Apollo ou les Beaux-Arts at The Louvre, Paris

cults3d

Apollo is one of the most significant and intricate figures among the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion, as well as Greek and Roman mythology. Recognized as a god of light, truth, prophecy, healing, plague, music, poetry, and more, Apollo embodies the ideal of the kouros (a beardless, athletic youth). As the son of Zeus and Leto, Apollo has a twin sister, Artemis, who is known for her chaste huntress nature. Apollo serves as the patron deity of Delphi (Pythian Apollo), functioning as an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing are closely associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated by his son Asclepius. However, Apollo is also seen as a god who can bring ill-health and deadly plague. Amongst his custodial charges, Apollo has dominion over colonists and is the patron defender of herds and flocks. As the leader of the Muses (Apollon Musegetes) and director of their choir, Apollo functions as the patron god of music and poetry. Hermes created the lyre for him, making it a common attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo are called paeans. In Hellenistic times, especially during the 3rd century BCE, Apollo Helios became identified among Greeks with Helios, Titan god of the sun, and his sister Artemis was similarly equated with Selene, Titan goddess of the moon. However, in Latin texts, Joseph Fontenrose declared himself unable to find any conflation of Apollo with Sol among the Augustan poets of the 1st century, not even in the conjurations of Aeneas and Latinus in Aeneid XII (161–215). Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the 3rd century CE.