APOLLO, in Greek mythology, one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian divinities. The least improb able etymology of the name ('A7r6XXwv, 'AiraXcvv) is perhaps that of Usener, who connects it with an obsolete Greek verb meaning "to drive away" (evil or disease ; cf. Lat. pellere) . Roscher's derivation of all the functions assigned to him from the idea of a single original light or sun god has not found general acceptance, although no doubt some features of his character can be readily explained in this manner.
According to the legend, Apollo was the son of Zeus and Leto. The latter, pursued by the jealous Hera, after long wandering found shelter in Delos, where she bore a son, Apollo, under a palm-tree at the foot of Mt. Cynthus. Before this, Delos had been a barren, floating rock, but now became stationary, being fastened down by chains to the bottom of the sea. Apollo was born on the seventh day of the month, and this day and the loth, the days of the new and full moon, were ever afterwards held sacred to him.
In Homer Apollo appears only as the god of prophecy, the sender of plagues, and sometimes as a warrior. Elsewhere he is the god of agriculture and of vegetation generally. He was called Smintheus, generally explained as "destroyer of mice," to which epithet, however, some modern enquirers attach a totemistic significance. Valleys and groves were under his protection, and certain trees and plants, especially the laurel, were sacred to him.
As the god of agriculture and vegetation he is naturally connected with the course of the year and the arrangement of the seasons, so important in farming operations, and becomes the orderer of time (Horornedon, "ruler of the seasons"), and frequently appears on monuments in company with Horai.
Apollo is also the protector of cattle and herds and is himself spoken of as a keeper of flocks, to which point the legends of his service as a herdsman with Laomedon and Admetus. Here prob ably also is to be referred the epithet Lukeios, which, formerly connected with Xwc ("shine") and used to support the concep tion of Apollo as a light-god, is now generally referred to lukos ("wolf") and explained as he who keeps away the wolves from the flock. In accordance with this, the epithet lukegenes will not mean "born of" or "begetting light," but rather "born from the she-wolf," in which form Leto herself was said to have been con ducted by wolves to Delos. The consecration of the wolf to Apollo is probably the relic of an ancient totemistic religion.
With the care of the fruits of the earth and the lower animals is associated that of the highest animal, man, especially the youth on his passage to manhood. As such Apollo was kourotrophos ("rearer of boys") and patron of the palaestra. In many places gymnastic contests formed a feature of his festivals, and he him self was proficient in athletic exercises. Thus he was supposed to be the first victor at the Olympic games ; he overcame Hermes in the foot-race, and Ares in boxing.
The transition is easy to Apollo as a warlike god ; in fact, the earlier legends represent him as engaged in strife with Python, Tityus, the Cyclopes, and the Aloidae (q.v.). He is Boedromios ("the helper"), Eleleus ("god of the war-cry") and the paean was said to have been originally a song of triumph composed by him after his victory over Python. In Homer he frequently appears on the field, like Ares and Athene, bearing the aegis (q.v.) to frighten the foe. This aspect is confirmed by the epithets Argurotoxos ("god of the silver bow"), and Hekatebolos ("the shooter from afar"), and his statues are often equipped with the accoutrements of war, whence some have derived his name from apollunai as the god of "destruction" (Apo//yon).
The fame of the Pythian oracle at Delphi, connected with the slaying of Python by the god immediately after his birth, gave especial prominence to the idea of Apollo as a god of prophecy. Python, always represented in the form of a snake, is the symbol of the old earth divinity whose home was the place of "enquiry" (puthesthai). When Apollo Delphinios with his worshippers from Crete took possession of the earth-oracle Python, he received in consequence the name Pythios. That Python was no fearful mon ster, symbolizing the darkness of winter which is scattered by the advent of spring, is shown by the fact that Apollo was considered to have been guilty of murder in slaying it and compelled to wan der for a term of years and expiate his crime by servitude and pu rification. In the solar explanation, the serpent is the darkness driven away by the rays of the sun. (On the Delphian cult of Apollo and its political significance, see AMPHICTYONY, DELPHI, ORACLE.) Apollo's oracles, which he did not deliver on his own ini tiative, but as the mouthpiece of Zeus, were infallible ; but the hu man mind was not always able to grasp their meaning, hence he was called Loxias ("crooked, ambiguous"). To certain favoured mortals he communicated the gift of prophecy (Cassandra, the Cumaean sibyl, Helenus, Melampus, and Epimenides). Although his favourite method was by word of mouth, yet signs were some times used; thus Calchas interpreted the flight of birds; burning offerings, sacrificial barley, the arrow of the god, dreams and the lot, all played their part in communicating the will of the gods.
Closely connected with the god of oracles was the god of the healing art, the oracle being frequently consulted in cases of sick ness. These two functions are indicated by the titles latromantis ("healer and seer") and Oulios, probably meaning "health-giving," rather than "destructive." This side of Apollo's character does not appear in Homer, where Paieon is mentioned as the physician of the gods. Here, as in the case of Aristaeus (q.v.), the question arises whether Paean (or Paeon) was originally an epithet of Apollo, subsequently developed into an independent personality, or an independent deity merged in the later arrival. Apollo is further supposed to be the father of Asclepios (Aesculapius), whose ritual is closely modelled upon his. The healing god could also prevent disease and misfortune of all kinds; hence he is alexikakos and apotropaios ("averter of evil"). Further, he is able to purify the guilty and to cleanse from sin. Such a task could be fitly undertaken by him, since he himself underwent purifica tion after slaying Python.
The same element of enthusiasm that affects the priestess of the oracle at Delphi produces song and music. The close connection between prophecy and song is indicated in Homer (Odyssey, viii. 488), where Odysseus suggests that the lay of the fall of Troy by Demodocus was inspired by Apollo or the Muse. The metrical form of the oracular responses at Delphi, the important part played by the paean and the Pythian nomos ("strain") in his ritual, contributed to make Apollo a god of song and music, friend and "leader of the Muses" (Mousagetes). He plays the lyre at the banquet of the gods, and causes Marsyas to be flayed alive because he had boasted of his superior skill in playing the flute, and the ears of Midas to grow long because he had declared in favour of Pan, who contended that the flute was a better instru ment than Apollo's favourite lyre.
A less important aspect of Apollo is that of a marine deity, due to the spread of his cult to the Greek colonies and islands. As such, his commonest name is Delphinios, the "dolphin god," in whose honour the festival Delphinia was celebrated in Attica.
This cult probably originated in Crete, whence the god in the form of a dolphin led his Cretan worshippers to the Delphian shore, where he bade them erect an altar in his honour. He is Epibaterios and Apobaterios ("embarker" and "disembarker"), and Nasi5tas ("the islander") . These maritime cults of Apollo are probably due to his importance as the god of colonization, who accompanied emigrants on their voyage.
As Aguieus ("god of streets and ways"), in the form of a stone pillar with painted head, placed before the doors of houses, he let in the good and kept out the evil, and as Prostaterios he "stands before the house" as its protector. Lastly, as the origi nator and protector of civil order, Apollo was regarded as the foun der of cities and legislation.
Thus, at Athens, Apollo Patrons was known as the protector of the Ionians, and the Spartans re ferred the institutions of Lycur gus to the Delphic oracle.
As to Roscher's derivation of all Apollo's functions from the conception of an original light and sun god it cannot be shown that on Greek soil Apollo origi nally had the meaning of sun god ; in Homer, Aeschylus and Plato, the sun god Helios is dis tinctly separated from Phoebus Apollo ; the constant epithet Phoebus, usually explained as the brightness of the sun, may equally well refer to his physical beauty or moral purity ; lukeg enes has already been noticed. It is not until the beginning of the 5th century B.C. that the identifi cation makes its appearance. The idea was taken up by the Stoics, and in the Roman period gen erally accepted. But the fact of the gradual development of Apollo as a god of light and heaven, and his identification with the foreign sun gods, is no proof of an original Greek solar conception of him.
The most usual attributes of Apollo were the lyre and the bow; the tripod especially was dedicated to him as the god of prophecy. Among plants, the bay, used in expiatory sacrifices, and also for making the crown of victory at the Pythian games, and the palm tree under which he was born in Delos, were sacred to him; among animals and birds, the wolf, the roe, the swan, the hawk, the raven, the crow, the snake, the mouse, the grasshopper and the griffin—a mixture of the eagle and the lion, evidently of Eastern origin. The swan and grasshopper symbolize music and song; the hawk, raven, crow and snake have reference to his functions as the god of prophecy.
The chief festivals held in honour of Apollo were the Carneia, Daphnephoria, Delia, Hyacinthia, Pyanepsia, Pythia, and Thar gelia (see separate articles).
Among the Romans the worship of Apollo was adopted from the Greeks. There is a tradition that the Delphian oracle was con sulted as early as the period of the kings during the reign of Tarquinius Superbus. In 43o B.c. a temple was dedicated to Apollo on the occasion of a pestilence, and during the second Punic War (in 212 B.C.) the Ludi Apollinares were instituted in his honour. But it was in the time of Augustus, who considered himself under the special protection of Apollo and was even said to be his son, that his worship developed and he became one of the chief gods of Rome. After the battle of Actium, Augustus enlarged his old temple, dedicated a portion of the spoil to him, and instituted quinquennial games in his honour. He also erected a new temple on the Palatine hill and transferred the secular games, for which Horace composed his Carmen Saeculare, to Apollo and Diana.
Apollo was represented more frequently than any other deity in ancient art. As Apollo Aguieus he was shown by a simple conic pillar ; the Apollo of Amyclae was a pillar of bronze surmounted by a helmeted head, with extended arms carrying lance and bow. There were also rude idols of him in wood (xoana), in which the human form was scarcely recognizable. In the 6th century B.C., his statues of stone were naked, stiff and rigid in attitude, shoulders square, limbs strong and broad, hair falling down the back. In the riper period of art the type is sof ter, and Apollo appears in a form which seeks to combine manhood and eternal youth. His long hair is usually tied in a large knot above his fore head. The most famous statue of him is the Apollo Belvedere in the Vatican (found at Antium, 1485), an imitation, belonging to the early imperial period, of a bronze statue representing him, with aegis in his left hand, driving back the Gauls from his temple at Delphi (279 B.c.) ; or, according to another view, fighting with the Pythian dragon. In the Apollo Citharoedus or Mousagetes in the Vatican, he is crowned with laurel and wears the long, flowing robe of the Ionic bard, and his form is almost feminine in its ful ness; in a statue at Rome of the older and more vigorous type he is naked and holds a lyre in his left hand ; his right arm rests upon his head, and a griffin is seated at his side. The Apollo Sauroc tonus (af ter Praxiteles), copied in bronze at the villa Albani in Rome and in marble at Paris, is a naked, youthful, almost boyish figure, leaning against a tree, waiting to strike a lizard climbing up the trunk. The gigantic statue of Helios (the sun-god), "the Colossus of Rhodes," by Chares of Lindus, celebrated as one of the seven wonders of the world, is unknown to us. Bas-reliefs and painted vases reproduce the contests of Apollo with Tityus, Marsyas, and Heracles, the slaughter of the daughters of Niobe, and other incidents in his life.