Moon Owl Observations
A Brief Glimpse at Apollo
Apollo is one complex God! There are countless versions and tales of him from all around the world, so just bear with me if you have heard something slightly different.
Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto and he has a twin sister named Artemis. He goes by many names and some of those are: Phoebus (meaning bright and radiant), The God of Light, The God of Truth, Apollon and Apulu. He was never married but did chase after many women and a few men, but in general was very unlucky in love and had many disastrous relationships in his life. Some of his mates include Marpessa, Chione, Daphne, Arsinoe, Kyrene and Hyakinthos. His most well know child is Asclepius.
Apollo is a God that taught medicine to the humans, making him well associated with the healing arts and medicine. With his association to medicine it is also believed that he can bring plague and death with the arrows from his silver bow. The bird he is represented by is the crow or raven, and he can also be symbolized by the dolphin. Apollo represents the ideal Greek man and is also associated with the hyacinth, music, archery, the laurel tree and the sun.
The hyacinth has meaning since Apollo was in love with a beautiful young boy by the name of Hyakinthos. Unfortunately Apollo hit him in the head with a discus and killed him. From the blood of Hyakinthos Apollo created the beautiful hyacinth, and it is easy to identify as it is a white flower with red splashes on it. The sacred laurel tree is another lost love tale. Apollo was in love again, but this time with a nymph named Daphne. He chased after her with no prevail and she finally got so tired of him that he begged help from her parents, and her father was persuaded to help her and turned her into the Laurel tree.*
Some of Apollo’s talents are playing a golden lyre, archery, and the ability and job to drive the sun across the sky in his chariot. He is known as the God of truth since he is unable to speak a lie. The Greek God Apollo has influenced many and is seen a lot in the media and is easily one of the most popular and well know Gods. It is a well known fact that people like Cesar were influenced greatly by Apollo and in today’s world there is still mention of his name. You can find him in comic books, movies, T.V shows and more. His shrine is in Delphi, where he killed a giant python. As beautiful and powerful as Apollo was, he got in trouble with Hades from bringing people back from the dead and so as to keep peace within the gods, his father Zeus killed him.
* Some myths dictate it was her father that was finally persuaded to help her, but in other versions it was her mother, Gaia.