Apollo. The son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Leto (Latona) and the twin of the goddess Artemis (Diana), Apollo personifies the Greek love of beauty, balance, clarity, and music. One of the twelve Olympian deities and the lord of Parnassus, he is the sun god as well as the patron of fine arts, medicine, music, poetry, eloquence, and prophecy. He is also associated with the tending of flocks and herds. His attributes include the bow and arrow (whence the epithet “far shooting”) and the lyre, since the god was famous both for his ability as an archer and his musical skills. The Romans also knew him as Apollo.
Apollo is credited with the foundation of the oracle at Delphi in mainland Greece, which was established on the site where he slew the dragon (or serpent) Python. The epithet “Pythian” Apollo commemorates this triumph. His origins and the development of his power in different aspects of Greek religion are obscure. In the fifth century bce Apollo became a sun god, with the epithet “Phoebus” (“bright, shining”), assuming the power and attributes of Helios.
Representations of Apollo in ancient art often portray him with the lyre or flute, or bow and arrow, attributes that have persisted in later images of the god.
Classical Sources. Homer, Iliad 1.9, 7.17-41, 21.436-68, 22.6-20 and passim; Odyssey 8.226ft., 15.243-53. Hesiod, Theogony 94—95, 346ft., 918—20. Homeric Hymns, ‘To Apollo.” Pindar, Pythian Odes 1, 3.1—67, 4.176ft, 8.12ft, 9.1—70. Orphic Hymns 34, ‘To Apollo.” Callimachus, Hymns, “To Apollo” (2). Virgil, Aeneid 3—7}, 6.41-83; Eclogues 3, 4,5, 6,10. Horace, Odes 1.31. Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.416ft, 452ft, 3.534ft, 6.204-66, 6.382-400, 10.106ft, ii.153-71; Fasti 6.703ft. Apollodorus, Biblioteca 1.3.2-4,1.4.1—2, 3.10.2-3. Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.10.5—6. Hyginus, Fa-bulae 49—51, 53. Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods, “Apollo and Dionysus,” 11, “Hephaestus and Apollo,” 16-17, “Hermes and Apollo,” 21, 25, “Apollo and Hermes.”

Listings are arranged under the following headings:
General List Apollo as Sun God Apollo and Python; Apollo as Shepherd and Herdsman Apollo and the Cumaean Sibyl Loves of Apollo


See also Alcestis; Ares and Aphrodite; Artemis; Cassandra; Clytie; Cyparissus; Daphne; Gods and Goddesses; Hermes, Infancy; Hyacinth; Laomedon; Leto; Marsyas; Muses; Parnassus; Phaethon; Titans and Giants; Trojan War.