'Tis Apollo comes leading

Today's myth, legend and history tutorial was rather interesting. We were divided up into groups of three and had to choose a character from a list we were given. The characters were either humans or Gods from ancient Greek myths, such as Helen of Troy, Achilles, Aphrodite and Zeus. In my group, we chose the character Apollo, the God of light, music, healing, prophecy, plague, and (according to some sources) archery and agriculture.

Apollo

Apollo was the son of Leto and Zeus. When Hera, Zeus's wife, found out that Leto was pregnant and that Zeus was the father, she banned Leto from giving birth of solid ground. Leto found some shifting islands and gave birth to Apollo and his twin sister Artemis. Artemis was born first and assisted with the birth of Apollo. When Hera found out that Leto had given birth, she said Python (a dragon, not a snake) to kill Leto. When Apollo heard that Python had been sent to kill his mother, he begged the blacksmith of the gods, Hephaestus, to make him a bow and arrows. Hephaestus did this and, with the bow and arrows, Apollo killed Python. Hera then sent Tityos to kill Leto, but both Apollo and Artemis foiled the giant and then Zeus stepped in and chained Tityos down on a rock to prevent him from doing Hera's bidding.

Apollo and Artemis

During the Trojan War, Apollo and Artemis sided with the Trojans. Apollo shot arrows infected with plague down onto the Greek encampment after one of the Greek leaders refused to return the daughter of one of Apollo's priests. Apollo also killed Achilles by shooting him in the heel (this is where the phrase 'Achilles heel) comes from), and avenging his son, who Achilles had killed.

When Zeus killed one of Apollo's sons, Apollo took revenge by killing the Cyclops who had fashioned the bolt. While Apollo should have been banished to the realm of Tartarus forever, his mother interceded on his behalf and he was given one year's hard labor instead. He worked for King Admetus as a shepherd for that year. Admetus treated Apollo well and, when the year of punishment was up, Apollo bestowed frequent good favor on Admetus.

When Queen Niobe boasted of her superiority to Leto, Apollo's mother, because she had fourteen children and Leto only two, Apollo and Artemis took revenge on her by killing all her children. Apollo shot (with a bow and arrow) her seven sons, and Artemis shot her seven daughters. Niobe, consumed with grief, fled and was later turned into a weeping stone by Zeus.

Apollo and Artemis kill Niobe's children

So, that's what I've found out so far. I think Apollo's a pretty interesting character myself, but I like his sister Artemis better. Unfortunately for me, Artemis wasn't on the list of characters we could choose to study in the class, so I chose the next best character, her brother.

Until tomorrow,

~ Australian Kiwi