Apollo

Apollo

Name and meaning:  Apollo's name means to destroy.

God of: Apollo was the god of music and also of prophecy, colonization, medicine, archery (but not for war or hunting); poetry, dance and he cared for herds and flocks.

Family: The son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis. His children were Asclepius (healing), the musician Orpheus and the heroes Troilus and Aristaeus. His half brothers and sisters (gods) were Ares, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Hermes (half brothers), Athena, Aphrodite and Persephone (half sisters). Her aunts and uncles were Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter and Hestia.

Apollo's symbol: a silver bow and arrow

Apollo's symbol: a laurel tree

Apollo's symbol: a lyre

Apollo's symbol: a wolf

Some myths about Apollo...

Apollo and Daphne

Daphne was a beautiful Nymph; she was created by the Titaness Gaea(Mother Earth) and the god of the rivers, Peneus. Apollo was struck by the arrows of Eros when he saw Daphne for the first time and fell madly in love with her. However, Daphne was not in love with Apollo and tried to flee. But Apollo didn't give up, he ran after Daphne until she was too tired to go on and Apollo finally he caught her. Daphne prayed to her mother Gaea to make her disappear. Gaea gave her wish and Daphne slowly turned into a laurel tree. Apollo, realizing that he would never get his loved one, gave the tree the power to never lose its leaves throughout the year, even in winter. From then on, the laurel tree became the symbol of Apollo.

Birth of Apollo

Hera, in raged of Zeus’s betrayal of having a child with Leto, cursed the titan daughter to have no place on Earth to give birth. Zeus made the island Delos, surrounded by swans, come from beneath the water for Leto.  The delivery of Artemis was painless but the birth of Apollo lasted for nine whole days and nights because Hera had kidnapped Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, preventing Leto from having an easy and painless labor. It is said that, with the absence of Eileithyia, Artemis was the one to help her mother deliver her twin brother, Apollo. The delivery took place under a palm tree. 

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