Apollo

CC 303 Intro to Classical Mythology - Fall 2009
Department of Classics, University of Texas at Austin, Prof. Lawrence Kim

Names to Remember

Apollo, Phoebus, Asclepius, Leto, Pythia, Hyacinth, Daphne
Delos, Delphi, Mt. Parnassus, Muses, Omphalos, [Two Muses]

Lecture Outline: Apollo

1. Characteristics and Appearance:
   
1. Young, Beardless, Long Hair
• Youthful, Masculine Beauty
2. Symbols: Bow/Arrows/Quiver, Laurel Wreath (Bay Leaves), Lyre
3. Symbol of restraint, rationality and reason
• Order and Harmony
• Mercilessly destructive vs. Graciously beneficial
2. Leader of the Muses - God of Poetry and Music 
• Nine Muses: daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory)
  
1. Calliope - Epic Poetry
   
2. Clio - History
   
3. Erato - Lyric and Love Poetry
   
4. Euterpe - Flute and Song
   
5. Melpomene - Tragedy
   
6. Polyhymnia - Hymns
   
7. Terpsichore - Dance
   
8. Thalia - Comedy
   
9. Urania - Astronomy and Astrology
   
3. Other Areas of Influence
1. God of Healing and Medicine
• Order and Harmony of the Body
• Father of Asclepius, god of medicine
2. God of Prophecy and Divination
• Oracles around the Greek World
  
3. Later, God of the Sun (Golden Halo)

Myths about Apollo

1. Birth on Delos (Homeric Hymn to Apollo)
   • Mother = Leto (Titan), lover of Zeus
   • Persecuted by Hera
   • No land will accept her when pregnant
   • Delos, the floating island
   • Hera prevents Leto from giving birth for nine days!
   • Iris (rainbow) fetches Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth
   • Leto finally gives birth to Apollo, leaning on palm tree
   • Delos becomes sacred religious shrine
2. Apollo and Delphi
   • Destruction of dragon Python
   • Foundation of Delphi, premier oracular shrine
   • Omphalos - the navel (center) of the earth
   • Priestess called the Pythia
   • Delphic Maxims: Know Thyself and Nothing in Excess
3. Unhappy Loves
   1. Hyacinth - Killed by discuss, becomes flower
   2. Daphne - Turned into Laurel/Bay tree to escape Apollo

Images

1. Bronze statue of Apollo from the House of Apollo. Pompeii.
2. Apollo with a kithara. Imperial Roman fresco from the area of the House of Augustus on the Palatine, Rome. Palatine Museums, Rome.
3. Apollo, Athena and the seven Muses. Imperial Roman sarcophagus, 1st-2nd c. CE. Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, England.
4. Apollo. Phocis/Locris coin (Reverse: Delphi), c. 336 BCE. Athens.
5. Apollo on Tripod.
6. *Marble sculpture of the Apollo Belvedere by Leochares. Imperial Roman copy of a Late Classical Greek original. Vatican Museums. [Know that this statue is called "The Apollo Belvedere"]
7. Omphalos.
8. Apollo, Hyakinthos and Kyparissos, Alexander Ivanov, 1831-34. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
9. *Apollo and Daphne, Gianlorenzo Bernini, 1625. Galleria Borghese, Rome.
10. Apollo and Daphne. Nicolas Poussin, 1625.
11. Apollo Pursuing Daphne. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, c. 1755. National gallery of Art, Washington D.C.