angered by the insult, Cupid shot him with a golden love arrow causing Apollo to fall in love with the first person he saw. Cupid then shot Daphne with a lead-tipped arrow causing her to be impervious to love.
He was also called Lyceius, presumably because he protected the flocks from wolves (lykoi); because herdsmen and shepherds beguiled the hours with music, scholars have argued that this was Apollo's original role. In art Apollo was represented as a beardless youth, either naked or robed.
One day Apollo saw Coronis and became enamoured of her. He lay with her in her home, and consequently she became pregnant.
As with the other major divinities, Apollo had many children; perhaps the most famous are Orpheus (who inherited his father's musical skills and became a virtuoso with the lyre or kithara), Asclepius (to whom he gave his knowledge of healing and medicine) and, according to the 5th-century BCE tragedian Euripides, the ...
In the myth, Apollo falls madly in love with Daphne, a woman sworn to remain a virgin. Apollo hunts Daphne who refuses to accept his advances. Right at the moment he catches her, she turns into a laurel tree, a scene famously depicted in Bernini's Apollo and Daphne sculpture.
(4) MORTAL LOVES (MEN)
HYAKINTHOS (Hyacinthus) A prince of Lakedaimonia (southern Greece) who was loved by the gods Apollon and Zephryos. He was accidentally slain by Apollon in a game of quoits and transformed into a flower.
Apollo angered his father Zeus and ended up being sent to Earth and is in the body of a 16 year-old boy named Lester Papadopolous. Zeus punishes Apollo for the role that he played in the battle between the gods in Gaea.
Apollo is the god who affords help and wards off evil; various epithets call him the "averter of evil". Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius.
The dreaded curse dates all the way back to 1882, when Apollo won the Kentucky Derby by defeating 4-5 favorite Runnymede. Since then, no horse has won the race after not starting as a two-year-old.
Apollo is a god, and is therefore immortal. However, he was always portrayed as a handsome, young man in Greek art and literature. Apollo was worshiped in Greece from at least 800 BC; however, his origins are probably older than that.
Apollo is angry because Chryseis, the daughter of one of his priests, has been kidnapped. Agamemnon takes Chryseis as a war prize and Apollo is so furious that he sends a plague against the Achaeans.
Apollo is depicted in Greek mythology as one of the most powerful gods ever to have existed. Among his other powers, he was also known for his supreme skills as an archer.
Apollo's Women
Marpessa: daughter of Euenos. Their offspring was Kleopatra, wife of Meleager, although her father may have been Idas. Chione: daughter of Daedalion. Their son was Philammon, sometimes said to be the son of Philonis.
This charming myth talks about the platonic love of god Apollo for the beautiful nymph Daphne. It is said that Daphne was the first love of Apollo but unfortunately the girl never responded his love.
In honor of his lover, Apollo makes a flower spring up from Hyacinthus' blood. Confusingly, this flower isn't actually what we today call a hyacinth. Most sources agree that it was most likely an iris or a larkspur, since the myth tells us that Apollo writes on the flower the sound of his grief (Ai, Ai).
During the 5th century BC, Apollo became also known as the god of Sun, becoming one with the god Helios, and getting the name Phoebus. He is shown as a handsome young man, wearing a laurel wreath and playing the kithara (lyre). It is known as his symbol. His other symbols include the raven.
Assuming that he has similar feelings to humans, he would fear losing the people that he loves (think Daphne, Hyacinthus, or any other of his lovers that met a tragic end).
Like all the Olympian gods, Apollo was an immortal and powerful god. He had many special powers including the ability to see into the future and power over light. He could also heal people or bring illness and disease. When in battle, Apollo was deadly with the bow and arrow.
At just four days old, Apollo went on a hunt to avenge the Python who had tormented his pregnant mother. With his handy bow and arrow, he hit the Python and killed it instantly, while the nymphs of Delphi cheered him on. The Python's mother Gaea, meanwhile, was deeply angered.
Thanks to a curse, all the children of Apollo have a terrible fear of snakes.
In Greek mythology, Hyacinthus was a Spartan prince of remarkable beauty and a lover of the sun god Apollo.