Editing Apollo (section)

{{Short description|Greek god of music, prophecy and healing}}
{{About|the Greek and Roman god|the spaceflight program|Apollo program|other uses|Apollo (disambiguation)}}
{{Redirect|Thyraeus|other uses|Thyraeus (mythology)}}
{{Redirect-distinguish-for|Phoebus|Phobos (mythology)|other uses|Phoebus (disambiguation)}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}<!-- this article uses the BCE/CE convention -->
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Apollo
| image = Italy-3104 - Apollo (5378415112).jpg
| alt = 
| caption = ''[[Apollo Belvedere]]'', {{circa|120}}–140 CE
| god_of = God of oracles, healing, archery, music and arts, light, knowledge, herds and flocks, and protection of the young
| member_of = the [[Twelve Olympians]] and the ''[[Dii Consentes]]''
| abode = [[Mount Olympus]]
| symbol = [[Lyre]], [[laurel wreath]], [[Python (mythology)|python]], bow and arrows
| tree = [[Laurus nobilis|laurel]], [[cypress]]
| animals = Raven, [[swan]], [[wolf]]
| consort = 
| birth_place = [[Delos]]
| parents = [[Zeus]] and [[Leto]]
| siblings = [[Artemis]] (twin), and [[Zeus#Offspring|many paternal half-siblings]]
| children = [[Asclepius]], [[Aristaeus]], [[Corybantes]], [[Hymen (god)|Hymen]], [[Apollonis]], [[Amphiaraus]], [[Anius]], [[Apis (Greek mythology)|Apis]], [[Cycnus of Aetolia|Cycnus]], [[Eurydice]], [[Hector]], [[Linus of Thrace]], [[Lycomedes]], [[Melaneus]], [[Melite (heroine)|Melite]], [[Miletus (mythology)|Miletus]], [[Mopsus (son of Manto)|Mopsus]], [[Oaxes]], [[Oncius]], [[Orpheus]], [[Troilus]], [[Phemonoe]], [[Philammon]], [[Tenerus (son of Apollo)|Tenerus]], [[Trophonius]], and [[#Children|various others]]
| mount = A chariot drawn by swans
| planet = [[Sun]]<br />[[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]]<ref name=":merc">{{cite book | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=GnrAVhVZ3wMC&pg=PA75 75] | title = The Planet Observer's Handbook | first1 = Fred W. | last1 = Price | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | date = 1994 | isbn = 0-521-78981-8 | location = New York City, New York | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GnrAVhVZ3wMC}}</ref> (antiquity)
| equivalent4_type = Celtic
| equivalent4 = [[Grannus]]
}}
{{Ancient Greek religion}}
{{Contains special characters}}
{{Very long|date=May 2025|words=19217}}
[[File:Apollo, God of Light, Eloquence, Poetry and the Fine Arts with Urania, Muse of Astronomy - Charles Meynier.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|''Apollo, God of Light, Eloquence, Poetry and the Fine Arts with Urania, Muse of Astronomy'' (1798) by [[Charles Meynier]] ]]
'''Apollo'''{{efn|[[Attic Greek|Attic]], [[Ionic Greek|Ionic]], [[Homeric Greek|Homeric]] and {{langx|grc-x-koine|Ἀπόλλων|Apóllōn}}, {{langx|grc|Ἀπόλλωνος|Apóllōnos|label=genitive}} {{IPA|grc|a.pól.lɔːn|label=[[Attic Greek|Attic]]–[[Ionic Greek|Ionic]] pronunciation:}}, {{IPA|grc|a.pól.lɔː.nos|}}; {{IPA|grc-x-koine|aˈpol.lon|lang|link=yes}}, {{IPA|la|aˈpol.lo.nos|}}<br />{{langx|grc-x-doric|Ἀπέλλων|Apéllōn}}, {{IPA|grc-x-doric|a.pel.lɔ̂ːn|link=yes}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀπείλων|Apeílōn|label=[[Arcadocypriot Greek]]:}}, {{IPA|grc|a.pěː.lɔːn|label=Arcadocypriot Greek:}}; {{langx|grc-x-aeolic|Ἄπλουν|Áploun}}, {{IPA|grc-x-aeolic|á.ploːn|lang|link=yes}}<br />{{langx|la|Apollō}}, {{langx|la|Apollinis|label=genitive}}, {{IPA|la-x-classic|äˈpɔlːʲoː|lang|link=yes}}, {{IPA|la|äˈpɔl.lʲɪ.nɪs̠|}};  {{IPA|la|ɑˈpɔl.lɔ|label=[[Late Latin]]:}}, {{IPA|la|ɑˈpɔl.li.nis|}}}} is one of the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympian deities]] in [[Ancient Greek religion|ancient Greek]] and [[Ancient Roman religion|Roman religion]] and [[Greek mythology|Greek]] and [[Roman mythology]]. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the [[Sun]] and light, poetry, and more. One of the most important and complex of the Greek gods, he is the son of [[Zeus]] and [[Leto]], and the twin brother of [[Artemis]], goddess of the hunt. He is considered to be the most beautiful god and is represented as the ideal of the ''[[kouros]]'' (ephebe, or a beardless, athletic youth). Apollo is known in Greek-influenced [[Etruscan mythology]] as ''[[Apulu]]''.<ref>Krauskopf, I. 2006. "The Grave and Beyond." ''The Religion of the Etruscans.'' edited by N. de Grummond and E. Simon. Austin: University of Texas Press. p. vii, p. 73-75.</ref>

As the patron deity of [[Delphi]] (''Apollo Pythios''), Apollo is an [[oracular]] god—the prophetic [[deity]] of the [[Pythia|Delphic Oracle]] and also the deity of ritual purification. His oracles were often consulted for guidance in various matters. He was in general seen as the god who affords help and wards off evil, and is referred to as {{transliteration|grc|[[Alexicacus]]}}, the "averter of evil". Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son [[Asclepius]]. Apollo delivered people from epidemics, yet he is also a god who could bring ill health and deadly [[Plague (disease)|plague]] with his arrows. The invention of archery itself is credited to Apollo and his sister Artemis. Apollo is usually described as carrying a silver or golden bow and a quiver of arrows.

As the god of ''mousike'',{{efn|''Mousike'' (the art of the Muses) was an integral part of life in the ancient Greek world, and the term covered not only music but also dance, lyrics, theatre and the performance of poetry.}} Apollo presides over all music, songs, dance, and poetry. He is the inventor of string-music and the frequent companion of the Muses, functioning as their chorus leader in celebrations. The lyre is a common [[#Attributes and symbols|attribute of Apollo]]. Protection of the young is one of the best attested facets of his panhellenic cult persona. As a {{transliteration|grc|[[kourotrophos]]}}, Apollo is concerned with the health and education of children, and he presided over their passage into adulthood. Long hair, which was the prerogative of boys, was cut at the coming of age ({{transliteration|grc|ephebeia}}) and dedicated to Apollo. The god himself is depicted with long, uncut hair to symbolise his eternal youth.

Apollo is an important pastoral deity, and he was the patron of herdsmen and shepherds. Protection of herds, flocks and crops from diseases, pests and predators were his primary rustic duties. On the other hand, Apollo also encouraged the founding of new towns and the establishment of civil constitutions, is associated with dominion over [[Colonies in antiquity|colonists]], and was the giver of laws. His oracles were often consulted before setting laws in a city. Apollo [[Agyieus]] was the protector of the streets, public places and home entrances.<ref name="DGRBM">{{Cite book  | last = Schmitz  | first = Leonhard  | contribution = Agyieus  | editor-last = Smith  | editor-first = William  | title = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]  | volume = 1  | pages = 83  | publisher = [[Little, Brown and Company]]  | place = Boston  | year = 1867  | contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0092.html  | access-date = 2008-06-06  | archive-date = 2011-05-14  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110514041631/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0092.html  | url-status = dead  }}</ref>

In [[Hellenistic]] times, especially during the 5th century BCE, as ''Apollo Helios'' he became identified among Greeks with [[Helios]], the personification of the Sun.<ref>For the iconography of the Alexander–Helios type, see H. Hoffmann, 1963. "Helios", in ''Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt'' '''2''', pp. 117–23; cf. Yalouris 1980, no. 42.</ref> Although Latin theological works from at least 1st century BCE identified Apollo with [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]],<ref>Cicero, ''On the Nature of the Gods'', § 2.68</ref><ref>Lucius Annaeus Cornutus, ''Greek Theology'', § 65</ref> there was no [[conflation]] between the two among the classical Latin poets until 1st century CE.<ref>Joseph Fontenrose, "Apollo and Sol in the Latin poets of the first century BC", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' '''30''' (1939), pp 439–55; "Apollo and the Sun-God in Ovid", ''American Journal of Philology'' '''61''' (1940) pp 429–44; and "Apollo and Sol in the Oaths of Aeneas and Latinus" ''Classical Philology'' '''38'''.2 (April 1943), pp. 137–138.</ref> 
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