Apollo who is he

Although his sacred animals were the wolf, the raven and the dolphin, Apollo was also known as the god of cowherds and kept bright red sacred cows, the finest cattle in the world. Apollo was so entranced that he exchanged his entire herd for the instrument. Five fascinating facts about the Greek god Apollo. Since I was ten, I have been fascinated by mythology — in particular Greek mythology, with its array of gods, monsters and heroes.

Though each god is remarkable in their own way, I found Apollo to be particularly interesting. Apollo appears to be, what we might call today, bisexual. He was the god of so many things that even the Ancient Greeks got confused.

Oil painting of the god Apollo by Simone Cantarini. Apollo in his chariot surrounded by female figures from the ceiling fresco Aurora by Guido Reni Apollo wasted no time in avenging his mother, Leto. Apollo liked cows…but he liked music more. Apollo was temporarily stripped of his immortal power by Zeus — twice.

He whisked her away in his golden chariot to the city in Libya that would bear her name. After Apollo had just slain the Python, he boasted to Cupid that the god of love with his bow and arrows could not compete with his glorious slaying of a dragon.

Daphne was extraordinarily beautiful but refused her many suitors. She vowed to remain a virgin devoted to Diana, the forests, and the hunt; both her father and Jupiter respected her wishes. As soon as Apollo saw her he was inflamed by passion and he desired to marry her, but because of Cupid his hopes were doomed. Daphne fled in fear as Apollo made his appeals and pursued her. Exhausted, she reached the waters of Peneus, and her prayer that the power of the river would destroy her too-enticing beauty was granted.

She was transformed into a lovely laurel tree, and the heartbroken Apollo, as he embraced its trunk and branches, promised that since she could not be his wife, she would be his tree, and from it would come the laurel wreath, a symbol of love, honor, and glory forever.

Apollo, as the archetypal Greek god, was also susceptible to the love of young men. The god and the youth enjoyed competing with the discus.

When it eventually came back to earth, an enthusiastic Hyacinthus dashed to pick it up, but as it hit the earth it bounced back and struck him full in the face.

Overcome by grief and guilt, the god vowed everlasting devotion by singing of Hyacinthus to the tune of his lyre and by causing a new flower, the hyacinth, to arise from his blood.

Apollo himself marked his laments on his petals, the mournful letters AI AI, and predicted the suicide of the valiant Ajax see MLS, Chapter 19 , whose initals these same letters would appear on this same flower, which would arise from his heroic blood.

An annual festival, the Hyacinthia, was celebrated at Sparta in honor of Hyacinthus. In the story of Hyacinthus, we see Apollo acting as a god of medicine, ineffective though he proved to be.

His son Asclepius took over the role of god of medicine and most of the time was more successful than his father. As she was dying she told him that their unborn child would die with her.

Apollo too late regretted his anger, but to no avail. He was unable through his medical arts to revive his beloved. He embraced her in anguish and performed the proper burial rites over her corpse. As the flames of the funeral pyre were about to engulf her, he saved their baby by snatching it from her womb and giving it to the wise centaur Chiron to raise. The color of the raven, which had been white, he now changed to black.

He succeeded and enraged Zeus, who hurled the physician into the Underworld for such a disruption of the natural order. Apollo was enraged at the death of his son Asclepius and killed the Cyclopes who had forged the thunderbolt.

When Apollo found out that his master had only a short time to live, he induced the Fates Moirai to allow the king a longer life. They, however, demanded that someone else die in his place. Although Admetus must face the just attacks of critics for allowing Alcestis to die in his place, a case may be made that he recognized his selfishness too late, after he realized that life was not worth living without his Alcestis.

As we know, Apollo was an expert in the playing of the lyre, but two musicians, because of hubris, foolishly dared to challenge him. Athena invented the flute see MLS, Chapter 8 but threw it away because her beautiful features became distorted when she played.

Hector comes from behind and kills him. There are two versions of the Paris myth. In one, Apollo is the one that guides the arrow to kill Achilles. In the second, Apollo disguises himself as Paris and kills Achilles. Apollo once fell in love with a princess Kassandra. She was the daughter of Priam, the king of Troy, and Hecuba.

Because he liked her, he gifted her with the gift of prophecy. Even though Apollo gave her the gift of prophecy she still disliked him. So he made it so that nobody would believe whatever she said about the future. She foretold the downfall of Troy, but nobody believed her. She foretold the dangers of the Trojan Horse, but nobody believed her. The Greek tried then forgave Ajax, and didn't punish him for this. Athena, furious that this crime was unpunished, killed the judges, with the help of Poseidon and Zeus.

Then finally Kassandra foretold that Klytemnestra , the wife of Agamemnon, was going to kill him, but he didn't believe her. As Agamemnon returned to his wife, she and her new husband, Aegisthus, murdered him and Kassandra. Apollo and Zephyrus both loved a Spartan prince named Hyacinth. To win him over, both threw a discus, trying to see which one threw it further. Apollo won the match. However, Hyacinth died when a discus hit his head several versions of the tale claim a jealous Zephyrus was responsible , and to honor his beloved prince, Apollo made his blood become the hyacinth flowers.

A similar tale happened with another male lover, Cyparissus, son of Telephus , who became a cypress tree. When he indirectly killed Apollo's gift to him, a stag, he was so grief-stricken that he asks Apollo to let his tears fall forever.

The god then turns the boy into a cypress tree, whose sap forms droplets like tears on the trunk. The cypress tree is also a symbol of mourning. Apollo is the god of the Sun, music, medicine, healing, truth, prophecy, plague, poetry, education, archery, and the protection of the young. He is sometimes shown with a golden bow and arrow, as he is the god of archery. Apollo was very handsome and onsidered to be the most beautiful male god among the Olympians.

Apollo had long golden locks of hair, sky blue eyesm supported a muscular build, and had a deep but seductive voice. Apollo was very wise and calm headed but like his father Zeus, was very quick to anger, especially when anyone disrespected him or his family. Apollo also valued family as when Poseidon challenged him during the Trojan War he refused to fight him because they were family -though he did, through his heroes, fight Athena in the Trojan War.

Also, like his father, Apollo was known to fall in love with mortal women. Greek Mythology Wiki Explore. Bureaucrats Messenger of Heaven. Register Don't have an account? View source. History Talk 0. We've moved! Hyacinth and Cyparissus. Asclepius , Troilus, Aristaeus , Orpheus , Korybantes. Zeus and Leto. Apollo left and Artemis. Brygos potter signed , tondo of an Attic red-figure cup c. Apollo and Daphne by Bernini in the Galleria Borghese. Apollo and Hyacinthus, 16th-century Italian engraving by Jacopo Caraglio.

Apollo with his lyre. Statue from Pergamon Museum, Berlin.