27 BCE - 14 CE), famously claimed the god as his patron and even dedicated a temple to Apollo at Actium. Octavian, the future emperor Augustus (r. Apollo continued to inspire the Romans when he was principally considered a god of healing. The god is frequently associated with the sun (as Phoebus Apollo) and the sun god Helios, but modern scholars mostly agree that the link between Apollo and Helios does not go further back than the 5th century BCE. Rituals in this process involved cutting hair and offering it to the god, as well as athletic and martial challenges. A strategy to keep away evil from Greek homes was to set up a pillar of Apollo Agyieus and, on a grander scale, Apollo Propylaios protected city gates.Īpollo oversaw the initiation rites performed by young males ( ephebes) as they entered the full civic community and became warriors. His arrows, although they could bring destruction could also ward off harm to those he favoured. The god was also associated with moderation in all things. a palm tree - which Leto gripped when she gave birth to her son.Īpollo was a much-loved god, and this was most likely due to his association with many positive aspects of the human condition such as music, poetry, purification, healing, and medicine.the omphalos - symbol of Apollo's sanctuary at Delphi as the navel of the world.a laurel branch - symbolic of the fate of Daphne who, after Apollo's amorous pursuit of her, led her father, the river god Phineus, to transform her into a laurel tree.a kithara (or lyre) - made from the shell of a tortoise, this was symbolic of Apollo's ability in music and his leadership of the chorus of the nine Muses.a silver bow - symbolic of his prowess as an archer.Objects traditionally associated with the god include: The god's defeat of Marsyas and Pan may reflect the Greek conquest of Phrygia and Arcadia respectively. Apollo won another musical competition, this time against the pastoral god Pan and, judged the victor by King Midas, Apollo thus became the undisputed master of music in the Greek world. The tale is an interesting metaphor for the competition between (at least to Greek ears) the civilised and ordered music of Apollo's lyre and the wilder, more chaotic music of Marsyas' flute. Apollo then had the mortal flayed alive for his presumption and nailed his skin to a pine tree. The pair had a competition and the Muses ruled that Apollo was indeed the better musician. Another hapless victim of Apollo's wrath was the satyr Marsyas who unwisely claimed he was musically more gifted than the god. Apollo's most direct presence amongst the Greeks was manifested in his oracle at Delphi, the most important in the Greek world.Īpollo's darker side as the bringer of plague and divine retribution is seen most famously when he is, with his sister Artemis, the remorseless slayer of Niobe's six (or in some accounts seven) sons as punishment for her boasting that her childbearing capacity was greater than Leto's.
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