Apollo

As the personification of male beauty, Apollo embodies all the principles of “kouros” and “kalocagathia” - the Greek ideal of appearance, which consisted in the harmony of the physical body and mental qualities. He has an athletic, athletic build, a symmetrical and proportional body. Apollo has fair skin, a straight nose that is almost integral with his forehead, large eyes and straight, arched eyebrows. He has golden, shiny hair styled in intricate knots.

Apollo—the god of light (his epithet Phoebus means “radiant” or “shining”), patron of the arts, leader and patron of the Muses, predictor of the future, god of healing, patron of travelers, and the embodiment of male beauty. One of the most revered gods of antiquity. During Late Antiquity, he personified the Sun. Apollo is proud, sometimes touchy, sensual and creative. He, along with the sister Artemis, is an excellent archer (his nickname is Silverbow). However, he also has another side—Apollo was considered both the god of healing and pestilence, and could send epidemics with his arrows.

Apollo was the younger twin brother of Artemis, the son of Zeus and Leto. Tormented by jealousy, Hera, the wife of the supreme god, sent the serpent Python (son of Gaia) to pursue the pregnant Leto across the earth, until Poseidon, taking pity on Leto, placed the expectant mother on the island of Delos, which he shielded with waves. The serpent returned to Mount Parnassus, at the foot of which the Delphic Oracle was located. On Delos, on Mount Cynthus, Leto gave birth to Artemis, who then helped deliver her brother Apollo. The goddess of justice, Themis, nourished the infant with nectar and ambrosia. Hephaestus brought Apollo a bow and arrows as a gift. A few days after his birth, Apollo arrived at Parnassus, where he struck Python with the arrows given to him by Hephaestus, earning him the epithet Pythian. In killing him, Apollo fired 1,000 arrows. After the killing, Apollo purified himself in the waters of the Peneus in the Tembi Valley; a sacred embassy was sent there for the festival to cut laurel branches. Apollo placed his bones in a tripod and established the Pythian Games. For killing Python, Gaia wanted to cast Apollo down into Tartarus, but in the end, as atonement, Apollo had to remain in exile for eight years to appease the wrath of the Earth. This was commemorated in Delphi through various sacred rites and processions. At the age of four, Apollo built an altar on the site of his birth on the island of Delos using the antlers of a doe shot by Artemis. The Delphic Oracle originally belonged to the most ancient prophetess, the goddess Gaia, who passed it on to her daughter Themis, who in turn gave it to her sister Phoebe (mother of Leto), who presented it as a gift to her grandson Apollo.

Asclepius, the son of Apollo and Coronis, brought a man back to life, thereby incurring the wrath of Zeus, who struck him down with a thunderbolt. After Apollo killed the Cyclopes in retaliation—the Cyclopes who had helped Hephaestus forge Zeus’s lightning bolts—Zeus was ready to banish his son to Tartarus; however, Leto managed to persuade the supreme god to soften the punishment. Apollo was sent to serve Admetus, king of the city of Phere in Thessaly. For eight years, Apollo tended Admetus’s herds on the banks of the Amphris River. On his first birthday, the young god Hermes climbed out of his cradle, left the cave, and stole Apollo’s cows. When Apollo discovered the theft, he set out in search of the culprit and learned the identity of the thief. Hermes denied his guilt, claiming it was impossible for him to have committed such a theft at such a young age. The matter was brought before Zeus. The supreme god ordered that the cows be returned to Apollo. On the way, Hermes began to play a lyre he had fashioned from a turtle shell. Apollo was so captivated by the music that, in exchange, he gave Hermes his herd. The two gods parted as friends, swearing an oath of eternal friendship. Hermes also promised Apollo that he would never again steal anything from him. Apollo loved Admetus. When Pelias, king of Iolcus, announced that he would give his beautiful daughter Alcestis in marriage to whoever could harness a lion and a wild boar to a chariot and drive it around the hippodrome, Admetus turned to Apollo for help. Apollo agreed to assist and, with the help of Heracles, tamed the two wild animals. When death came for Admetus a few years later, Apollo once again came to the king’s aid. He plied the Fates, the Moirai, with wine. They were unable to cut Admetus’s thread of life in time. Taking advantage of the delay, he ran to his elderly parents, begging them to agree to go to the realm of the dead in his place.

They, in turn, flatly refused to die prematurely, saying they were not tired of enjoying life. Then Alcestis decided to go to Hades in her husband’s place. But Heracles snatched her from the hands of death, wresting Alcestis from Thanatos, the god of death. One day, Niobe, who had many children, angered Leto by boasting about how much more fertile she was and how much more beautiful and superior her children were. The angry goddess complained to Apollo and Artemis, who killed all of Niobe’s children with their arrows. Niobe’s husband, Amphion, also perished; he was struck down by Apollo when he sought to destroy the god’s sanctuary in retaliation.