Apollo

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Apollo stands out as a multifaceted deity among the Olympian gods in classical Greek and Roman religion and mythology. Recognized for his association with music, truth, prophecy, healing, the sun, light, plague, poetry, and more, Apollo embodies the ideal of the kouros - an athletic youth without a beard. As the son of Zeus and Leto, Apollo shares a twin sister in Artemis, a chaste huntress. In Etruscan mythology influenced by Greek culture, Apollo is known as Apulu. While proportions played a significant role in Greek art, the allure of their sculptures defies explanation solely through proportion. The statues of Apollo were seen to embody his living presence, capturing an imaginative reality that originated in the Minoan period and the early Greek-speaking people's beliefs during the bronze age. Just as Greeks perceived mountains, forests, seas, and rivers inhabited by tangible beings, nature manifests itself clearly in its various forms, with each aspect possessing a distinct shape. When matter is given artistic form, spiritual life becomes an integral part of it. In art and mathematics alike, Greeks sought reality behind appearances, applying permanent principles to conditions that remained the same. Artists and sculptors endeavored to find this ideal order through mathematical relationships but believed that this order revealed itself more profoundly to the entire sentient being rather than to a detached intellect.