Apollo, god of light, arts and prophecy in Greek mythology
Apollo is one of the most celebrated deities in the Greek world: god of intellectual light, music, poetry, prophecy, and medicine. Twin brother of Artemis, son of Zeus and Leto, he embodies the ideal of beauty and reason that Greece projected onto the divine.
A difficult birth
Leto, beloved of Zeus, is hounded by a jealous Hera who forbids any land to shelter her. The floating island of Delos — technically not fixed ground — finally agrees to offer refuge. There the twins Apollo and Artemis are born after a long labor aided by Eileithyia.
Slayer of the Python
Apollo travels to Delphi and kills the Python, a monstrous serpent that guarded the sanctuary. He establishes his great oracle there, administered by the Pythia, an inspired priestess whose ambiguous words guide kings and cities for centuries. The Pythian Games are founded in memory of the combat.
God of the arts and healing
Apollo leads the Muses and masters the lyre, an instrument he received from Hermes in exchange for his goodwill. He is also the father of Asclepius, god of medicine, born of his union with the mortal Coronis.
Apollo also knows unhappy love: his pursuit of Daphne ends when her father transforms her into a laurel tree. Apollo adopts the laurel as his sacred plant. His relationship with Cassandra is equally tragic: he grants her the gift of prophecy, then, rejected, curses her so that no one will ever believe her predictions.
Archer god and god of light
His silver bow sends arrows of plague or sudden death. In the Iliad he unleashes pestilence on the Greek camp to avenge the insult to his priest Chryses. He also guides Paris’s hand to shoot the arrow that kills Achilles in the heel.
Cult and sanctuaries
Beyond Delphi, Apollo was worshipped at Delos, his birthplace, and at Didyma in Asia Minor. The Pythian Games ranked second only to the Olympic Games in prestige.
Further reading
To place Apollo within the Olympian family, read the pages on Zeus and Artemis, his twin sister. For Apollo’s exchanges with other Olympians, explore the page on Hermes.
See also
Related entries
Frequently asked questions
Is Apollo the sun god?
Not strictly. Helios is the original solar figure. Apollo is god of light in a broader sense — clarity, purity, reason — and his identification with the sun strengthens mainly in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
What is the Oracle of Delphi?
Apollo's sanctuary at Delphi housed the Pythia, a priestess who conveyed the god's oracles. It was the most consulted prophetic site in the Greek world for centuries.
Why did Apollo slay the Python?
The Python guarded the sanctuary of Delphi before Apollo arrived. By killing it, Apollo seized the site and established his oracle, commemorating the feat through the Pythian Games.