Apollo

Extract

Apollo (Ἀπόλλων, Dor. also Ἀπέλλων), Greek god, son of *Zeus and *Leto, brother of *Artemis, for many ‘the most Greek of Greek gods’ (W. F. Otto). Among his numerous and diverse functions healing and *purification, prophecy, care for young citizens, for poetry, and music are prominent (see Plat. Cra. 404d–405e). In iconography, he is always young, beardless, and of harmonious beauty, the ideal ephebe (see epheboi) and young athlete; his weapon is the bow, and his tree the laurel.His name is absent from Linear B (while Paean, his later epiclesis and hymn, appears as Paiawon in the pantheon of Mycenaean Cnossus). In *Homer and *Hesiod, his myth and cult are fully developed, and his main centres, *Delos and *Delphi, are well-known (Delian altar of Apollo, Od. 6. 162; Delphic shrine, Il. 9. 405 and Od. 8. 80; stone of Cronus, Theog.