The fabulous and stately gathering known as the gods of Olympus has been deeply ingrained into the psyche of Western minds for centuries. The Olympians were the twelve central gods and goddesses of ancient Greece, and between them they controlled practically every conceivable aspect of mortal life, since each held sway over a particular sphere of nature or of human activity. The twelve deities were: Zeus - King of the Gods, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Hermes, Ares and Apollo; Hera - Queen of the Gods, Athene, Artemis, Hestia, Aphrodite and Demeter. A plethora of other deities also dwelt on Mount Olympus, but none matched the power of the Olympian twelve. Some of these other gods included Helios, Dionysus and Selene and between them they made up a vast array of divine beings that could be called on to aid in some particular venture or other. Whether it was a marriage that needed the blessing of Hera, a business transaction that required an oath to Hermes, or the fear that the Fates would conspire to ruin one's future, all aspects of classical life revolved around the divine. The gods were present everywhere, always, and could be appeased or approached depending on one's needs.
Zeus was the leader, or more accurately, master, of the Olympian twelve, and the most powerful of all the gods. He held sway over both the material universe and those gods and goddesses who controlled it. He was omnipotent and all-seeing, fearless and far-reaching. No-one dared question his authority or challenge his rule. The warnings of mighty Zeus were severe: 'Let no god, let no goddess, attempt to curb my will ... or I shall seize him and cast him into darkest Tartarus. Then he will recognise how much mightier I am than all the gods!' The other eleven Olympians could not match his power, even if they had worked together to overthrow him. Yet one of these eleven lesser gods and goddesses had a special pre-eminence, recognised even by Zeus, his father. That god was Apollo.
As the youthful looking Apollo entered an assembly of the Olympians, all the gods and goddesses rose to greet him as a sign of great respect. Leto, his mother, approached to relieve him of his bow and quiver and Zeus welcomed him with a golden cup of nectar. Once Apollo had greeted his father, the gods returned to their seats and began their business. Apollo was special. Not only did the Olympian deities revere him, but the classical Greeks, and later the Romans, also thought highly of him. He was known to the ancients as the 'most Greek of gods ...', and with his self-proclaimed motto of 'everything in moderation', the god epitomized the Greek character and mood. Of all the Greek gods that the Romans chose to hold up as the token of Greek civilization and reconciliation between the Roman and Greek cultures, it was Apollo that triumphed. When Rome began adopting personalities and natures of of the Greek gods into their own pantheon during the 5th century BC, the transformation of that city's religion began, and a place of almost unequalled prestige was carved by the youthful god.
Apollo, the divine being, like the other classical gods, was actually the intangible aspect of a religious cult, a very real organisation that was defined by prayers, sacrifices, temples, statues and oaths, by festivals and priests. The body of the cult was made up by its congregation, the loyal worshippers who regularly came to the altars at the front of the glorious temples and made offerings to the god. Greek religion did not just survive on its rich background of intricately woven myths, it lived and breathed on a daily basis by the actions of its followers. Their beliefs, their prayers and taboos formed a living testament to the god of that cult. And so a Greek sea captain would be a very reckless man indeed if he were not a regular worshipper of Poseidon, god of the sea, for his very survival might depend on courting the favour of that god. Thus went life.
As the first so-called 'Indo-European' peoples moved westwards into the European continent during the early stages of the agricultiural revolution, they split up and divided. Some of these settled in the cold northern forests, others in the wooded country north of the Alps, while others journeyed further south into Italy and Greece. Some of the very oldest of the Olympian cults moved with these original Indo-European people (ancestors of the classical Greeks) down through the Balkan penninsula into Greece and the Greek islands sometime after 2000 BC. Other religious cults arrived a little later in the historical record, and the resident Greek priests and mythographers quickly sought to tie the gods of these new cults into the established Greek pantheon. Apollo seems to have been one such late-comer. Exactly when his cult began to gain popularity in Greece, and from which direction it arrived, is a historical mystery that has bedevilled scholars since the classical age. What is known for certain is that the cult soon gained ground on its rival religions, and would enjoy great success, measured not in size, but certainly in wealth and influence. Indeed, the cult of Apollo matured to become one of the richest and most powerful religious organization within the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Much of this was due to the role of prophecy played by the god at his sanctuary at Delphi in central Greece.
Prophecies made by the god at Delphi were received in utter seriousness by all who travelled to the sanctuary, whether the proclamation involved the trivialities of a court case or business transaction, or the crucial decisions involving armies, invasion plans and the founding of overseas colonies. This was true power, the power to affect international (or at least rival Greek city-state) policy and to make money while doing so. But why was Apollo's cult as a whole so blessed, so revered by the Greeks? Why did the hierarchy of this one religion have an authority that transcended petty political bickerings, religious feuds and commercial rivalries? Every individual Olympian cult was in some sense "pan-Hellenic", being worshipped in almost every corner of Greece, but most were given local flavour, and were associated with local heroes, and local locations. Apollo came closer than any other Greek religion to becoming a unifying Greek god, not only uniting the race in religion but also intellectually and perhaps even politically.
The depth with which the Greeks regarded Apollo can easily be judged by the way in which the powerful and successful Athenians dedicated an entire island to the god. This in itself was not entirely unique, Cyprus, for example was the birthplace of Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and she was highly revered there. Many cities and towns focussed their worship towards one or two particular deities, often connected in some way with the district's local folklore. But on Delos, the Athenians spared no effort to totally transform the island into a vast religious site dedicated to, and solely devoted to, the god Apollo and his associated cults. The population was allowed to continue living there, after a fashion, but no human was henceforth allowed to die on this most sacred of islands, and equally, no child was allowed to be born on the island. Graves were exhumed and the remains were transhipped to a neighbouring island. Delos was then ritually purified. No other Greek island ever underwent such a thorough divine cleansing and became so utterly dedicated to the maintanence of a single religious cult.
As we have already seen from his role at Delphi, Apollo dominated the art of prophecy, the divination of future events. However, from time immemorial in Greece this power was always one that had been associated with the earth goddess. She of the ground, the underworld and the snakes and other creatures that inhabited it. How did the god of light (or his cult, to be more precise) wrestle away patronage of this important religious custom from the deities of the earth? His domination of the rituals of divination throughout Greece brought considerable prestige to the cult, and elevated it to such a level that it caught the attentions of the new-born Roman Republic.
The god was a huntsman, and was well known (as Apollo Nomius) to be the patron of shepherds invoked to watch over flocks. This pastoral aspect of the cult sits uneasily with his other interests, but it is one that seems to have been popular. Apollo took the epithet Lycian which can be variously interpreted. Firstly, and most obviously as being of Lycian (ie. Asiatic) origin, but also as the title of a wolf-god, since the word also equates with the Greek for 'wolf'. Apollo Nomius then, was an agricultural god fostering healthy flocks, driving away wolves and, as Apollo Carneios, the ram-god, ensuring the fertility of the animals. Amongst his sacred attributes were the bow and the shepherd's crook. But not only was he a hunter and a shepherd, but he was also considered a builder and a colonizer, a founder of cities and a civilizer.
There are several more such contradictions, raising questions that are difficult to answer. As the embodiment of light, Apollo had mastery over the intangible forces of warmth, health and happiness. Because of this, health, medicine and the curative powers were attributed to him, and he was able to subsume the role of an existing Greek deity, Paeëon, to become Apollo Paeon (the healer). Likewise, the fertility of the land depended on sunshine, and the harvests of two holy sites where Apollo was especially venerated, at Delphi and at Delos, were dedicated to him. Yet through some association with the sun's rays, he was also the pre-eminent god of archery. His shots killed instantly, and he was known as the 'destroyer', the dispenser of instant death from afar. The healer was also the god of disease. This clash of interests is compounded by the belief that the mother, Leto, of this god of light, was originally the Asiatic deity Lada, a goddess of the night.
Themis fed Apollo on nectar and ambrosia and the boy called for a bow and arrows which Hephaestus at once provided for him. On leaving the holy isles of Delos Apollo made straight for Mount Parnassus, where the serpent Python, his mother's enemy , was lurking. He wounded the dragon severely with arrows. Python fled to the oracle of Mother Earth at Delphi, a mountain city named in honour of the monster Delphyne, Python's own mate. But Apollo dared to follow him into the shrine, and there despatched him beside the sacred chasm. Mother Earth reported this outrage to Zeus, who ordered Apollo to visit Tempe for purification and then instituted the Pythian Games in honour of Python. Apollo disregarded Zeus' order and went instead to Aigialaea for purification, accompanied by Artemis; and then, disliking the place, sailed to Tarrha in Crete, where King Carmanor instead performed the ceremony.
On his return to Greece, Apollo sought out Pan, the disreputable old goat-legged Arcadian god, and having coaxed him to reveal the art of prophecy, seized the Delphic Oracle and retained its priestess, called the Pythoness, in his own service. Leto, on hearing this news, travelled with Artemis to Delphi where she turned aside to perform some private rite in a sacred grove. A local giant called Tityus interrupted her devotions, and was trying to violate her when Apollo and Artemis, hearing screams, ran up and killed him with a volley of arrows. This was a vengeance which Zeus, Tityus' father, was pleased to consider a pious one.
Next Apollo killed the satyr Marsyas, follower of the goddess Cybele. He had picked up a flute discarded and cursed by Athene who had orginally made the double-flute from stag's bones, and played it at a banquet of the gods. Music delighted the other gods, but Hera and Aphrodite laughed silently behind their hands. Athene went away to a Phrygian wood and played again by a stream, seeing how her cheeks were swollen and face blue making her look ludicrous. Marsyas picked up this flute, and it played by itself. He went about Phrygia in Cybele's train delighting the ignorant peasants. They cried out that even Apollo with his lyre could not make better music, and Marsyas did not contradict them. The anger of Apollo was provoked and he invited Marsyas to a contest. The winner could inflict whatever punishment he wished on the loser. Marsyas consented, and the Muses (the goddesses of the arts) were the jury. The contest proved to be an equal one and the Muses were charmed by both instruments. Then Apollo cried out to Marsyas 'I challenge you to do with your instrument as much as I can do with mine. Turn it upside down, and both play and sing at the same time.' This was impossible with a flute but Apollo reversed his lyre and sang such delightful hymns in honour of the Olympian gods that the Muses gave the verdict in his favour. Apollo's revenge was to flay Marsyas alive and nail his skin to a pine-tree near the source of the river which now bears his name.
Afterwards, Apollo won a second musical contest at which King Midas presided. This time he beat Pan. Havingg become the acknowledged god of music, he has ever since played on his seven-stringed lyre at the gods' banquet. Another of his duties was to guard the sacred herds and flocks which the gods kept in Pieria, but he later delegated this task to Hermes.
Apollo never married, but he gave numerous nymphs and mortal women children. Among them were Phthia (mother of Dorus and his brothers), Thalia the Muse (mother of the Corybantes), Coronis (mother of Asclepius), Aria (mother of Miletus) and Cyrene (mother Aristaeus). He also seduced nymph Dryope who was tending her father's flocks on Mount Oeta in the company of her friends, the Hamadryads. Apollo disguised himself as a tortoise with which they all played and when Dryope put him to her bosom, he turned into a hissing serpent, scared away the Hamadryads and mated with Dryope. She bore him Amphissus, who founded the city of Oeta and built a temple to his divine father. There Dryope served as a priestess until, one day, the Hamadryads stole her away and left a poplar in her place.
On one occasion Apollo tried to steal the beautiful Marpessa from Idas, but she remained loyal. On another he pursued Daphne the mountain nymph, a priestess of Mother Earth and daughter of Peneius the River God of Thessaly. He had long been in love with Daphne and had brought about the death of his rival in love, a man called Leucippus. Leucippus had disguised himself as a girl to secretly join Daphne's mountain revels. Apollo knowing of this by divination, advised the mountain nymphs to bathe naked and thus make sure everyone in their company was a woman. Leucippus's imposture was at once discovered and the nymphs tore him to pieces. When he finally overtook Daphne, she cried out to Mother Earth who was able to spirit her away to Crete where she became known as Pasiphaë. Mother Earth left a laurel tree in her place, and from its leaves Apollo made a laurel to console himself.
Apollo earned Zeus' displeasure only once after the famous conspiracy to dethrone him. This was when Apollo's son Asclepius, the physician, had the temerity to resurrect a dead man, and rob Hades of a subject. Hades complained to Olympus and so Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt. In revenge Apollo killed the Cyclopes. Zeus was so enraged at the loss of his armourers that he would have banished Apollo to Tartarus for ever, had not Leto pleaded for his forgiveness and undertaken that he would mend his ways. The sentence was reduced to one year's hard labour, which Apollo was to serve in the sheep-folds of King Admetus of Therae. Obeying Leto's advice, Apollo not only carried out the sentence, but conferred great benefits on Admetus. Having learned his lesson, he thereafter preached moderation in all things: the phrases 'Know thyself!' and 'Nothing in excess!' were always on his lips. He brought the Muses down from their home on Mount Helicon to Delphi, tamed their wild frenzy, and led them in formal and decorous dances.