Apollo Sadie Ramie

Background  Born on the island of Delos.  Son of Zeus and Leto and Artemis’s twin.  He is the god of Light and Truth, the master of Poetry and Music, and the god of Archery. His Oracle at Delphi is revered for her powers of prophecy and truth.  He was depicted as a handsome, beardless youth with long hair and various attributes including:--a wreath and branch of laurel; bow and quiver; raven; and lyre.

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Names  Phoebus Apollo; usually just called Apollo.  Unlike most of the Olympian gods, there was no special Latin variant of his name, so the Romans called him Apollo.  Often depicted as the sun god, he was also called by the Latin word for sun, Sol.

Background Cont.  He is the god of Light and Truth, the master of Poetry and Music, and the god of Archery. His Oracle at Delphi is revered for her powers of prophecy and truth.  His symbols are the bow and arrows, the lyre, the raven, rays of light radiating from his head, and a wreath.

Story of Birth  When Zeus' wife Hera discovered that Leto was pregnant and that Zeus was the father, she banned Leto from giving birth on "terra firma". In her wanderings, Leto found the newly created floating island of Delos, which was neither mainland or a real island. She gave birth there and was accepted by the people, giving them her promise that her son would be always favorable toward the city.  Afterwards, Zeus secured Delos to the bottom of the ocean. This island later became sacred to Apollo.

Stories of Apollo  Hermes ran to Thessaly, where Apollo was grazing his cattle. The infant Hermes stole a number of his cows and took them to a cave in the woods near Pylos, covering their tracks. In the cave, he found a tortoise and killed it, then removed the insides. He used one of the cow's intestines and the tortoise shell and made the first lyre.  Apollo complained to Maia, that her son had stolen his cattle, but Hermes had already replaced himself in the blankets she had wrapped him in, so Maia refused to believe Apollo. Zeus intervened, claiming to have seen the events, so he sided with Apollo. Then Hermes started playing music on the lyre he had invented. Apollo, a god of music, fell in love with the instrument and offered to allow exchange of the cattle for the lyre. Hence, Apollo then became a master of the lyre.

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Stories of Apollo  Apollo Becomes a Laborer:  He is a healing god, a power he gave to his son Asclepius. Asclepius abused his ability to heal by raising men from the dead. Because of this, Zeus punished him by striking him with a fatal thunderbolt. Apollo retaliated by killing the Cyclops, who had created the thunderbolt. Then Zeus punished his son Apollo by sentencing him to a year of servitude, which he spent as herdsman for the mortal king Admetus.

Stories of Apollo  In the Trojan War:  The Trojan War was a pivotal event for the Greeks.  Apollo and his sister Artemis side with the Trojans during the Trojan War. In the first book of the Iliad, Apollo is angry with the Greeks for denying the return of the daughter of his priest Chryses. To punish them, the god showered the Greeks with arrows of plague.

Stories of Apollo  Apollo and the Laurel Wreath of Victory:  Apollo killed the python, competed musically with another god, Pan, and insulted still another god, the god of love (Eros/Amor/Cupid). As a result of the last, Cupid shot him with one of his special arrows: Apollo was fated to a disastrous and unrequited love. Daphne, the object of his love, metamorphosed into a laurel tree to avoid him. Leaves from the laurel tree were thereafter used to crown victors at the Pythian games.