Thursday 14 June 2012

The Other Olympians- Boys- Apollo



Apollo from Hercules the Legendary Journeys/Young Hercules

Apollo/Apollon/Phoebus Apollo- god of music, poetry, healing, prophecy and disease and the sun. He gradually took over the role as sun god from Helios just as his twin sister Artemis took over the role as moon goddess from Selene.

The son of Zeus and the titaness Leto, and twin to Artemis. His mother had to flee from the wrath of Hera, seeking a land that would have her, eventually she found sanctuary on the island of Delos, because it moved it was technically not land. Artemis was born first and acted as a midwife for her brother's birth.

Shortly after his birth he received a bow and arrows from Hephaestus and with them he killed the dragon/serpent Pytho/Python, which had pursued his mother when she was pregnant. He later had to be purified for this as Python was a child of Gaia and was appointed by Gaia to guard the oracle. The dragon guarded the oracle of Delphi, after its death Apollo lay claim to the shrine and the oracle was renamed the Pythian. Hera then sent the giant Tityos/Tityus to assault and possibly kill Leto. Apollo fought the giant with his sister and either they killed him or Zeus intervened and sent him to Tartarus. In Tartarus the giant was pegged to the ground and suffered two vultures eating on a liver that regenerated.

He also helped to avenge a slight to his mother with his sister Artemis. Queen Niobe said she was greater than Artemis because she had fourteen children whilst Leto only had two. In anger, Artemis killed all the girls and Apollo killed all the boys, though some sources say one boy and one girl were spared. Niobe's husband killed himself in grief and Niobe turned to stone.

He also slayed Delphyne, a half-maiden half-snake creature, sometimes said to be another name for Python, in another story she guarded the sinews of Zeus after Typhon took them. Hermes stole the sinews back and Apollo killed Delphyne.

During the Trojan War he fought on the side of the Trojans. He sent a plague to the Greeks' camp because Agamemnon had taken the daughter of his priest Chryses, she was returned and the plague ended. He also rescued Aphrodite's son Aeneas when Aphrodite failed to save him from Diomedes as he injured her. He also guided Paris' arrow to striking Achilles and killing him. This was possibly in revenge for the death of Troilus/Troilos/Troylus who was a Trojan prince sometimes said to be the son of Apollo and Hecuba.

His son Asclepius was a great healer but he went too far and raised the dead, some say he raised Theseus' son Hippolytus on behalf of Artemis. As a result of this Hades complained and Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt. In outrage Apollo killed the Cyclopes who made the thunderbolts and Apollo was sentenced to a year of labour, he was possibly spared worse because of his mother's interference. He served Admetus, king of Pherae, as a shepherd and was treated well by him. In thanks for his good treatment, Apollo helped him win the princess Alcestis for a bride. Her father, Pelias, promised her to the man who could yoke a bear/boar and a lion to a chariot. Admetus forgot to thank Artemis on his wedding and was damned by the goddess. Apollo intervened again by getting the Moirae drunk and goading them into bargaining that if someone else was willing to die for Admetus then they would allow it. Alcestis offered her life and was saved by Heracles who fought Thanatos for her.

During his exile Apollo helped Poseidon, who was exiled for rebelling with Athena and Hera against Zeus, to build the walls of Troy for King Laomedon. He promised to reward them but didn't, they got their revenge later, Poseidon sent a sea monster and Apollo a plague.


The satyr Marsyas took up flute playing after finding the instrument when Athena cast it down after inventing it because it made her look ugly when she played. He challenged Apollo who played his lute and won when they had to play upside down. In punishment, for the satyr's hubris, Apollo tied the satyr to a tree and had him flayed alive. Apollo received his lute from his half-brother Hermes after Hermes' invented it and Apollo took it in exchange for the cattle the newborn stole off him.

Pan also challenged Apollo on his panpies. The mountain god Tmolus, a son of Ares, was asked to judge. He was in favour of Apollo but King Midas, a follower of Pan, argued about the outcome and outraged, Apollo gave him the ears of a donkey.

Cinyras was a king of Cyprus who promised fifty ships to Agamemnon but only sent one. Apollo beat him in a lyre playing contest and killed him. Sometimes he is considered a son of Apollo who created art and musical instruments. He fathered Adonis with his daughter Myrrha.

He had made lovers both male and female. Daphne is the most infamous, she was a nymph and the daughter of river god Peneus. Ovid says Eros struck Apollo with a gold arrow making him love Daphne when he mocked Eros for playing with a weapon suited for a man, he then struck Daphne with a lead arrow filling her heart with hate for the god. Apollo chased her and she begged her father for help, he turned her into a laurel tree and Apollo made the laurel his sacred plant after. Apollo also brought about a rival suitor's death. Leucippus/Leukippos disguised himself as a nymph to get close to Daphne but Apollo betrayed his true gender and the nymphs killed him.

He fell for Leucothoe/Leucothea/Leukothoe, a princess who was the daughter of Orchamus and sister of Clytia/Klytie. Apollo disguised himself as her mother to enter her chambers but Clytia, jealous, betrayed them and Orchamus had Leucothoe buried alive. Clytia continued to pine for Apollo, always staring up at the sun but he ignored her and she became a heliotrope or a sunflower, flowers that follow the sun. Sometimes the myth is attributed to Helios not Apollo and the princess is Persian.

Marpessa, a granddaughter of Ares and a princess, who was kidnapped by Idas, who may have done this because they loved each other but their father refused the marriage. He was an Argonaut and possibly a son of Poseidon and kidnapped her with the use of Poseidon's chariot. Her father pursued them and died. Apollo also desired her and chased her, forcing Zeus to intervene and make her choose. Marpessa chose Idas believing that when she grew old Apollo would no longer desire her.

He chased the nymph Castalia who dove into a spring at Delphi to escape him and became the spring. Water from the spring was used to cleanse the temple and she could inspire poetry in those who drank from her or listened to her.

With Cyrene/Kyrene who was either a nymph and the daughter of the river god Peneus or the daughter of King Hypseus, king of the Lapiths and a son of Peneus. She was a huntress kidnapped by Apollo who fell in love with her when he witnessed her fighting a lion. She bore him two sons, demigod Aristaeus/Aristaios who invented beekeeping and Idmon, a seer and an Argonaut who was killed by a boar. Idmon is sometimes given different parents.

He fell in love with doomed Trojan princess Kassandra/Cassandra and promised her the gift of prophecy. When she spurned him he cursed her with prophesying the truth but never being believed.

Coronis/Koronis was a daughter of Phlegyas, king of the Lapiths who was a lover of Apollo. She betrayed him with Ischys and was discovered by a crow who reported the news to Apollo. In rage, Apollo turned the crow to black and asked Artemis to avenge him. Artemis killed her. In regret, when was on the pyre, Apollo had Hermes rescue their unborn child (or did it himself), the healer Asclepius, which Hermes did. Hermes then gave him to the centaur Chiron to raise.  Phlegyas burned the temple of Apollo in anger and Apollo killed him. In a different version Coronis was a princess who Poseidon tried to rape, Athena turned her into a crow to save her. It was also Athena who turned a crow from white to black, for telling her that Kekrops' daughters had disobeyed her.

Euripides says he fathered Ion with the princess Creusa, though Apollodorus gives her husband Xuthus as the father. Her sister Chthonia was sacrificed by their father Erechtheus who was told he would win the battle against Eleusis, headed by Poseidon's son Eumolpos/Eumoplus. He did this and her sisters Protogeneia and Pandora killed themselves as they had promised they would if one of them died. It was their sister Orithyia who was the grandmother of Eumolpos, having his mother Chione/Khione with Boreas after he abducted her. Creusa's other sister Procris was the wife of Cephalus who was accidentally killed by him when she thought he was having an affair, spied on him and was killed by a spear she had gifted him when he thought she was a wild animal.
Following the tragedy of her sisters, Creusa was seduced by Apollo before she married and fearing punishment, she exposed the baby. Xuthus met him in a temple of Apollo and was told by a prophecy that Ion was his, he took him in and Creusa suspected he was a result of an affair Xuthus had and tried to poison him. Ion discovered this and was about to kill her but was stopped when she realised he was her son.

Acantha was a nymph Apollo tried to rape, she fought him back, clawing at his face and he turned her into an acanthus plant.

Thalia, the Muse of comedy and idyllic poetry (short, rustic poetry) was said in the Biblioteca to be the mother of the Corybantes/Korybantes/Kurbantes/Corybants with Apollo. These were male armed dancers who worshipped the goddess Cybele with drumming and dancing. Although they were said to have guarded the infant Zeus and made noise to drown out his cries so that Cronus would not hear them, making it unlikely that they were the children of Apollo. They were also present for Dionysus infanthood. Ovid gives Ouranos and Gaia as their parents.

Acacallis was a daughter of King Minos and Queen Pasiphae. With Apollo she had either Cydon and/or Naxos, or Miletus, or/and Amphithemis and Garamas, or Oaxes. Sometimes Hermes is given as Cydon's father. Miletus she exposed but Apollo had him suckled by she-wolves and taken in by shepherds. When he grew up Minos desired him and he fled to escape him. Amphithemis and Garamas were born in Libya where Acacallis was banished to by Minos.

Another Acacallis/Akakallis is a nymph or a daughter of the demigod Carmanor/Karmanor and Demeter. Apollo met her when he came to Carmanor to be purified for killing Python, with him she had the twins Phylacides and Phylander.

Aethusa/Aithousa was a nymph, a daughter of Poseidon and Alcyone, a Pleiade. With her Apollo had a son, Eleuther, who was an excellent singer and won a victory at the Pythian Games.

Amphissa was a Cretan princess, he seduced her in the disguise of a shepherd and with her had a son, Agreus. With the princess Euboea, sister to Amphissa, he had a son, Agreus.

Arsinoe was a princess who bore Apollo a daughter, Eriopis, and was sometimes given as the mother of Asclepius. Her sisters  Phoebe and Hilaeira were priestesses of Athena and Artemis, and betrothed to Idas (the same who abducted Marpessa and was chosen by her over Apollo) and Lynceus. Castor and Pollux abducted and wed them and when Idas and Lynceus came for them they were slain but killed Castor too.

Bolina/Boline was a woman who fled from Apollo's advances and lept into the sea to avoid him. He turned her into an immortal nymph.

Calliope/Kalliope was the Muse of epic poetry and considered the wisest of the Muses. With Apollo or the Thracian king Oeagrus she had the infamous poet Orpheus and the muscian Linus who was killed by his pupil Heracles with his own lyre. Ialemus is also given as their son.

Psamathe was a princess, daughter of the king of Argos, Crotopus, who Apollo impregnated. She exposed their son Linus, fearing her father's wrath, and he was killed by sheepdogs, alternatively she gave him to shepherds and he was killed by sheepdogs as an adult. Her father found out and refusing to believe she'd had intercourse with a god, he killed her. Apollo sent Poine/Poene (punishment/vegeance) who snatched children from their mothers unti Coroebus killed her. Apollo them inflicted Argos with a plague, Coroebus went to Delphi asking to be punished himself to save the city, the Pythia told him not to return and to wander with a tripod, settling where he dropped it. He founded Tripodiscoi.

With Chione/Khione, daughter of Daedalion she had the muscian Philammon, Hermes raped her the same night impregnating her with the thief Autolycus, Autolycus and Philammon were twins. She compared herself to Artemis and was killed for her hubris. Her father threw himself off a cliff and Apollo turned him into a hawk.

Delphus/Delphos was a son of Apollo's by one of three women- Celaeno, Apollo's great-granddaughter, her grandfather was his son Lycorus; Thyia, a priestess sacrificed to Dionysus who was a naiad (fresh water nymph) or a daughter of Deucalion and Pyrrha, who had to repopulate the world after the deluge; or Melaina one of the Corycian nymphs, naiads of the Corycian Cave, daughters of river god Pleistos or Kephisos, they were also known as the Thriae/Thriai.

With another Corycian nymph, Corycia, Apollo had Lycorus/Lycoreus.

With the princess Khrysorthe/Chrysorthe she had Koronos/Coronus, a king of the city Sicyon.

With Khrysothemis/Chrysothemis, who was married to Staphylus, a son of Dionysus, she had a daughter, Parthenos. Sometimes Staphylus is given has her father. With her sister Hemithea/Molpadia she was charged with guarding her father's wine, they fell asleep and a pig broke the jar. In fear of their father they threw themselves of a cliff, Apollo carried them off because he loved their third sister Rhoeo, and they became local goddesses in the cities he left them in.

Rhoeo had a son, Anius, with Apollo. Disbelieving she was pregnant by a god, her father put her in a chest and cast her out to sea. They arrived in Delos and Anius was born and grew up to become a priest of Apollo. His daughters, the Oenotropae were given talents by Dionysus and were eventually turned into doves by him.

With Dia he had a son, Dryops. He tricked Dryope, a princess or a nymph, when she was playing with the hamadryads (dryads who were believed to be trees whilst ordinary dryads were simply spirits of trees). He chased her then turned himself into a tortoise that they made a pet of, when he was on Dryope's lap he turned into a snake, wrapped himself around her and then raped her. The nymphs abandoned her and she had a son, Amphissus. In another version of the tale she was tending sheep when Apollo spied her and took the form of a turtle, when she fell asleep he raped her and when she awoke she found herself in the arms of a god. Amphissus founded Aphissa and built a temple to his father here. Dryope became a priestess here and her nymphs returned to talk to her. Apollo returned to her in serpent form while she was by a spring, wrapped around her and turned her into a poplar tree. Ovid says she was turned into a poplar when she was suckling her baby and saw some flowers on a lotus tree, which belonged to the nymph Lotis, she plucked them for her infant and the tree bled on her. She tried to flee but found her feet rooted to the ground, she turned into a black poplar and her son was rescued by her husband, Andraemon. Sometimes she was given as the mother of Pan, with Hermes.

Evadne was a princess born of Poseidon and the nymph Pitane who was raised by the king of Arcadia, Aepytus. Apollo impregnated her and Aepytus was furious causing her to go to the wilderness to give birth. She abandoned the child there. Five days later Aepytus learned from the Pythia that the child was the son of Apollo and destined to be a prophet. He asked for the child and Evadne retrieved him finding that he had been nurtured by the honey of bees given to him by snakes amongst violets. She called him Iamus and he founded the Iamidai/Iamidae, a family of seers at Olympia.

He consorted with the Amazon Gryne. With Hyrie/Thyrie he had a son, Cycnus/Kyknos. He was an arrogant hunter who spurned all those who would love him. Phylius was the only one who stayed with him. Cycnus challenged him to kill a lion without weapons, he did so by vomiting up wine and food, which the lion devoured, then strangled the beast with his clothes while it was intoxicated. Next he had to capture two giant man-eating vultures without weapons, he did this by smearing himself with a dead hare's blood, playing dead and catching the vultures by the feet when they came for him. Finally, Cycnus demanded he bring a bull to the altar of Zeus with his bare hands. He prayed to Heracles and found two bulls fighting over a heifer and waited until they had worn each other down and they seized one by the horns. After this Heracles made it so that Phylius would no longer obey Cycnus. Cycnus committed by drowning, his mother followed him and Apollo changed them both to swans. Ovid had Phylius refuse the final task and Cycnus throw himself off a cliff and turn into a swan whilst his mother, unaware of his fate, dissolved into tears.

Manto was a daughter of the prophet Tiresias and a war prize sent to Delphi, she was sent by Apollo to Colophon to find an oracle devoted to him. With him or her husband Rhacius she had a son, Mopsus/Mopsos, a seer.

Apollo from Clash of the Titans (remake)

With the nymph Othreis he had a son, Phager, a shepherd who was told by a prophecy to take care of a relation nurtured by bees. He found this relative, a son of Zeus, Meliteus, adopted and raised him. With Parthenope he had Lycomedes. With Phthia he had Laodocus/Leodocus, Dorus and Polypoetes, all of whom were killed by Aetolus, a son of Endymion (the lover of Selene) and the nymph Iphianassa, when he was colonising Aetolia.

With Apollo or King Cycnus (a son of Poseidon) Proclia/Proclea a princess and daughter of Laomedon, king of Troy, had a son, Tenes. He was accused of rape by his stepmother Philonome, who used her flutist Eumolpus as her witness, and put in a chest at sea with his sister Hemithea by Cycnus. The island the siblings arrived on, Leucophrye, made Tenes their king and the island was renamed Tenedos. Cycnus learned the truth, had Eumolpus executed and Philonome buried alive and went to the island for forgiveness. Tene spurned him and cut the moorings of the ship. Tenes was slain during the Trojan War by Achilles, which along with the death of Troilus, gave Apollo a reason to hate Achilles. Achilles then tried to rape Hemithea, she fled from him and was swallowed by the earth.

Sinope was a daughter of the river god Asopus/Asopos who was either abducted by Apollo and gave him a son, Syrus, whom the Syrians are named after, or was abducted by Zeus who offered her, her dearest wish prompting her to request virgnity, she made the same request of Apollo and the river god Hayls.

Stilbe was a nymph, the daughter of river god Peneus and sister of Daphne and aunt to Cyrene/Kyrene. With Apollo she had twins Centaurus/Centauros, the first of the centaurs, and Lapithus, the first of the Lapiths, and a third son, Aineus. Centaurus was usually given as a son of Ixion and Nephele (the cloud form of Hera).

With the nymph Syllis or Hyllis, daughter of Iole and Hyllus (son of Heracles) he had a son, Zeuxippus. With Thero he had Chaeron.

Trophonius was a son who built his temple at Delphi with his brother Agamedes. They laboured for six days, promised by the oracle that they would have their greatest wish on the seventh day. On the seventh day they died. Pausanias says they built a treasure chamber for King Hyrieus and stole his fortune using the secret entrance. Hyrieus laid a trap and Agamedes was caught, Trophonius cut off his head so the body could not be identified and then fled.

Melaneus was a son of Apollo who was a famous archer who fathered the famous archer Eurytus who taught Heracles and challenged Apollo and was slain for his hubris. His bow passed to Odysseus. Alternatively he promised his daughter Iole to whoever could beat him in an archery contest, Heracles won but fearing his daughter would be killed, Eurytus did not honour the promise. Heracles killed him and his sons and took Iole as a concubine.

Oncius was a son of Apollo who owned a herd of horses in which Demeter hid to avoid Poseidon. Demeter and Poseidon's son, the talking horse Arion/Areion was kept by Oncius and later given to Heracles. Phemonoe was a poetess, a daughter of Apollo and the first Pythia. He also fathered three Muses (not any of the initial nine)- Cephisso, Apollonis and Borysthenis. Branchus was a son or lover of Apollo. His mother, when she was pregnant, had a vision of being pierced with a beam of light. He was a prophet.

His most famous male lover was Hyacinth/Hyacinthus a Spartan prince. They were practising discus together when Apollo's discus was blown off course by Zephyrus who loved Hyacinth and courted him but was spurned for Apollo. The discus struck and killed the man. Apollo created the flower Hyacinth in his honour.

He loved Cyparissus/Kyparissos and gifted him with a tame stag which he accidentally killed with a javelin. He asked Apollo to let his tears fall forever and was turned into a cypress tree.

Hymen, the god of marriage ceremonies and son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, or Apollo and a Muse, was loved by Apollo. Iapis/Iapyx was loved by Apollo who wanted to grant him the gift of prophecy but he asked for healing so he could prolong the life of his father. He healed Aeneas during the Trojan War.

He and Poseidon both wooed Hestia but she turned them down and asked Zeus to let her remain a virgin.

He and Zeus favoured Amphiaraus/Amphiaraos a king of Argos and a seer. His wife Eriphyle was bribed with Harmonia's necklace by Polynices to persuade Amphiaraus to fight in the Seven Against Thebes. He agreed, knowing he would die, and asked his sons to kill their mother should he die. He swallowed in the earth when it opened up when Zeus threw a thunderbolt at it during the battle. His son Alcmaeon killed Eriphyle and was pursued by the Erinyes and later killed.

Through his oracle he told Orestes to kill his mother Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus to avenge Agamemnon. He did and the Erinyes followed him. Apollo came to Orestes defence and the matter was brought before Athena who sided with Apollo.

He was considered the leader of the Muses being a god of music and poetry. His symbols were the kithara (a type of lyre), the bow and arrows, and the plectrum. The laurel and palm tree were sacred to him as were cicadas, deer, wolves, snakes, crows, and hawks. He was shown as a beardless, handsome, toned youth, athletic and usually naked with curly hair and a laurel wreath often in his hair. He was called Phoebus Apollo by the Romans, Phoebus meaning radiant or beaming. He shared many lovers with his half-brother Hermes and had failure with love more than success. Most of his dalliances were with nymphs. Amongst the Greeks he was more greatly associated with prophecy, healing, music and the arts than the sun, it was only around the 3rd century that he displaced Helios as the sun god.

He had no Roman equivelant. As a sun god though he and Helios were both linked to the Roman god Sol. Initially thought of as two gods- Sol Indiges, who disappeared from myth quickly, and Sol Invictus (Sol Invincible). The latter was linked to the Syrian sun god Elagabalus/Heliogabalus.

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