Apollo (Greek)

# Apollo

## Other Available Article Versions

* Greek Mythology: **CURRENTLY IN VIEW**
* Roman Mythology
* Etruscan Mythology

## Role

1. God of Archery
2. God of Music and Dance
3. God of Truth and Prophecy
4. God of Healing and Diseases
5. God of the Sun and Light
6. God of Poetry

Leto (Mother)

## Origin/Birth

*For full article on this topic, see The Birth of Artemis and Apollo*

When Zeus' wife Hera discovered that Leto was pregnant, she banned Leto from giving birth on *terra firma*. Leto sought shelter in many lands, only to be rejected by them. Finally, the voice of unborn Apollo informed his mother about a floating island named Delos which had once been Asteria, Leto's own sister. Since it was neither a mainland nor an island, Leto was readily welcomed there and gave birth to her children under a palm tree. All the goddesses except Hera were present to witness the event. It is also stated that Hera kidnapped Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to prevent Leto from going into labor. The other gods tricked Hera into letting her go by offering her a necklace of amber 9 yards or 8.2 meters long.

## Description

Apollo is one of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The national divinity of the Greeks, Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the Sun and light, poetry, and more. One of the most important and complex of the Greek gods, he is the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Seen as the most beautiful god and the ideal of the *kouros* (ephebe, or a beardless, athletic youth), Apollo is considered to be the most Greek of all the gods. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu.

As the patron deity of Delphi (*Apollo Pythios*), Apollo is an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Apollo is the god who affords help and wards off evil; various epithets call him the "averter of evil". Delphic Apollo is the patron of seafarers, foreigners and the protector of fugitives and refugees.

Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius. Apollo delivered people from epidemics, yet he is also a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague with his arrows. The invention of archery itself is credited to Apollo and his sister Artemis. Apollo is usually described as carrying a golden bow and a quiver of silver arrows. Apollo's capacity to make youths grow is one of the best attested facets of his panhellenic cult persona. As the protector of young (*kourotrophos*), Apollo is concerned with the health and education of children. He presided over their passage into adulthood. Long hair, which was the prerogative of boys, was cut at the coming of age (ephebeia) and dedicated to Apollo.

Apollo is an important pastoral deity, and was the patron of herdsmen and shepherds. Protection of herds, flocks and crops from diseases, pests and predators were his primary duties. On the other hand, Apollo also encouraged founding new towns and establishment of civil constitution. He is associated with dominion over colonists. He was the giver of laws, and his oracles were consulted before setting laws in a city.

As the god of *mousike* Apollo presides over all music, songs, dance and poetry. He is the inventor of string-music, and the frequent companion of the Muses, functioning as their chorus leader in celebrations. The lyre is a common attribute of Apollo. In Hellenistic times, especially during the 5th century BCE, as *Apollo Helios* he became identified among Greeks with Helios, the personification of the sun. In Latin texts, however, there was no conflation of Apollo with Sol among the classical Latin poets until 1st century CE. Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the 5th century CE.

## Tales

Apollo and Daphne

Apollo and Hyacinthus

The Birth of Apollo

The Flaying of Marsayus

## Detailed Information

### Etymology

Apollo (Attic, Ionic, and Homeric Greek: Ἀπόλλων, *Apollōn* (GEN Ἀπόλλωνος); Doric: Ἀπέλλων, *Apellōn*; Arcadocypriot: Ἀπείλων, *Apeilōn*; Aeolic: Ἄπλουν, *Aploun*; Latin: *Apollō*)

The name *Apollo*—unlike the related older name *Paean*—is generally not found in the Linear B (Mycenean Greek) texts, although there is a possible attestation in the lacunose form *]pe-rjo-[* (Linear B: ]𐀟𐁊-[) on the KN E 842 tablet.

The etymology of the name is uncertain. The spelling Ἀπόλλων (pronounced [a.pól.lɔːn] in Classical Attic) had almost superseded all other forms by the beginning of the common era, but the Doric form, *Apellon* (Ἀπέλλων), is more archaic, as it is derived from an earlier \*Ἀπέλjων. It probably is a cognate to the Doric month *Apellaios* (Ἀπελλαῖος), and the offerings apellaia (ἀπελλαῖα) at the initiation of the young men during the family-festival apellai (ἀπέλλαι). According to some scholars, the words are derived from the Doric word *apella* (ἀπέλλα), which originally meant "wall," "fence for animals" and later "assembly within the limits of the square." Apella (Ἀπέλλα) is the name of the popular assembly in Sparta, corresponding to the *ecclesia* (ἐκκλησία). R. S. P. Beekes rejected the connection of the theonym with the noun *apellai* and suggested a Pre-Greek proto-form \**Apalyun*.

Several instances of popular etymology are attested from ancient authors. Thus, the Greeks most often associated Apollo's name with the Greek verb ἀπόλλυμι (*apollymi*), "to destroy". Plato in *Cratylus* connects the name with ἀπόλυσις (*apolysis*), "redemption", with ἀπόλουσις (*apolousis*), "purification", and with ἁπλοῦν (*[h]aploun*), "simple", in particular in reference to the Thessalian form of the name, Ἄπλουν, and finally with Ἀειβάλλων (*aeiballon*), "ever-shooting". Hesychius connects the name Apollo with the Doric ἀπέλλα (*apella*), which means "assembly", so that Apollo would be the god of political life, and he also gives the explanation σηκός (*sekos*), "fold", in which case Apollo would be the god of flocks and herds. In the ancient Macedonian language πέλλα (*pella*) means "stone," and some toponyms may be derived from this word: Πέλλα (Pella, the capital of ancient Macedonia) and Πελλήνη (*Pellēnē*/*Pallene*).

A number of non-Greek etymologies have been suggested for the name, The Hittite form *Apaliunas* (*dx-ap-pa-li-u-na-aš*) is attested in the Manapa-Tarhunta letter, perhaps related to Hurrian (and certainly the Etruscan) *Aplu*, a god of plague, in turn likely from Akkadian *Aplu Enlil* meaning simply "the son of Enlil", a title that was given to the god Nergal, who was linked to Shamash, Babylonian god of the sun. The role of Apollo as god of plague is evident in the invocation of Apollo Smintheus ("mouse Apollo") by Chryses, the Trojan priest of Apollo, with the purpose of sending a plague against the Greeks (the reasoning behind a god of the plague becoming a god of healing is apotropaic, meaning that the god responsible for bringing the plague must be appeased in order to remove the plague).

The Hittite testimony reflects an early form *\**Apeljōn'**, which may also be surmised from comparison of Cypriot Ἀπείλων with Doric Ἀπέλλων. The name of the Lydian god *Qλdãns* /kʷʎðãns/ may reflect an earlier /kʷalyán-/ before palatalization, syncope, and the pre-Lydian sound change \*y *>* d. Note the labiovelar in place of the labial /p/ found in pre-Doric *Ἀπέλjων* and Hittite *Apaliunas*.**

A Luwian etymology suggested for *Apaliunas* makes Apollo "The One of Entrapment", perhaps in the sense of "Hunter".