greek god apollo
The Greek God Apollo, is one of the most complex gods in Greek mythology, but one of the main gods of Olympus, in the scope of his divine influence he had several changes and processes of agreement with other gods of Greek mythology, so which always assumed its pictorial representations and various functions it had.
It is in this way that the Greek God Apollo became the God of all beauty and everything linked to it, such as music, plastic arts and light. He is also known as the Greek God of medicine, perfection, harmony, prophecy and archery, he had the responsibility to protect or threaten from the highest place in the sky.
In Greek mythology, the God Apollo was identified as the Greek God of truth, for which he was feared by other gods and those who could contain the God Apollo were only the mother and the father. He is also known as the God of sudden death that consists of unexpected cardiac arrests in time, as well as the God of plagues and diseases, but he has always been known as the protector against evil forces.
The god Apollo is known as one of the deities most closely connected to nature, as well as to the grass and flocks, protecting shepherds, sailors, and archers. Although the origins of the myths surrounding the Greek god Apollo have become somewhat obscure, the poet Homer, in the 8th century BC, gave great importance to the Greek god Apollo, making him one of the most frequently mentioned figures in the famous epic poem, The Iliad.
In the mythology of Rome in the fifth century before Christ, the Greek God Apollo is known by several names, among them is Delico for having been born on the Island of Delos, also with the name of Pitio for having been the intellectual actor in the death of the Python that guarded the Temple of Parnassus, for all this the Romans dedicated the first Temple to him.
All the people who were aware of the sins they had done asked the Greek God Apollo for their purification, in the same way he was the God who presided over the laws of religion as well as the laws and constitutions of the cities.
In Greek mythology, the god Apollo is the symbol of prophetic inspiration, able to foretell the future. He also embodied artistic inspiration, influencing any work of art with aesthetic merit, and was the master of the most famous oracle of antiquity, the Oracle of Delphi. Similarly, he was the leader of the nine Greek Muses who inspired the arts, and at that time he was known as Apollo Musagetes. As the leader of the nine Muses, he served as the patron god of music and poetry.
The musical instrument used by the Greek God Apollo was the lyre, which means the unification of the state, culture, music, religion and science. In addition to the fact that in the daily life of the Greek people it was widely used due to its popularity, the hymns that they sing to the Greek God Apollo received the name of peanes, which was also said to be the diminutive of Péan who was the grandson of his son Asclepius. .
It is important to highlight that in the life of the Greek God Apollo he had a great number of loves specifically with the Greek muses, product of all the beauty he had, he had several children, but he also had several misfortunes, in the same way he had male lovers among them the most famous loves were Jacinto and Cipariso.
The God Apollo, in Greek mythology has been presented as a young man with a strong and athletic build, he is always naked and has no beard in full force with a mantle that covers him and is accompanied by his bow and a cylindrical box. full of arrows
Along with his musical instrument, the lyre, which is said to have been created by his brother Hermes and he gave it to him, he is also accompanied by the snake that is used as a symbol in medicine, the raven or the griffin.
In the Hellenistic period in the 3rd century BC, he was given the name Apollo Helios, identifying him with Helios the God of the Sun, and his sister was given a similar name with Selene the goddess of the Moon.
Of which the Greek God Apollo was always syncretically identified to highlight some aspect of him. Because he had many divinities in the places where he was worshiped, however he survived for a long time by his faithful until the arrival of Christianity in the Middle Ages. Since at that stage the Greek God Apollo was identified as the devil according to the Christian religion.
At that time they associated the divinities of the God Apollo with the profane, because in the time of Christianity the worship of other gods was prohibited and the one they discovered was sentenced to die at the stake, and this was enforced through decrees in the great extension of territory of the vast Roman empire.
In the contemporary age these decrees were without effect and the cult of the Greek God Apollo was practiced again as well as other Greek gods. Currently, after a long silence, they are worshiping the God Apollo through people who follow Hellenism in Europe, America and especially in Greece.
The myth of the God Apollo has been used by several scientists, philosophers, artists and intellectuals to interpret and illustrate a great variety of aspects of human life, society and a significant number of natural phenomena, in addition to the image of the Greek God Apollo it is found in a wide variety of forms in our present age.
Birth and childhood of the Greek god Apollo
The birth of the Greek God Apollo and his twin sister Artemis, the Goddess of hunting, forests and animals. She is also the protector of virginity, both were the fruit of the union of the God of Zeus (Jupiter) with the Goddess Leto (Latvian) who according to Greek mythology she was the goddess of the night and alternately of the light of the day .
But when the goddess Leto became pregnant, she had a problem with Hera, the wife of the God Zeus, because she was very angry at what he had done and thus threatened anyone who helped the goddess Leto give birth to the children of the god. God Zeus, that's why the goddess began to wander all over the earth to give birth, because the goddess Hera had promised to curse whoever will help Leto to give birth on dry land.
As it was said, that she could not give birth outside the land of some continent or any island that was there, then the Goddess Hera held Ilithyia, goddess of childbirth so that she would not come to her aid, while Leto wandered through each site of land to be able to give birth, she was able to reach the Island of Ortigia which was deserted.
According to the history of this Island of Ortigia, it is that the God Zeus trying to rape Leto's sister named Asteria, mushroom escaped transforming into a quail, threw herself into the sea and became a floating island, there is the goddess Leto with nine Days late, her pain was very strong, for which the gods of Olympus were moved and they made Artemis be born first so that she would help her mother with the birth of the Greek God Apollo.
When the God Apollo was born, the Island of Ortigia changed its name to the Floating Island of Delos, which has a brilliant meaning for Apollo, the God of light. From that moment the island of Delos was fixed to the bottom of the sea by four columns, since the God Zeus was very grateful for having welcomed Leto and his children. He put an end to his pilgrimage across the ocean.
After that, the Island of Delos was the site to consecrate his worship to the God Apollo, becoming one of the most important sites of the sanctuaries of this Greek God. According to Greek mythology, the Greek God Apollo is born on the 7th day of the Targelion or in the month of Bisio according to the tradition of the Delphi and the days 7 and 20 of the new and full moon are consecrated to the God Apollo.
Seeing what was happening, the Goddess Hera did not cease her rage against Leto and the two babies, for which she decided to send the monstrous Python snake who was the guardian of the prophetic sanctuary of Delphi to kill them all.
But the Young Greek God Apollo armed himself with his bow and the arrows of Hephaestus, who had forged them for the God Apollo, he faced the monstrous serpent taking his life and becoming the guardian of the Oracles of Delphi. Taking charge of a God who could divine the future.
In another mythology story, the Goddess Hera makes another attempt to kill the Goddess Leto, sending Ticio's giant to kill her, but the God Apollo, together with the help of his twin sister Artemis, managed to contain the force of this monster, saving the life of Leto. his mother Leto, and the God Zeus punished the monster by locking him in Tartarus, the deepest region of hell.
Etymology of the God Apollo
In Greek mythology, the god Apollo was called "Apollon" or "Apellon," while the Romans called him "Apollo," and the Etrurians gave him the name " Apulu" or "Aplu," but what is certain is that the origin of the name of the god Apollo is uncertain.
Although several researchers claim there are various examples of folk etymology, Plato linked the name of the Greek god Apollo to the word Cratylus, which can mean redeem, purification, or simply. His name also alludes to the Thessalian form, meaning "He who always shoots."
Although another philosopher, Hesychius, linked the name of the god Apollo with the Doric word meaning "assembly," for this reason Apollo would be known as the god of political life and as the god of explanation. Ultimately, he can also be known as the god of flocks and herds.
For another philosopher named Plotinus, the name of the Greek god Apollo has the meaning of the negation of plurality, "not many." For the Pythagoreans, it has the meaning of one. Following this line, Plutarch affirmed that the Pythagoreans associated the divine names with numbers, and the monad was identified with the Greek god Apollo.
Burkert suggests that the name of the god Apollo derives from the "Holy Convocation," but Nagy considers this implausible, based on what Hesychius of Alexandria claims. However, this entire theory was rejected by Frisk, Chantraine, and Dietrich, who maintain that the origin of the Greek god Apollo is unknown.
But Bernal studies and presents research that the name of the god Apollo is derived from Horus, the Egyptian sky god, through phonetic adaptations and intermediaries in Phoenicia, where it was claimed that the Egyptian god Horus and the Greek god Apollo are the same.
There is also a theory that apellai is derived from a very ancient form of the god Apollo, which can be compared to Apliunas, an original god whose name meant "father lion" or "father light." After that, the Greeks associated the name of the god Apollo with the verb "to destroy . "
Many researchers have suggested that the God Apollo derives his divinity from Hurrian and Hittite peoples of ancient times. They were widely invoked at the time of the plague and Aplu which means the son of Enlil who was the lord of the heavens and the earth, which was a title given to the God Nergal, who was closely related to Shamash, the Babylonian god of the sun.
Cult of the Greek god Apollo
In history it is said that the Greek God Apollo, as well as the Etruscan people, arrived in the Aegean Sea at the time of the Iron Age between 1100 and 800 BC, from Anatolia, a city located in Asia Minor, the poet Homer presents the God Apollo on the Trojan side, against the Achaean soldiers in the epic Trojan War that lasted ten years.
Between the years 1700 to 1200 before Christ, in the Bronze Age, in the Aplu Hittite and Hurrian peoples, the God Apollo was characterized as the God of plagues and had a certain resemblance to the Mouse God Apollo Smintheus. Here a slightly strange reason appears since the God who brought the plague was invoked to end the same plague. And over time this idea mixed and there was a fusion where he became known as a healing God.
In the Iliad novel, the poet Homer affirms that the Greek God Apollo is an independent God and could heal the wounds caused by Hades and Ares. But for other authors who have investigated everything about the God Apollo, they have reported that all this became a mere qualifier about the presence of being a healing God.
The poet Homer illustrated to Penn that it was a song for the war in Greece and of thanks to the triumph, but the poet Hesiod separated both the song and the song of triumph. Already in poetry the God Apollo is invoked as the God of healing, but separating Pean from healing is very complex since it is a healing song.
Because the two songs were addressed to the Greek God Apollo, then those songs were sung for other gods such as Dionysus, Helios and Asclepius, since they are closely related to the God Apollo. In the century where more emphasis was made was in the IV before Christ.
Due to these events, the Greek God Apollo was recognized as the God of music, in addition to giving protection against disease and misfortune or being grateful for the protection given, also in his association with the death of the python since he killed it. he joins him as a god of victory and battle. That is why the customs of the Roman armies sang a pean when they were going to fight a battle in order to achieve victory.
Regarding the union that the God Apollo has with the Oracle of Delphi, he has the knowledge of knowing what the final outcome of any disease will be, that is why he is closely linked to music and has the musical instrument called the lyre.
Healing belongs to him and this god Apollo being the father of Asclepius who has the divinity of being the God of medicine. Like him, he has his choir of nine muses that inspired artists to make their works of art, which were music, history, poetry and dance as the main ones.
Sites where the god Apollo was worshiped
The Greek God Apollo is one of the Olympic heroes who had several sites or temples where he was worshiped, in turn there were two very important sites to worship him which were Delphi and Delos, also as this God many representations were made there were the cults of the God Apollo Cintio and that of the God Apollo Pythia, which were very different but at the same time they could be worshiped in the same cities.
It is also important to note that many words derive from Apollo and are used to refer to the same god. These include * apellai* , as he was known in antiquity, which is similar to *Apalionas*, meaning "lion father" or "father of light." However, over time, the Greeks began to associate the name Apollo with destruction.
With the Greek god Apollo, such a great cult was made that they began to give his name to several cities such as Apollonia, Apollodorus and Apollonius. In addition to others that appear throughout the Greek region. The cult of the God Apollo spread to many places that when the written sources began in the year 650 BC there were already cults of the Greek God Apollo.
In Greek mythology, the God Apollo had his oracular sanctuaries, the most important and representative was the sanctuary of the Oracle of Delphi, whose construction was very important and within the walls there was like a city where several fountains and a great theater had been built, in addition There were large individual bedrooms that were divided for people from different cities of origin.
There were always places where those who went to consult to know about their future left offerings of gold, silver, bronze and precious stones, the sanctuary of the Oracle of Delphi received thousands of people a day who went with the desire to consult, they came from Greece and many parts of the Mediterranean.
One of the most illustrious visitors who went to consult the Oracle of Delphi was the great Alexander the Great, to whom the Pythia prophesied that he would "Conquer the World," since that Oracle had great fame for not failing in the predictions it gave to its clients.
Other Temples that had great fame was that of Claros and Bránquidas, they had an oracular altar in Abas and from that place the adjective Abeo comes, it was very important since Croesus, the last king of Lydia, was consulted. Throughout Greece there were several temples among the most outstanding were:
Didyma, an oracle located on the coast of the Anatolian city, which was northwest of Sardis, a city in Lydia, was inhabited by priests of the Branchid lineage who were inspired by drinking water from the spring that flowed from the bottom of the earth, which was also very healing for those consulting it.
Hierapolis Bambyce, located in Asia Minor, is another very important oracle for the worship of the Greek god Apollo. The sanctuary belonged to the Syrian goddess Dea Syria, who possessed an image of Apollo with a long robe and beard. Divinations were performed there based on the movement of the image of Apollo.
Delos Island, birthplace of the Greek god Apollo, called the Oracle of Apollo Delium, was located next to the great sacred lake where the god Apollo grew up.
In Corinth , this temple was dedicated to the god Apollo. The Oracle, located in the city of Tenea, was also used to hold prisoners captured in the Trojan War.
The Temple of Apollo was also located on the island of Delphi, where a spring ran inside and was used to tell the future of those who consulted it.
In Patara Lycia there was another oracle used in winter, where it was said to be the place where the god Apollo would spend the winter; it was run by Patara, who was a beautiful woman and fortune teller.
Claros, located in Asia Minor on the west coast, was similar to the Oracle of Delphi, where there was a spring and the priests drank water to be able to prophesy the future of those consulting; a place much visited for curing the sick.
Other minor temples where the Greek God Apollo was worshiped is in Thebes the oldest temple built in the XNUMXth century before Christ, the God Apollo Ismen was worshiped. It was a curved building. The Doric temple had also been built in the XNUMXth century before Christ, but only very small parts have been recovered since it was demolished. It is known as mythology that Dafne Farias sang and festivities were held every nine years to the God Apollo. Among other temples that worshiped the Greek God Apollo are the following:
- In Rome there was a temple of Apollo dedicated to Apollo Medicus, probably next to the temple of the war goddess Bellona.
- Temple of Apollo Actio from the XNUMXth century BC. C., on the promontory of Actium, on the coast of Acarnania.
- Temple of Apollo at Termon, in Aetolia.
- Temple of Apollo Agieo ('protector of the streets') in the city of Megalopolis, in Arcadia.
- Temple of Apollo in Apollonia (Epirus).
- Temple of Apollo on the island of Ortygia, in Syracuse (Sicily).
- Temple of Apollo at Phigalia, in Arcadia.
- Temple of Apollo in Corinth.
- Temple of Apollo in Delos.
- Temple of Apollo Delphinium at Dreros, northeast Crete (XNUMXth century BC)
- Temple of Apollo in Utica, northern Tunisia.
Cult of the God Apollo in Rome
After the Greeks worshiped the Greek God Apollo, the Romans also did the same, absorbing all the culture of Greece since there were Hellenic colonies to the south of the Italian peninsula. The first temple dedicated to the Greek god Apollo in Rome was built in the XNUMXth century BC. When the cult of the God Apollo was already about a hundred years old.
As Apollo was a Greek God in Rome he had no God to match him in Roman mythology, but in time the Roman poets equated him with the God Phoebus. There is another Greek tradition in which the Delphic oracle was widely consulted first thing in the morning in the period of the Roman kings, during the reign of Tarquinius Superbus.
In 430 BC, Rome was struck by a plague, which led to the establishment of the first Temple in Rome in the Flaminian Fields. This temple replaced an older site called the Apollinare, built during the Second Punic War in 212 BC. The Ludi Apollinare ('Apollonian Games') were held in honor of the god Apollo.
At the time of the Roman emperor Augustus, it was considered that he was protected by the God Apollo, the cult became very favorable to him, becoming one of the primordial Gods of Rome. In the battle called Actium that took place near the Temple of Apollo in Rome, the Roman emperor Augustus ordered the largest Temple to be built. And another part of what was won in the battle was used to carry out the quinquennial games in honor of the Greek god Apollo.
After the games, a new temple was built in the name of the God Apollo located on the Palatine Hill. Sacrifices and prayers were dedicated only to the God Apollo and Diana, who represented the virgin goddess of hunting, with this the secular games celebrated in the XNUMXth century BC ended. With this, the new beginning of the era was commemorated.
The Celtic cult of the God Apollo
The Greek God Apollo was highly worshiped throughout the Greek territory, he was also worshiped in the Roman Empire, and in the Celtic territories, he was considered as the god of the sun and also as the god who could cure all diseases. Although many Celts confuse him with Celtic gods who had the same characteristics. They also gave him many qualifiers and adjectives, among which are the following:
Apollo Atepomarus as the great rider, since in the Celtic world horses are closely associated with the sun.
Apollo Belenus was given this name in highland areas such as Gaul and northern Italy and was like the God of the sun and of healing.
Apollo Cunomaglu, the title given to him on an altar in the city of Wiltshire, was also the God of healing and was often confused with a Celtic God of healing.
Apollo Grannus, being the God of spring and healing, was also equated with the Greek god Apollo, for having the gift of healing the sick.
Apollo Maponus was known since inscriptions were found in England; he was a local god and was a fusion of the Greek god Apollo with the Celtic god Maponus.
Apollo Moritasgus was the name given to the god Apollo in Alesia, a city of Gallic tribes. There he was greatly worshipped, and he was also a god of healing and of doctors.
A temple was built to Apollo Vindonnus in the city of Essarois, now a French town, very close to Châtillon-sur-Seine (Burgundy), because he possessed the gift of healing, especially of sight.
Apollo Virotutis is the god who is called the benefactor of humanity, and he was worshipped, among other places, in Fins d'Annecy (Haute-Savoie) and in Jublains (Maine and Loire).
cult in modernity
In the XNUMXst century, the name of the Greek God Apollo is still in full force, emphasizing art, science and literature, where each name or image of the God Apollo is represented in people, companies, businesses and numerous works of art. and literary, even in scientific projects such as the one used by NASA such as the Apollo project.
In Spain there are many theaters and cinemas that bear the name of the Greek God Apollo, among which the Apollo theater stands out in Madrid, Murcia, Barcelona, Miranda de Ebros. On the European continent, such as Opeth Apolo, Apolo movie theaters (Bosnia), Apolo Cinema (Tbilisi), the Münster cinema complex, parks and squares (Apolo de Vratislava, Apolo de Cartagena park), the Apolo Center.
There are instrument houses and music academies (Apolo Música, Musical Apolo, Apolo Cítaras, in South America), the Hammersmith Apollo (London, England), rock bands (the Uruguayans Hijos de Apolo, and Apolo Rocks from Argentina), the Apollo choir of the city of Loretto in Italy, the list seems endless.
The attributes and symbols of the God Apollo
In Greek mythology, the most well-known symbols and attributes of the god Apollo are the bow and arrow, but he always carries in his hands the musical instrument called the lyre, as well as the plectrum and his sword.
Another attribute was that he carried the tripod to perform the sacrifices since this was very representative of the God Apollo, he also had a laurel branch for the purifying sacrifices that were used to make the crown of victory in the Pythian games that were celebrated in honor of the God Apollo every four years.
Another of his attributes was the palm tree that was consecrated to him because the God Apollo had been born under a large palm tree on the Island of Delos. Many animals were also consecrated to the God Apollo, such as the wolves, the dolphins and the roe deer, the whooper swan and the cicadas (symbolizing music), hawks, the gray crow, ravens and serpents (alluding to his functions as god of prophecy), mice and griffins, mythical hybrids of eagle and lion of oriental origin.
The Greek God Apollo was known as the God of colonies or colonization, but it was mostly between the years 750 to 720 BC. Well, according to the traditions of Greece, the God Apollo could help the Cretans or Arcadians to found the city of Troy. But these stories tend to reflect a somewhat inverse cultural influence to what has already been told.
There are texts circulating in Asia Minor, known as Hittite cuneiform, about a god named Appaliunas or Apalunas, who is closely associated with the city of Wilusa, mentioned by the Hittite tribe. This city is currently compared to the Greek religion of Ilium, according to many researchers. The title Lykegenes is interpreted as simply 'born in Lycia ,' but this would establish no connection or link between the god Apollo and wolves.
In the content of Greek literature, the God Apollo represents order, reason and harmony, which are characteristics very similar to that of Dionysus considered as the God of wine, which in turn was the representation of disorder and ecstasy. Unlike these gods, the adjective was reflected as Apollonian and Dionysian.
Although it was considered true that the Greeks had the idea that the gods Apollo and Dionysus were like brothers because of the qualities they had and both complemented each other, since Apollo went to Hyperborea in the winter, leaving the Oracle of Delphi to the God Dionysus and this is the illusion in the Borghese vase.
Myths and legends of the Greek God Apollo
The god Apollo who was also known by the name Apollo (Phebo Apollo), being one of the most important gods of Mount Olympus since he was one of the 12 who lived in that place. Being the son of Zeus with the goddess Leto, he possessed many arts such as divination, the art of music with his entourage of nine muses and above all the power to use the bow and arrow and not miss where he aims.
He was also the God of Sunlight, and he had arrows that were capable of producing the worst diseases, of course he had the gift of healing. He was known to many as the one who attacks from far and near at the same time.
Since his nature was dual, because he was also the protector of the shepherds and took care of his cattle but he was also identified as the wolf that eats the cattle. Among the main myths of him are:
The myth of the Lyre: This myth tells of Hermes' birth on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, recounted in a Homeric song or hymn to the god Hermes. As is well known, Hermes is the god of business, travel, and thieves.
Her mother named Maia, who is the eldest of the Pleiades daughters, after becoming pregnant with the God Zeus because she had love affairs with him, after giving birth to the creature she covered her with blankets to sleep, but as the child grew quickly he ran away and went to Thessaly, there he stole some cattle and took them to a cave near the city of Pylos.
While in the cave, he found a tortoise, which he killed to remove its entrails. After emptying the shell, he killed the cows to extract their intestines, and with these intestines and the tortoise shell, he made a musical instrument which he called a lyre. Meanwhile, the Greek god Apollo complained to the mother of the god Hermes because he had stolen some of his cattle.
But the God Hermes had already returned to the blankets where his mother had rolled him up and he was already asleep. In this way the mother of the god did not believe a single word that the god Apollo said. In this way the great God Zeus intervened in favor of the Greek God Apollo.
In this way, the God Hermes being already guilty for what he had done and was discovered, he began to play the musical instrument he had invented, in this way the Greek God Apollo heard him and fell in love with the musical instrument named Lira, in this way He offered to exchange the cattle that had disappeared for that instrument so that he could play it. In this way he became the owner and master of the Lira.
Origin of the myth of Delphi: This myth of the Greek god Apollo begins when he is four days old. The goddess Hera, angered by Leto, sent a serpent to pursue and kill Leto and her children. Apollo then slew the chthonic dragon Python, who lived in the city of Delphi, near the Castalian Spring. According to Greek mythology, this spring emitted vapors that caused the oracles of Delphi to deliver prophecies to those who consulted them.
Apollo, being a child, already had the sword in his possession, but he begged Hephaestus to give him a bow with the arrows, when the python snake appeared to kill his mother, he was able to corner the snake at the point of arrows in the sacred cave of Delphi. After so much battle he managed to kill the snake but they punished him since the snake was a son of Gea who was the goddess of the earth.
After having killed the python, the goddess was very angry and decided to send the great giant Ticio to kill Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis, the God Apollo did the impossible to kill the great giant until his twin sister Artemis helped him to protect his mother's life.
During the hard battle the God Zeus gave in on his sons' side and threw the great giant Tityus into Tartarus, the deepest part of hell. There he was fastened to a rock that was nine acres across and several vultures ate his liver day after day.
Musical duels: In the history of musical duels, the Greek God had many, but three myths are considered of great importance. The first was Pan, the demigod of shepherds, who had the intelligence to compare the music he played with that played by the God Apollo and decided to challenge him to a musical duel.
The duel consisted of the demigod Pan going to play the date and the Greek God Apollo played the Lyre, it was a test of musical ability Tmolo the God of the mountain was chosen as the referee of the contest Pan played the best notes that were I knew that he felt very pleased with what he did and his most faithful follower, King Midas.
Then the god Apollo began to play the strings of his lyre making beautiful tunes that everyone present loved what the god Apollo played. The referee of the contest gave the god Apollo as the winner since many agreed with the minor decision, King Midas who did not agree and rejected the final verdict, in this way the God Apollo made him grow ears like donkeys so that he could better listen to good music.
In another musical duel he was against Marsyas, he was a satyr and a great expert playing the aulos, a flute with two pipes that he had found on the way and he played it in a very beautiful way, this instrument had fallen to the Goddess Athena since she had made it up and it made her cheeks turn pink.
This time who were going to be the judges of the musical contest were the nine Greek muses, both played in a very special way, that the muses had decreed a tie, for which the Greek God Apollo decreed that they should play and sing at the same time , the God Apollo did it in a very spectacular way, but Marsyas could not do it since he played or sang it because it was a wind instrument.
In the end the God Apollo won him and declared him the winner of the contest and for having challenged a God, he took him to the cave near Calaenae in Phrygia for his hubris (excessive pride) and in that place he skinned him alive and his blood it became the river Marsyas.
There is another version of this musical duel in which both played the instrument backwards, but Marsyas could not do it either, so he also lost the musical battle and the god Apollo hung him from a tree and skinned him alive for having defied God.
And in the third of the musical duels that the God Apollo had was in a Lira contest against his son who, seeing himself lost against his father, the God Apollo preferred to commit suicide.
The Trojan War: In the story of the Trojan War, the god Zeus told all his children not to participate in the Trojan War, but in the end they all ended up participating in said war, but helping the different sides, since the god Apollo along with the goddess Aphrodite convinced the god Ares, the Olympian god of war, to be on the Trojan side, since there were two sons of the god Apollo, Hector and Troilus, fighting there.
In the novel written by the poet Homer the Iliad, the Greek God Apollo interfered before the insults made by Agamemnon, one of the heroes of Greek mythology, against Chryses, the brother of Briseo and one of the priests whose daughter was kidnapped by the which Chryses wanted to challenge himself well away from the Achaeans to implore the God Apollo to give him back his daughter.
The God Apollo accepted his call and filled the Achaean camp with arrows infected with various diseases, to request the release of the daughter of Crises called Criseida, for which the Achaeans ended up returning her and provoking the power of the hero Achilles, in this way the God Apollo helped the prince Paris, to kill the hero Achilles by guiding an arrow from the bow towards Achilles' heel, in revenge for him having killed Hector and Troilus son of the God Apollo.
Influence of the God Apollo in Greece
The cult that is made to the Greek God Apollo, in art in Greece is very broad since he is called the patron of art and is worshiped together with the nine Greek muses, with whom the God Apollo forms a choir and they were of vital importance in Ancient Greece. In addition, many artists owe him the progress they made in the branches of the arts that are currently the subjects of theater, music, dance, poetry and painting courses.
In Greek mythology music was considered very important for the lives of the Greeks, for this quality they decorated clay pots with paintings and representations with people playing musical instruments, these musical theories are developed in the seventh century BC. Who begins these studies is Pythagoras studying the seven musical notes, in addition to musical scales and the concepts of perfect fifths and octaves.
Trilogies I, IV, V, which were the fundamentals currently used in music, were also studied. In the theater, drama, comedy and tragedy were established as genres, which is why many theaters were built throughout the city of Hellas.
In art, the Greek God Apollo was represented as a young man, without a beard and very beautiful, always carrying the zither and the bow in his hand, he was also painted on a reclining tree (as they were painted as Apollo Lycio and Apollo Sauróctono).
In the Belvedere Apollo sculpture is made of marble, but it was rediscovered in the 350th century, and in the Renaissance until the 325th century it has summed up the ideas of classical antiquity for the European continent and was a Hellenistic or Roman copy of an original made by a sculptor of Greek origin called Leochares who made it in bronze between XNUMX and XNUMX BC.
At the end of the second century after Christ on Roman soil, the Djem called the Roman of Tisdro usually identifies the Greek God Apollo as Apollo Helios because of his radiant crown, but he is also known for his nudity that he hides under his tunic, this is a sign of great pacts that were made in the empire. Another figure that exists of the Greek God Apollo with a halo is that of hadrumeto and this is found in the Sousse museum in Tunisia.
This figure of the God Apollo is represented with a tilted head, a slightly open mouth and large eyes and an anatole-style haircut and curls falling down the neck, this work was made in the third century before Christ to make a representation of Alexander the Great.
Over the centuries, researchers discovered that representations of Christ and other saints of the Christian religion were made that would be similar at that time, but the representations that were made of the Greek God Apollo were distinguished by the fact that halos of light or large solar flashes, as well as the mosaic that was found in Cartago.
At the end of the 18th century BC or around the year 650, in the Cretan city of Dreros, a small statuette of the God Apollo was found made in an orientalizing style, where the sphyrelaton technique was used , based on hammering bronze sheets onto a wooden base, giving it shape. The statuette is 80 cm high and is very well delineated, showing strong pectoral muscles.
Currently it can be seen in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion. There are also other representations very similar to this statuette made of bronze sheets in the Louvre museum called the Apollo of Piombino and the Great Golden Apollo of Lillebonne.
The God Apollo in Renaissance and later art
Many artists made works of great importance in honor of the Greek God Apollo and it is scattered all over the world, these ancient sculptures are treated as modern, in addition paintings from antiquity were found inside several houses in the city of Pompeii in ancient Rome that were made at the time of the Roman Renaissance, but they painted the God Apollo although there was a rule that only the nobility could be represented as well as the kings and high state officials.
In the Louvre museum, there is the Gallery of the God Apollo, there is the work done by the painter and decorator Charles Le Brun who was of French origin, to finish it the French painter and lithographer named Delacroix who finished it in the second Roman empire.
In the castle of Versailles is the hall of Apollo, which is used for the reception of the ambassadors and music and dance shows are given. In the gardens of the same castle there is a representation of the Solar God.
The Pond of the God Apollo is located in the great Canal, in the middle of that great canal there is a monumental statue of the God Apollo, made by the French sculptor of Italian origin named Jean-Baptiste Tuby. In which the God Apollo emerges from the water driving a great chariot that is pulled by horses.
In the grove of the baths of Apollo, an 1671th-century work, the sun god is represented, in an attitude of weariness and surrounded by nymphs, and finally there is Apollo and Aurora by Gerard de Lairesse, XNUMX; It is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The Muses of the Greek God Apollo
In the story of the Greek God Apollo, from Greek mythology it is said that these muses are the inspiring divinities of the arts, and each of these nine beautiful women is related to the artistic and knowledge branches, being daughters of the great God Zeus, They were companions of the retinue or choir of the Greek God Apollo who had the divinity of being the God of music and the patron of the fine arts.
Although the God Apollo had romance with each of the nine Greek muses, leaving children, they could go down to earth and inspire artistic ideas and knowledge to the mortals who invoked them, this happened according to researchers between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries Before Christ, this became prevalent in the territory of Hellas, where the nine Greek muses were worshiped.
These nine Greek muses were called Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Thalia, Terpsichore, and Urania. It is important to emphasize that the word music comes from the word muse and these beautiful women were a fundamental piece in the artistic development of Ancient Greece.
Romances that had the God Apollo
In the stories that are narrated about the amorous encounters of the Greek God Apollo, the classical sources stand out, the Pausanias, those of Apollonius of Rhodes, Pindar and Pliny the elder and Apollo without a beard, where it is said that he had innumerable love affairs and at least the three digits of lovers are counted.
For which he came to have a hundred children, among whom Orpheus stands out, a Greek hero, there is also Asclepius, the god of medicine and healing, and others have given names to cities or some kings. The main ronces that the Greek God Apollo has had are the following:
Acanta: She was a great romance for the Greek god Apollo, but after her death, the god Apollo decided to transform her into a sun-loving herb.
Calypso: In Greek mythology, she was the daughter of the Titan Atlas. She fell in love with the Greek god Apollo and had a great affair with him, but without leaving any offspring. After the Titanomachy, the Titans were defeated by the Olympian gods. All the Titans were punished, and Calypso was sent to the island of Ogygia. According to the poet Homer, this beautiful woman fell in love with Odysseus, but he returned to his beloved Penelope, while Calypso died of grief for being alone.
Cassandra: The Greek god Apollo fell in love with this beautiful woman, the daughter of Hecuba and King Priam, and also the stepsister of Troilus. Apollo bestowed upon her the gift of prophecy and divination, hoping to seduce her, but she realized his true intentions and rejected him.
For which the God was very upset and instead of taking away the gift that he gave her, he decided that no one was going to believe her, what she was going to say according to her projections, so he predicted the fall of Troy because of of his brother Prince Paris but nobody paid attention to his predictions.
Castalia: According to Greek mythology, she was the daughter of the river god Apollo. The Greek god Apollo was very much in love with this beautiful lady, but Castalia decided to flee from the god Apollo. In fleeing from the god, she decided to throw herself into the spring that flows from the oracle of Delphi, which at that time was called the Castalian Spring.
This water was used to cleanse the great temple and the priests drank it in order to give prophecies to the seekers and it was also used to inspire artists and poets. This lady after diving could inspire poets to make the most beautiful poetry.
Cyrene: She was the daughter of the Thessalian nymph and King Hypseus. This beautiful woman did not want to lead a life of labor, so she decided to live a wild life. When she met the god Apollo, she fell in love with him, became pregnant, and had a son named Aristaeus.
This son he had with Apollo became a God, and was the patron of cattle, fruit trees, hunting, agriculture and beekeeping. This son of Cyrene was a great hero who taught the Greeks the techniques of dairy farming and the use of traps for hunting, as well as the best way to cultivate olive trees.
Coronis: In Greek tradition, this beautiful woman from the city of Larissa is known as one of the lovers of the Greek god Apollo and the mother of the god Asclepius. After giving birth, she fell in love with Ischius, a son of Elatus. A raven went to Apollo and informed him of Coronis's affair.
Although the god Apollo did not want to believe the raven, he painted it black because before they were white, the god Apollo did it to spread lies. But in the end the truth was discovered that if he had adventures and the God Apollo decided to send his twin sister to kill Coronis.
There is another version of this myth in which the same God Apollo decides to kill Coronis, for this he decided to forgive the ravens and gave him the name of announcing important deaths, after this he decides to rescue the baby from the funeral pyre of Coronis and He gave it to the care of the centaur Chiron, to raise and educate it in the best way.
The father of Coronis named Flegias upon learning of the death of his daughter was filled with rage that he decided to go and burn the oracle of Delphi. So the God Apollo concluded in taking her life from her.
Creusa: being the daughter of Erechtheus with the first king of Athens, she is one of the main performers in Euripides' tragedy Ion. This woman was the wife of Xuthus, but the god Apollo fathered Ion with Creusa.
After giving birth to him, she leaves him in the forest, but the God Apollo goes in search of the abandoned child and asks the God Hermes to save him while he arrives, after recovering him, he takes him to the Oracle of Delphi to be cared for and educated by a priestess.
Daphne: one of the most widespread stories in Greek mythology about the loves of the Greek god Apollo. The story begins when the god Apollo made jokes about the god Eros's aim with the bow and arrow. Annoyed, the god Eros decided to play a trick on him by shooting a golden arrow at the god Apollo so that he would fall madly in love with Daphne. Daphne then shot a lead arrow so that he would refuse to love the god Apollo.
After making the first phase effective, the God Apollo was looking for Daphne with love but he did not want it and he refused, for which he decided to run to get away from the God Apollo, since it caused her only contempt, in this way she asked Daphne her father the River God Ladon who will transform her into a laurel tree. Since the God Apollo could not make anything of her except to see how she would transform into the tree, he made the tree very sacred and the leaves of it would be made into crowns for the winners of the games.
Hecuba : She was the wife of King Priam of Troy. He had an affair with her and impregnated her. She had a son named Troilus. One of the prophetesses of the Oracle of Delphi prophesied that the city of Troy would not be destroyed until Troilus turned twenty years old, and when he reached that age he would be killed by the hero Achilles.
The nine Greek Muses: the nine daughters of the god Zeus who inspired the arts in mortals, namely Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Thalia, Terpsichore, and Urania. Zeus had great passions with all these beautiful women; with Calliope, the Greek muse of poetry, he had two sons: the renowned Orpheus and Lalemus.
With the muse Erato, who was of poetry and romance, he also had another son named Tamiris. The story has been told of a son of the God Apollo named Lino, but mythological researchers do not agree if he is the son of the Greek muse. Terpsichore or the muse Urania. The truth is that many painters and great artists have painted the Greek God Apollo with the nine Greek muses.
Leucotote: She was a mortal princess, the daughter of King Orchamus and Eurynome. She was seduced by the Greek god Apollo, who had disguised himself as her mother to enter her room. Upon discovering this other lover of Apollo, named Clytie, she went to King Orchamus to tell him everything his daughter had done.
King Orcamus, knowing what was happening, made the decision to bury his daughter alive, when the God Apollo found out, he went to look for her but she had already died and concluded by transforming her into an incense plant. But he also abandoned Clitia since he despised her for what she made of her, so she spent her whole life until the gods turned her into a sunflower flower.
Marpesa: She was one of the granddaughters of the god Ares, daughter of Evenus, the King of Aetolia. While this beautiful woman was being courted by the Greek god Apollo, she was kidnapped by Idas, who put her in a horse-drawn chariot and took her away. Evenus did the same, getting into a horse-drawn chariot to pursue Idas, but he could not catch him. In this way, he decided to slaughter the horses and threw himself into the river current, and now it is known as the Evenus.
Idas arrived with Marpesa to the city of Messenia, but in that city he met the Greek God Apollo, who was able to snatch Marpesa from him, while the two were arguing over the beautiful woman, the God Zeus entered and separated them both from the fight and he asked Marpesa to choose one of the two, and she chose Idas fearing that when she was older the God Apollo would leave her for a younger one.
Chione: being the daughter of Daedalion, according to Greek mythology this lady was so beautiful that when the gods Hermes and Apollo saw her they desired her greatly and decided to wait until nightfall, but Hermes was so impatient that he made her sleep before it got dark in order to possess her, and the god Apollo disguised himself as an old woman at night to possess her.
This resulted in the fact that she was the mother of two babies, the first was called Autolycus and the second was named Filamon, this young and beautiful woman had the audacity to despise the twin sister of the God Apollo Artemis in revenge for such an act Artemis pierced her the tongue of an arrow and I kill her. Sad by what happened Daedalion decides to launch himself from Mount Parnassus, but the Greek God Apollo turns him into a hawk so that he would not die when he hit the ground.
Sinope: She was the daughter of the god Ares, but the goddess Aphrodite and Eros incited the Greek god Apollo to abduct her. After that, he had relations with her and she became pregnant and had a son, Sirius, who would become king of what is now called Syria.
It is important to emphasize that in the life of the Greek God Apollo he had more lovers, but a curious fact is that he also had male lovers in his life, as is the case that we will describe below.
Hyacinthus: being the son of the Greek muse Clio and Pierus, he held the position of prince and a handsome young man, he was under the care and tutelage of the god Apollo who taught him athletics and the arts, while they were both practicing discus throwing.
The God Apollo threw a disk that was deflected by Cephiro, one of the gods of the wind, who deflected it and hit Jacinto's head with such force that he killed him instantly, when he saw him dead, the Greek God Apollo converted the God Zephyr in wind so that no one could speak or touch him.
From the blood shed by the beloved Hyacinthus, the god Apollo caused a flower to spring forth as a tribute to him. The tears of the god Apollo stained the petals of the flower with marks of " ai ai," signifying the eternal sorrow that Apollo feels and translated as "alas ay." This means eternal lament. A great festival is held in honor of Hyacinthus, and it is a traditional celebration in Sparta.
Cyparissus: being a relative of the demigod Heracles, the Greek god Apollo gave him a beautiful deer that was domesticated to be his companion, but Cyparissus accidentally killed it with a pilum, which was a kind of small sword, when the animal was asleep in the undergrowth.
Cipariso was very saddened by what he had done, that he told the Greek God Apollo to make his tears shed eternally, for which the god turned him into a cypress tree that represents sadness since its sap is formed in drops of tears on the trunk.
Adjectives and titles given to the God Apollo
In the different cults that were performed to the Greek God Apollo, many adjectives were given to him that were applied to him due to the large number of divinities that he had, as well as the gifts and roles that had described the God. But in Greek mythology there are a large number of qualifiers that do not appear in Latin literature and in this article we will name it for you.
- God of light and the Sun
- Music god
- God of medicine and healing
- God of plagues and defender against rats and locusts
- god of archery
- pastoral god of livestock
- God of the settlers
- god of oracles
- god of prophecy
- Head of muses and nymphs
Other myths of great relevance
As he has been one of the most important gods in Greek mythology, the Greek God Apollo has many legends about him that must be counted, among the main ones are the following:
Admetus: In a story that exists in Greek mythology, the god Zeus killed the son of the Greek god Apollo with a lightning bolt to save Hippolytus, who was the son of Theseus and an Amazon, from returning to life. The god Zeus broke the laws of Themis, who represented justice, by taking away the subjects of the god Hades, who represents the underworld.
Seeing his dead son, Apollo sought revenge and went to kill the Cyclops who were the creators of the thunderbolt of Zeus who killed Asclepius son of Apollo. According to the laws, the Greek God Apollo had to be banished to Tartarus and stay there forever.
But he was sentenced to hard labor for a year as punishment for what he did, thanks to his mother being able to intervene for him. During that year he had to work for King Admetus of Pheras in Thessaly. At that time, King Admetus treated the Greek God Apollo very well and granted him various benefits, among which are.
He helped to conquer the daughter of King Pelias named Alcestis, after that the God Apollo was able to convince the Moiras, who were the personifications of destiny, to allow King Admetus to live one more time of life,
But when it was time for him to leave for the other world of death, King Admetus thought that his parents wanted to do it first and they rejected the offer to die for him. Instead, his wife Alcestis did it and after that Heracles intervened who manages to convince the God of death Thanatos to return her to the world of the living.
Niobe: She is the wife of Amphion, who was the son of Zeus. She was also one of the queens of Thebes. She had created a great reputation for superiority by having had fourteen children, who were known as the Niobids. They were seven males and seven females, while Leto had only had the god Apollo and his twin sister Artemis.
The story that is told is that while the seven men were practicing athletics with the God Apollo, he killed them one by one and ignored their pleas. And the Goddess Artemis did the same with the seven daughters of Niobe. The way they used to kill these brothers was poison arrows.
But in other versions of the myth is that some children of Niobe were forgiven. After this, Father Amphion, seeing his children killed, took his own life too, but there is another myth where the God Apollo also murders him after swearing revenge for his dead children.
With regard to Niobe, she felt very devastated when she saw that her fourteen children and husband had died that she decided to go to Mount Sipylus located in Asia Minor and while she cried for the loss that occurred, she turned into stone, her tears formed the Acheloos river. She also turned all the inhabitants of Thebes into stones, that is why she could not bury anyone until the ninth day of her death since the same gods buried her.
In another myth about the Greek God Apollo, it is that he gave Orestes through the oracle of Delphi that he should kill his mother who was Clytemnestra with her lover with her lover named Aegisthus, Oreste was punished for a long time by the Erinyes a women who enforced justice.
Although he asked for the interception of the goddess Athena who asked that he be tried by a correct jury and the Greek God Apollo as his defender. In the Odyssey written by the poet Homer, the protagonist Odysseus and the rest of his entourage who were able to survive thanks to the fact that they arrived on an island that was blessed by the God Apollo.
On that island where they arrived there were many cattle, and Odysseus warned him not to touch any of those animals because they were sacred and belonged to the Sun God, but the crew paid no attention, as Tiresias and Circe would have prophesied, who were fortunetellers and predicted what would happen. what was going to happen
These men killed some of the cattle and ate them, so the God Apollo became so angry that he spoke to the God Zeus and he destroyed the ship and killed all those who ate the sacred cattle, leaving only Odysseus alive.
Importance of the God Apollo in Western culture
In the mythology of Greece, Pythian games were held, which were athletic games very similar to the Olympic games that are celebrated today and these were made to honor the Greek God Apollo. That is why the athletes had a well-shaped body thanks to the different exercises they perform.
It is also said that the Greek god Apollo will be the representative of balance, since this god is attributed with the message of " Know thyself," as this message was written in the oracle of Delphi and was later used by the philosopher Socrates.
It is also related to the myth of