Apollo

The ruins of the Temple of Apollo at Didyma, Turkey. Begun in the late 4th century AD, though never completed, it replaced the original temple destroyed by the Persians in 494 BC.

The Athenian treasury at Delphi, Greece. Delphi was home to the oracle of Apollo and the most important temple in the Greek world. The treasury was rebuilt with the original blocks, and one of its walls is inscribed with hymns dedicated to Apollo.

In Greek and Roman mythology, the god of sun, music, poetry, prophecy, agriculture, and pastoral life, and leader of the Muses. He was the twin child (with Artemis) of Zeus and Leto. Ancient statues show Apollo as the embodiment of the Greek ideal of male beauty. His chief cult centres were his supposed birthplace on the island of Delos, in the Cyclades, and Delphi.

Of non-Hellenic origin, Apollo may derive from the interior of Asia Minor; some scholars believe he is derived from Apulunas, the Hittite gate god. Others affirm that Apollo was originally a god of shepherds in the wild regions of the north. A link between the Apollo of Hellenic religion and the more ancient cult of chthonian gods has also been established.

The Romans made their first contact with Apollo partly through the Etruscans and partly through the Greek states of southern Italy. There was a temple to him at Rome as early as 432 BC. In republican times he was venerated chiefly as a god of healing and prophecy; but his status was greatly enhanced by the devotion of Augustus, who erected magnificent temples of Apollo at Actium and on the Palatine. The statue known as the Apollo Belvedere in the Vatican does not represent the Greek conception in the strictly classical age. This is better seen in more ancient figures. From the 5th century BC Apollo was identified with the sun god.

Apollo epitomized the transition between adolescence and manhood in Greek male society. At Delphi his sanctuary is central to the complex; at Delos it appears secondary to that of Artemis. The paean dance of healing which is particularly known from the Hyakinthia festival at Amyklai (Sparta) is closely identified with the Apollo cult. Although his chief oracular shrine was in Delphi, others were important, notably Branchidae and Claros in Ionia (the latter was particularly prominent in Hellenistic times). The method of divination was by possession, the medium (Pythia, a local woman over 50 years old) being filled with the god, or his inspiration. The Delphic oracle's fame spread as far as Lydia in Anatolia during the 8th to 6th centuries BC. The ritual of the Delphic Stepteria, through which all concerned were purified, was held every eight years. The influence of Delphi can be seen in the tendency to introduce Apollo as adviser or inspirer into any myth that contains a prophet or a prediction. Delphi claimed to be the centre of the world, the famous stone omphalos (navel) marking the spot. Apollo was often represented as sitting on this.