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[[File:Apollo of the Belvedere.jpg|thumb|Apollo of the Belvedere, c. 140 - 130 BC, Vatican Museums; Roman copy after a Greek bronze original attributed to Leochares (c. 330 - 320 BC)]]
[[File:Fresco Apollo kitharoidos Palatino Inv379982 n2.jpg|thumb|Apollo with cithara (fresco, House of Augustus, today in the Palatine Antiquarium in Rome, ca. 20 BC)]]

'''Apollo''' ({{Latin}}; {{Greek|Ἀπόλλων}} ''Apollon'') was one of the twelve Olympian gods of Greek and Roman mythology. He was considered the god of light, moral purity, healing and divination, as well as the patron of the arts and many oracle sites. In particular, the Oracle of Delphi, the most important oracle site of antiquity, was dedicated to him. As '''Phoibos''' ({{Greek|Φοῖβος}}; {{Latin|Phoebus}} "the shining one") he was equated with the sun god [[Helios]], while his twin sister Artemis was equated with the moon goddess Semele or the Egyptian Isis. The origin of his name is uncertain. The Pythagoreans and Platonists, who particularly revered Apollo, interpreted his name as A-pollon (the "not-many" or meaning "the one", from {{lang|grc|ἀ-}} ''a-'' "not" and {{lang|grc|πολλόν}} ''pollón'' "much, very") and thus pointed to the highest, the absolute. This is also said to have been the subject of Plato's unwritten teaching.

== Mythology ==

According to Greek mythology, [[Zeus]] fathered Apollo and his twin sister [[Artemis]] with his lover [[Leto]], the daughter of the Titans Koios and Phoibe<ref>Hesiod, Theogony 404-406</ref>. [[Hera]], Zeus' jealous wife, wanted to prevent the birth of the two children because the earth mother [[Gaia]] had prophesied to her that they would be greater and more powerful than her own children. So she sent the serpentine dragon [[Python]]<ref>Hyginus, Fabulae 53 and 140</ref> to devour Leto, but Zeus prevented this. Hera then took an oath from Gaia that she would not allow the pregnant Leto a place on earth to give birth to her children.

Then [[Poseidon]] caused the floating island of [[Delos]] to rise from the sea.<ref>Later, Delos was fixed to the seabed by Poseidon, or according to other stories by Zeus, with four diamond pillars.</ref> Leto was taken there by Hermes on Zeus' orders. Hera now put so much pressure on her daughter Eileithyia, the goddess of birth, that she did not dare to stand by Leto. The other gods, however, were on Leto's side and bought the moon from heaven (Uranos) and gave it to Hephaestus to forge the most beautiful necklace. With this they bribed Eileithyia and Leto was finally able to give birth to her twins. Under a palm tree she gave birth first to Artemis and then, with her help, to Apollo. Meanwhile, the Curetes, who had already protected the newborn Zeus from his father Kronos, were making noise all around with their weapons so that Hera could not hear Leto's cries during labour.<ref>Homeric Hymn to Apollo 14-119; Kallimachos, Hymn to Delos 36-274</ref>

The first act of Apollo, just four days old, was to kill Python. Badly hit by Apollo's arrow, Python fled to the oracle site of the Mother Earth in Delphi, which was originally called Phytho, but from the 5th century BC had been named after Python's wife or female manifestation Delphyne, a daughter of Gaia. Apollo followed Python into the sanctuary and killed him next to the sacred rift. Python's clairvoyant and divination powers thus passed to Apollo, which is why he was also called Apollo Pythios and why the Pythian Games were celebrated in his honour. Nevertheless, the killing of Python was a sacrilege for which Apollo had to go to Tarrha on Crete and undergo ritual purification.

Apollo was also the patron of the arts and the muses were among his followers. He masterfully played the kithara and was victorious in the musical contest with Pan.<ref>Ovid, Metamorphoses 11, 150-193</ref>

With the onset of winter, Apollo flew back on his chariot drawn by swans to the "land beyond the north wind", the land of the Hyperboreans.

== Literature ==

* [[w:Karl Kerényi|Karl Kerényi]]: ''Die Mythologie der Griechen - Band 1: Die Götter- und Menschheitsgeschichten''. dtv, München 1998. ISBN 3-423-30030-2
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Aus der Akasha-Forschung. Das Fünfte Evangelium'', [[GA 148]] (1992), ISBN 3-7274-1480-4 {{Lectures|148}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Christus und die geistige Welt. Von der Suche nach dem heiligen Gral'', [[GA 149]] (2004), ISBN 3-7274-1490-1 {{Lectures|149}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Vorstufen zum Mysterium von Golgatha '', [[GA 152]] (1990), ISBN 3-7274-1520-7 {{Lectures|152}}

{{GA}}

== References ==
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[[Category:Greek mythology]]
[[de:Apollon]]