Apollo

Apollo is the Greek archer god of solar clarity, beauty, reason, the arts and more specifically music and poetry. He is also god of purifications and healing, but can bring plague with his bow; finally, he is one of the main gods capable of divination, consulted, among other places, at Delphi, where he gave his oracles through the Pythia. He was also honored by the Romans, who adopted him very quickly without changing his name. He is perhaps the most worshiped god in all of Greco-Roman mythology and one of the most complex to define, especially since he has, over time, "absorbed" other minor gods.

Lycian Apollo. Roman copy (imperial period) of a Greek original

Lycian Apollo. Roman copy (Imperial era) of a Greek original.
Location:Louvre Museum (Ma 928).
Photographer:Jastrow (2005)
Public domain .

Genealogy

Apollo is the son of Zeus and a Titanide, Leto. Her twin sister is Artemis.

One of the Homeric Hymns tells its story in detail:Hera, jealous of a new infidelity of her divine husband, had forbidden the Earth to receive Leto, pregnant with Apollo and his sister. She therefore wandered in vain in search of a place that would welcome her. Only the island of Ortygia, which was not fixed, could accept it, because its status as land floating on the waters made it neither an island in the proper sense nor a land area. Leto promised to make it a fixed and purified island; however, she was unable to give birth to her twins and suffered for nine days and nine nights from the pains of childbirth; in vain:Hera subtly held back Ilithyie, who presides over childbirth. Other goddesses, however, sent Iris, the messenger of the gods, to free Ilithyia from Hera's attention, which she did. Leto was finally able to give birth, first to Artemis, who helped him give birth to Apollo. Themis offered the newborn nectar and ambrosia and in fact transmitted to him the taste for fairness; Ortygia, finally fixed, became a sacred land, on which no one could be born or die and took the name of Delos, that is to say "the visible" (see ancient Greek religion, section "The pure and the unclean").

Statue of Apollo discovered in Lillebonne

2nd century, Gilt bronze, ca. 1.90m
Louvre Museum
Personal shot
Siren Jun 23, 2005 at 11:10 PM (CEST)
Public domain This work is part of the domain public, either because its author has waived his rights (copyright), or because his rights have expired. It is therefore freely distributable and/or modifiable.

Origins

Apollo and his sister are not strictly Greek. They are considered to be of Asian origin, which for the Greeks meant "from Asia Minor". The very name of Leto could come from Lycian, an Indo-European dialect once spoken in Anatolia, and would mean, in the Lada form, "woman". One of Apollo's epicleses, Apollo Lycian, supports this hypothesis. Similarly, the weapon of Apollo and his twin, the bow, is not Greek but barbarian (in the Greek sense:all peoples who do not speak Greek); he also wears, like his sister, not sandals, like the other gods, but boots, a type of shoe considered Asian by the Ancients. In addition, he is, in Homer's Iliad, on the side of the Trojans, an Asian people, and the rejection suffered by Leto, which no Greek land accepts, would reinforce the idea of ​​a foreign god. It is paradoxically perhaps the most Greek god of all, and its rapid adoption by the Hellenic peoples quickly concealed its distant origins.

It is also possible that its origins date back to the Dorian people of the Peloponnese, who honored a god named Apéllon, protector of herds and human communities; it seems that the term comes from a Dorian word, apella, meaning "sheepfold" or "assembly". The Dorian Apellon would be a syncretic figure of several pre-Greek local deities, just as the Greek Apollo is the fusion of several models, including Apellon; it is also remarkable that his epithet of Lycian can be understood as "who comes from Lycia" or "who protects from wolves", that is to say that the two origins, one Asian and the other Dorian , are confirmed in a single term.

Apollon citharède Ludovisi.

Location:Palazzo Altemps, Rome.
Photograph:Jastrow (2003).
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When his cult was introduced into Greece, he was already honored by other pre-Hellenic peoples, as the Homeric Hymn intended for him indicates by noting that the Cretans were his first priests. His first place of worship is of course Delos, the religious capital of the Ionians; it is under Pericles, in the 5th century BC. J.-C., that the island passed into the hands of the Athenians, who reinforced its character as an inviolable sanctuary by having all births and deaths prohibited there. The cult of Apollo had in the meantime spread throughout the ancient world, from Asia Minor (the sanctuary of Didyma, near Miletus, bears the flagrant trace of it:it is one of the largest temples ever built in the Mediterranean area) to Syria, not to mention the countless temples dedicated to him in Greece itself.

It is above all at Delphi that the complex nature of the god is revealed, in his role as the inspirer of the Pythia and of men, whom he reveals to himself.

Achievements

The foundation of Delphi is undoubtedly the most important of his achievements. After his birth, Apollo left Delos for the land of the Hyperboreans, a mythical people of the North, near whom he stayed for a year (he returned there periodically afterwards). Returning, he decided to make Delphi his next sanctuary. The place, indeed, was supposed to be the center of the Universe (see the article devoted to Delphi), but it was in the hands of ancient chthonic powers:Gaïa was honored there, and a fabulous serpent, the drákayna resided there . After killing the serpent and supplanting Gaia, he made Delphi his territory. The corpse of the serpent became puthố(n), perhaps "the rotting one" (hence our python) and Apollo took the title of Pythian, as did the prophet Pythia (in this respect, it is important to note that the oracle is, once again, linked to telluric forces; it is also notable that in other sanctuaries dedicated to him, such as Claros in Ionia (Turkey), Apollo replaced chthonian deities who were worshiped there). At the end of this murder, Apollo had to purify himself with the water of the Tempé, in order to wash away his defilement (see ancient Greek religion, section "The pure and the impure") and confirmed his role as god of purifications. Needing followers, he transformed himself into a dolphin and hijacked a passing Cretan ship to lure its passengers, the priests mentioned above, into his sanctuary. This is how the city really took its name from Delphi (Delphoí), derived from delphís, “dolphin” (which French term comes to us from Greek through Latin).

Statue of Apollo, in the gardens of Versailles.

Personal photograph taken by User Urban, September 2004. GFDL
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Apollo-Phoebus

Apollo is also sometimes called Phoebus (or Phœbus, Phoĩbos, in ancient Greek). The Homeric poems often call him "Phoebus Apollo". In fact, some books and manuals quickly conclude that Apollo and Phoebus are the same people. It's only half true. In reality, Apollo as a child, very playful, had stolen the thunderbolts of Zeus and struck down the chariot of the Sun. As punishment, he received the task of driving the chariot and thus became Phoebus, the “sun god”. Apollo and Phoebus are thus the same person, but they do not possess, as gods, neither the same attributes nor the same domain.

Epicleses and attributes

His epithets:

hekêbólos, "who aims far",
hyperbóreos, hyperborean, "from the far north",
argyrótoxos, "with the silver bow",
hekáergos, "who pushes away", s.e with his arrows,
mousagétês, "conductor of the Muses, musagète",
alexíkakos, "who wards off evil",
loxías "the oblique" (for Apollo as god of oracles);

His attributes:

the bow, the lyre, the flute, the horns of cattle and the laurel (cf. Daphne);

His favorite animals:

the crow, the swan, the rooster, the wolf and the snake;

His sanctuaries:

Delphi, Delos, Claros, Argos, Thasos;

Feasts dedicated to him:

the Karneia, the Actia.