According to the usual version, his great beauty attracted the love of Apollo, who killed him accidentally while teaching him to throw the discus; others related that
Daphne, in her effort to escape him, was changed into a laurel, his sacred tree; Coronis was shot by Apollo's twin, Artemis, when she proved unfaithful; and Cassandra rejected his advances and was punished by being made to utter true prophecies that no one believed.
In Greek mythology, Hyacinthus was a Spartan prince of remarkable beauty and a lover of the sun god Apollo.
It is said that Daphne was the first love of Apollo but unfortunately the girl never responded his love. It was not usual or possible for a nymph or a mortal woman in the Greek mythology to resist to the love of a god, but Daphne did so and in fact, she lost her life trying to escape this love.
The most celebrated of his loves were the nymph Daphne, princess Koronis (Coronis), huntress Kyrene (Cyrene) and youth Hyakinthos (Hyacinthus). The stories of Apollo's lovers Daphne and Kyrene can be found on their own separate pages--see the Apollo pages sidebar.
Apollo was quite taken with Cassandra, and he tried to win over her affection by gifting her the gift of prophecy. When she spurned his advances, Apollo's infatuation quickly turned sour, and he made sure that no one would ever believe her predictions were true.
Apollo's most famous love interest was Daphne, a nymph who had once vowed to Artemis to remain eternally innocent. Apollo, however, fell for her and persistently stalked her, until one day Daphne couldn't take it no more.
But Cassandra had lied and broken Apollo's heart! Because he had imbued her with a divine power this could not be reversed so in a fit of rage Apollo cursed Cassandra so that she still had the power of prophecy, but no one would ever believe her!
Muses, the nine goddesses of arts, poetry, and song were all his lovers.
Daphne, a superb athlete tried to run away, but she was no match for Apollo. He was close behind when she reached her father, the river god Peneus. (Note his symbols: a water urn, an oar, and a tiny waterfall at the left of the painting.) Hearing her cries for help, Peneus quickly transformed Daphne into a laurel tree.
Besides dalliances with numerous nymphs, Apollo was also lover to Macedonian Prince Hyakinthos, who died catching a thrown discus, then turned by the god into the hyacinth flower. The Pseudo-Apollodorus also said Apollo had been with Thracian singer Thamyris in the first man-on-man relationship in history.
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 of course upset about this and is wondering how soon he can get back to god status.
Impregnation by Zeus
Nonnus classifies Zeus's affair with Semele as one in a set of twelve, the other eleven women on whom he begot children being Io, Europa, Plouto, Danaë, Aigina, Antiope, Leda, Dia, Alcmene, Laodameia, the mother of Sarpedon, and Olympias.
Asclepius is probably Apollo's most well-known son, although he had many offspring.
Apollo never married, but there once came a time when he came very near to marrying. This story occurred in Aetolia, in West Greece, with the beautiful princess Marpissa. Marpissa's father, King Evinos, was a son of Ares, the god of war, and therefore a very skilled fighter.
Homosexuality and bisexuality
Apollo, the god of sun and music, is considered the patron of same sex love, as he had many male lovers and was often invoked to bless homosexual unions.
In some versions, Apollo and Artemis spared a single son and daughter each, for they prayed to Leto for help; thus Niobe had as many children as Leto did, but no more.
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 ...
APOLLINA: feminine form of Greek Apollo, the god of the sun.
Apollo falls in love with Daphne, advancing on her so aggressively to the point where she is forced to plead to her father for help. The father, for some reason, turns her into a laurel bush. The fatal flaw, here, at least for Apollo, is that he was not able to control his love.
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.
While Leto was pregnant, Hera sent Python, a giant snake, to attack her; and later sent Tityos, a giant, in an attempt to get her long-awaited revenge. Apollo wasn't too pleased and killed both Python and Tityos. Some stories say it only took a single arrow each time to bring the two monsters down.