God of music
God of the sun
God of logic
God of reason
God of prophecy
God of archery
God of poetry
God of medicine
Lovers of Apollo
Cassandra
Calliope
Coronis
Daphne
Hyacinthus
Sibyl of Cumae
Apollo was the son of Leto and Zeus. His twin sister, Artemis, and he had somewhat of a strange and tragic birth. Leto couldn’t find a place to give birth to her children. Hera’s wrath had scared her out of every place on earth. Finally, she found a small island that would let her rest there. She gave birth to Artemis first. It is said that Artemis quickly found ways to help her mother get comfortable so she could give birth to Apollo painlessly. One day later, Apollo was born.
Apollo is the god of the sun, music, poetry, archery, healing and prophecy. He, like his sister Artemis, was an amazing archer. Apollo was very sensitive about his music. He knew he was a marvelous player, and was never modest about it. Once a man named Marsyas dared Apollo to a contest. Apollo played the cinthern while Marsuas played the flute. The winner was would win command over the loser. Of course, Apollo won. As punishment, Apollo tied him to a tree and skinned him alive. Then he changed him into a river, which is now named after him.
Apollo, just like most of all the other gods, was known to have a very hectic love life. Coronis was a beautiful nymph. A raven revealed to Apollo about the infidelity of his lover. Enraged with anger, Apollo killedpoor Coronis. Once his anger had passed, he was overwhelmed with sorrow and sadness. He turned his bitterness onto the bird. Cursing the bird, he plucked its feathers out, and turned him black.
On one occasion, Apollo was attracted to a young woman named Cassandra. Cassandra asked Apollo for the gift of prophecy, and Apollo gave it to her. After that, Cassandra refused to give herself to him. Apollo was outraged and cursed the gift: who ever she told prophecies to wouldn’t believe her. So in other words, her gift was now useless.
A water nymph named Clytie was hopelessly in love with Apollo. Apollo had no affection for the nymph and constantly turned her down. Each day, she would sit on the ground and stare at the sun in the sky the entire day. After nine days of only doing this, she sprouted roots and became a sunflower—which follows the sun, day after day.
One day, Apollo was making fun of Eros (cupid) for being so small and puny. Eros wanted revenge on Apollo. He struck Apollo with one of his desire arrows. Instantly, Apollo fell in love with the river nymph, Daphne. He struck Daphne with one of his lead-tipped arrows—arrows of disgust. The more Apollo pursued Daphne, the more appalled and disgusted Daphne felt about Apollo. The cat and mouse game went of for a long time before Daphne cried out to mother earth for help. Mother earth transformed her in to a laurel tree. Apollo was dismayed and walked away sadly rejected. Never again did he make fun of Eros.
Everyday, Apollo’s most important task is to ride his golden chariot and the sun across the sky. Once he let one of his sons drive it instead, only to lead to disaster. His son flew too low over Africa, burning all of its people to brown and black.
**Zeus**
**Hera**
**Poseidon**
**Hades**
**Athena**
**Ares**
**Artemis**
**Dionysus**
**Aphrodite**
**Hephaestus**
**Hermes**
**Demeter**
**Hestia**
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