Apollo

Apollo
God of oracles, healing, archery, music and arts, sunlight, knowledge, herds and flocks, and protection of the young
Member of the Twelve Olympians and the Dii Consentes
Apollo Belvedere, c. 120–140 CE
Abode	Mount Olympus
Planet	Sun
Symbol	Lyre, laurel wreath, python, raven, swan, bow and arrows
Day	Sunday (hēmérā Apóllōnos)
Personal information
Parents	Zeus and Leto
Siblings	Artemis, Aeacus, Angelos, Aphrodite, Ares, Athena, Dionysus, Eileithyia, Enyo, Eris, Ersa, Hebe, Helen of Troy, Hephaestus, Heracles, Hermes, Minos, Pandia, Persephone, Perseus, Rhadamanthus, the Graces, the Horae, the Litae, the Muses, the Moirai
Children	Asclepius, Aristaeus, Corybantes, Hymenaeus, Ialemus, Apollonis, Borysthenis, Cephisso, Agreus, Amphiaraus, Amphissus, Amphithemis, Anius, Apis, Arabus, Centaurus, Ceos, Chaeron, Chios, Chariclo, Chrysorrhoas, Coronus, Cycnus, Cydon, Delphus, Dorus, Dryops, Eleuther, Epidaurus, Eriopis, Erymanthus, Eurydice, Hector, Iamus, Idmon, Ileus, Ismenus, Laodocus, Lapithus, Linus, Linus of Thrace, Lycomedes, Lycorus, Marathus, Melaneus, Melite, Miletus, Mopsus, Naxos, Oaxes, Oncius, Orpheus, Tenes, Troilus, Parthenos, Phagrus, Phemonoe, Philammon, Phylacides, Phylander, Polypoetes, Syrus, Tenerus, Trophonius, Zeuxippus

Part of a series on
Ancient Greek religion
show Origins Ancient Greek Religion Mycenaean Greece, Mycenaean religion and Mycenaean deities Minoan Civilization Classical Greece Hellenistic Greece
show Sacred Places Sacred Islands Delos Ithaca Naxos Kythira Samothrace Crete Sacred Mountains Mount Lykaion Mount Ida (Turkey) Mount Ida (Crete) Mount Olympus Mount Kyllini Mount Othrys Sanctuaries Aornum Delphi Didyma Dion Dodona Eleusis Olympia Other Cave of Zeus Troy
show Deities Olympians Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Athena Demeter Dionysus Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hestia Poseidon Zeus Primordial deities Achlys Aether Aion Ananke Chaos Chronos Erebus Eros Fates Atropos Clotho Lachesis Gaia Hemera Nyx Ourea Phanes Pontus Thalassa Tartarus Uranus Lesser deities Alpheus Amphitrite Asclepius Bia Circe Cybele Deimos Eileithyia Enyo Eos Eris Harmonia Hebe Hecate Helios Heracles Iris Kratos Leto Metis Momus Nemesis Nike Pan Persephone Phobos Proteus Scamander Selene Thanatos Thetis Triton Zelus
show Concepts Worldview Greek Mythology Orphic Egg Underworld and Afterlife Miasma Daimon Greek Heroic Age Divine and Reality Apeiron Monism Polytheism Pantheism Form of the Good Theory of forms Mind Anamnesis Ataraxia Apatheia Episteme Epoché Katalepsis Logos Nous Phronesis Soul Anima mundi Metempsychosis Henosis Plato's theory of soul Ethics Arete Hubris Xenia Ethic of Reciprocity Delphic maxims Adiaphora Eudaimonia Kathekon Oikeiôsis Mysteries Eleusinian Mysteries Orphism Dionysian Mysteries
show Practices Worship Agalma Dithyramb Paean Orgion Hiera Orgas Hero Cult Oracle and Pythia Sacrifices and Offerings Holokaustos Libation Votive offering Animal Sacrifice Temples and holy sites Temple Temenos Meditation and Charity Eusebeia Meditation Euergetism Rites of passage Amphidromia Marriage Funeral Rites Festivals Thesmophoria Dionysia Daphnephoria Anthesteria Arrephoria Kronia Genesia Elaphebolia Pyanopsia Khalkeia Haloa Thargelia Three Monthly Festivals Deipnon Noumenia Agathodaemon Religious Games Panathenaia Herakleia Panhellenic Games Olympic Games Nemean Games Pythian Games Isthmian Games
show Hellenistic philosophy Stoicism Platonism Cynicism Epicureanism Peripatetic Pythagoreanism Pyrrhonism Sophism
show Philosophers Ancient Hesiod Homer Leucippus Democritus Diogenes of Apollonia Pythagoras Hippasus Philolaus Archytas Thales of Miletus Anaximenes of Miletus Parmenides Melissus of Samos Anaxagoras Empedocles Anaximander Prodicus Classical Socrates Antisthenes Diogenes Aristippus Euclid of Megara Stilpo Aristotle Aristoxenus Theophrastus Strato of Lampsacus Plato Speusippus Xenocrates Hellenistic and Roman Arcesilaus Carneades Epicurus Metrodorus of Lampsacus (the younger) Plutarch Pyrrho Aenesidemus Agrippa the Skeptic Timon of Phlius Sextus Empiricus Cicero Plotinus Julian (emperor) Zeno of Citium Aratus Aristo of Chios Cleanthes Chrysippus Panaetius Posidonius Marcus Aurelius Epictetus Arrian
show Texts Argonautica Bibliotheca Corpus Hermeticum Delphic maxims Dionysiaca Epic Cycle Homeric Hymns Iliad Odyssey Orphic Hymns Theogony Works and Days
show Other Topics Pilgrimage Sites Calendar Greek mythology Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism Julian restoration Modern Restoration
Religion portal  Ancient Greece portal
v t

Apollo^[a] is one of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The national divinity of the Greeks, 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. Seen as the most beautiful god and the ideal of the kouros (ephebe, or a beardless, athletic youth), Apollo is considered to be the most Greek of all the gods. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu.^[1]

As the patron deity of Delphi (Apollo Pythios), Apollo is an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Apollo is the god who affords help and wards off evil; various epithets call him the "averter of evil". Delphic Apollo is the patron of seafarers, foreigners and the protector of fugitives and refugees.

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 with his arrows. The invention of archery itself is credited to Apollo and his sister Artemis. Apollo is usually described as carrying a golden bow and a quiver of silver arrows. Apollo's capacity to make youths grow is one of the best attested facets of his panhellenic cult persona. As the protector of young (kourotrophos), Apollo is concerned with the health and education of children. He presided over their passage into adulthood. Long hair, which was the prerogative of boys, was cut at the coming of age (ephebeia) and dedicated to Apollo.

Apollo is an important pastoral deity, and was the patron of herdsmen and shepherds. Protection of herds, flocks and crops from diseases, pests and predators were his primary duties. On the other hand, Apollo also encouraged founding new towns and establishment of civil constitution. He is associated with dominion over colonists. He was the giver of laws, and his oracles were consulted before setting laws in a city.

As the god of mousike^[b] 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 attribute of Apollo. In Hellenistic times, especially during the 5th century BCE, as Apollo Helios he became identified among Greeks with Helios, the personification of the sun.^[2] In Latin texts, however, there was no conflation of Apollo with Sol among the classical Latin poets until 1st century CE.^[3] Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the 5th century CE.

Etymology

Apollo seated with lyre. Porphyry and marble, 2nd century AD. Farnese collection, Naples, Italy.

Apollo (Attic, Ionic, and Homeric Greek: Ἀπόλλων, Apollōn (GEN Ἀπόλλωνος); Doric: Ἀπέλλων, Apellōn; Arcadocypriot: Ἀπείλων, Apeilōn; Aeolic: Ἄπλουν, Aploun; Latin: Apollō)

The name Apollo—unlike the related older name Paean—is generally not found in the Linear B (Mycenean Greek) texts, although there is a possible attestation in the lacunose form ]pe-rjo-[ (Linear B: ]