Editing Apollo (section)

===Other stories===

[[File:François Boucher - The Rising of the Sun - WGA02916.jpg|thumb|Apollo as the rising sun, by [[François Boucher]]]]

In the first [[Olympic games]], Apollo defeated [[Ares]] and became the victor in wrestling. He outran [[Hermes]] in the race and won first place.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.7.10 5.7.10].</ref>

Apollo divides months into summer and winter.<ref>''[[Orphic Hymn]]'' 34 ''to Apollon'', 21 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA30 pp. 30&ndash;31]).</ref> He rides on the back of a swan to the land of the [[Hyperborea]]ns during the winter months, and the absence of warmth in winter is due to his departure. During his absence, Delphi was under the care of [[Dionysus]], and no prophecies were given during winters.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

==== Periphas ====

[[Periphas]] was an Attican king and a priest of Apollo. He was noble, just and rich. He did all his duties justly. Because of this people were very fond of him and started honouring him to the same extent as Zeus. At one point, they worshipped Periphas in place of Zeus and set up shrines and temples for him. This annoyed Zeus, who decided to annihilate the entire family of Periphas. But because he was a just king and a good devotee, Apollo intervened and requested his father to spare Periphas. Zeus considered Apollo's words and agreed to let him live. But he metamorphosed Periphas into an eagle and made the eagle the king of birds. When Periphas' wife requested Zeus to let her stay with her husband, Zeus turned her into a vulture and fulfilled her wish.<ref>[[Antoninus Liberalis]], ''Metamorphoses'' [https://topostext.org/work/216#6 6]; Grimal, s.v. Periphas (2), p. 359.</ref>

==== Molpadia and Parthenos ====

Molpadia and Parthenos were the sisters of [[Rhoeo]], a former lover of Apollo. One day, they were put in charge of watching their father's ancestral wine jar but they fell asleep while performing this duty. While they were asleep, the wine jar was broken by the swine their family kept. When the sisters woke up and saw what had happened, they threw themselves off a cliff in fear of their father's wrath. Apollo, who was passing by, caught them and carried them to two different cities in Chersonesus, Molpadia to Castabus and Parthenos to Bubastus. He turned them into goddesses and they both received divine honors. Molpadia's name was changed to [[Hemithea (mythology)|Hemithea]] upon her deification.<ref>Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 5. 62. 3–4</ref>

==== Prometheus ====

[[Prometheus]] was the titan who was punished by Zeus for stealing fire. He was bound to a rock, where each day an eagle was sent to eat Prometheus' liver, which would then grow back overnight to be eaten again the next day. Seeing his plight, Apollo pleaded with Zeus to release the kind Titan, while Artemis and Leto stood behind him with tears in their eyes. Zeus, moved by Apollo's words and the tears of the goddesses, finally sent Heracles to free Prometheus.<ref>Valerius Flaccus, ''Argonautica'' 4. 60</ref>

[[File:Nicolas-Guy Brenet - Apollo Crowning the Arts, 1771.jpg|thumb|Apollo crowning the arts, by [[Nicolas-Guy Brenet]]]]

==== Heracles ====

After [[Heracles]] (then named Alcides) was struck with madness and killed his family, he sought to purify himself and consulted the oracle of Apollo. Apollo, through the Pythia, commanded him to serve king [[Eurystheus]] for twelve years and complete the ten tasks the king would give him. Only then would Alcides be absolved of his sin. Apollo also renamed him Heracles.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D12 2.4.12].</ref>

[[File:Corinthian helmet Cdm Paris BB2013 n2.jpg|thumb|right|Heracles and Apollo struggling over the hind, as depicted on a Corinthian helmet (early 5th century BC)]]

To complete his third task, Heracles had to capture the [[Ceryneian Hind]], a hind sacred to Artemis, and bring back it alive. After chasing the hind for one year, the animal eventually got tired, and when it tried crossing the river Ladon, Heracles captured it. While he was taking it back, he was confronted by Apollo and Artemis, who were angered at Heracles for this act. However, Heracles soothed the goddess and explained his situation to her. After much pleading, Artemis permitted him to take the hind and told him to return it later.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D3 2.5.3].</ref>

After he was freed from his servitude to Eurystheus, Heracles fell in conflict with Iphytus, a prince of Oechalia, and murdered him. Soon after, he contracted a terrible disease. He consulted the oracle of Apollo once again, in the hope of ridding himself of the disease. The Pythia, however, denied to give any prophesy. In anger, Heracles snatched the sacred tripod and started walking away, intending to start his own oracle. However, Apollo did not tolerate this and stopped Heracles; a duel ensued between them. Artemis rushed to support Apollo, while Athena supported Heracles. Soon, Zeus threw his thunderbolt between the fighting brothers and separated them. He reprimanded Heracles for this act of violation and asked Apollo to give a solution to Heracles. Apollo then ordered the hero to serve under [[Omphale]], queen of [[Lydia]] for one year in order to purify himself.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

After their reconciliation, Apollo and Heracles together founded the city of Gythion.<ref>Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 21. 8</ref>

==== Plato's concept of soulmates ====

A long time ago, there were three kinds of human beings: male, descended from the sun; female, descended from the earth; and androgynous, descended from the moon. Each human being was completely round, with four arms and four legs, two identical faces on opposite sides of a head with four ears, and all else to match. They were powerful and unruly. [[Aloadae|Otis]] and [[Aloadae|Ephialtes]] even dared to scale [[Mount Olympus]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

To check their insolence, Zeus devised a plan to humble them and improve their manners instead of completely destroying them. He cut them all in two and asked Apollo to make necessary repairs, giving humans the individual shape they still have now. Apollo turned their heads and necks around towards their wounds, he pulled together their skin at the [[abdomen]], and sewed the skin together at the middle of it. This is what we call [[navel]] today. He smoothened the wrinkles and shaped the chest. But he made sure to leave a few wrinkles on the abdomen and around the navel so that they might be reminded of their punishment.<ref>Plato, ''[[The Symposium]]''</ref>

{{blockquote|"As he [Zeus] cut them one after another, he bade Apollo give the face and the half of the neck a turn... Apollo was also bidden to heal their wounds and compose their forms. So Apollo gave a turn to the face and pulled the skin from the sides all over that which in our language is called the belly, like the purses which draw in, and he made one mouth at the centre [of the belly] which he fastened in a knot (the same which is called the navel); he also moulded the breast and took out most of the wrinkles, much as a shoemaker might smooth leather upon a last; he left a few wrinkles, however, in the region of the belly and navel, as a memorial of the primeval state.}}

==== The rock of Leukas ====

Leukatas was believed to be a white-colored rock jutting out from the island of [[Lefkada|Leukas]] into the sea. It was present in the sanctuary of Apollo Leukates. A leap from this rock was believed to have put an end to the longings of love.<ref name="Strabo, Geography 10. 2. 8">[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica|Geography]]'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D10%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D8 10.2.8].</ref>

Once, Aphrodite fell deeply in love with [[Adonis]], a young man of great beauty who was later accidentally killed by a boar. Heartbroken, Aphrodite wandered looking for the rock of Leukas. When she reached the sanctuary of Apollo in Argos, she confided in him her love and sorrow. Apollo then brought her to the rock of Leukas and asked her to throw herself from the top of the rock. She did so and was freed from her love. When she sought the reason behind this, Apollo told her that Zeus, before taking another lover, would sit on this rock to free himself from his love for Hera.<ref name="ReferenceE">Ptolemy Hephaestion, ''New History Book'' 7</ref>

Another tale relates that a man named Nireus, who fell in love with the cult statue of Athena, came to the rock and jumped in order to relieve himself. After jumping, he fell into the net of a fisherman in which, when he was pulled out, he found a box filled with gold. He fought with the fisherman and took the gold, but Apollo appeared to him in the night in a dream and warned him not to appropriate gold which belonged to others.<ref name="ReferenceE"/>

It was an ancestral custom among the Leukadians to fling a criminal from this rock every year at the sacrifice performed in honor of Apollo for the sake of averting evil. However, a number of men would be stationed all around below rock to catch the criminal and take him out of the borders in order to exile him from the island.<ref>Aelian, ''On Animals'' 11. 8</ref><ref name="ReferenceE"/> This was the same rock from which, according to a legend, Sappho took her suicidal leap.<ref name="Strabo, Geography 10. 2. 8"/>

[[File:François Boucher 028.jpg|thumb|Apollo as the setting sun, by [[François Boucher]]]]

==== Slaying of Titans ====
Once [[Hera]], out of spite, aroused the Titans to war against [[Zeus]] and take away his throne. Accordingly, when the Titans tried to climb [[Mount Olympus]], Zeus with the help of Apollo, [[Artemis]] and [[Athena]], defeated them and cast them into Tartarus.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#150 150].</ref>