Event and Mysteries Surrounding Apollo - Literature review Example

Apollo The myths that surround gods and beings in the ancient world greatly reflect the modern belief system. This is because of the similarities which modern religion and beliefs have with the ancient myths. Various religions such as Christianity, Islam and Buddhism have an attachment of God to daily activities as well as explanations to various phenomena For instance, Apollo is renown for his astounding attributes such as the god of music, poetry, prophecy, light, plague, healing and the god sun. These are similar attributes that God, Allah, Buddha are attributed by their believers. This exercise gives the account of event and mysteries surrounding Apollo, the god sun of greek mythology and thereafter touch on the significance to modern belief system. Apollo was a son of Zeus and Leto. He was born under difficult circumstances as his mother, Leto was on the run all over the earth looking for a peaceful place to rest and give birth. Hera, the wife of Zeus was caught up with jealousy after discovering that his husband was expecting a child with his lover Leto (Hugh, 17). Thence, this led her to give Leto a chase so she could not get a place to rest and give birth. Luckily, Leto was able to find a place on Delos island where she was received warmly and after nine days of labor she bore twins, Apollo and his sister Artemis. Themis gave aid to Leto when was giving birth. Zeus became pleased and welcomed the twins giving them both silver bows and arrows. He also assured Themis that she would not be bothered in matters concerning marriage as she could live freely if she never intends to be married. Zeus gave to Apollo a golden and magnificent chariot which was pulled by swans. After the delivery Leto had little strength to continue. Apollo was born under a palm tree which later became a sacred place on the slopes of mount Cynthus. Before the birth of Apollo the island Delos was floating but their delivery it became anchored to the earth. Upon the birth of Apollo, Themis gave him ambrosia and nectar which made to rise and requested for a bow and a lyre. He then made a declaration that he was to bring the men of the world to the realm of his father. This made Delos glad and wrapped herself up with golden flowers. The birth Apollo is believed to be on the seventh month according to the ancient tradition. This made the seventh month sacred to him that it was celebrated after through sacrifices and festivals according to Hugh (36). Apollo was known as the god with the bow and arrows. He never tolerated the wicked and the overburdening whom he punished and destroyed. He never missed to hit things from afar with his darts as he was thought to be good at it. Those who succumbed to death were referred to be punished or rewarded by the effects of Apollo’s allows. His arrow was believed to send plagues to the land of the Greeks. Apollo killed the serpent dragon Python four days after his birth. He did this to avenge for his mother’s death because the serpent had pursued her before she arrived. When he found the snake Python, he hit her with the first shot of his arrow but did not kill it. The serpent tried to escape her cave in Delphi, but he firmly pursued her and shot the second shot that killed the snake. The death of the Python made the people of Delphi happy and made the place as a worship arena. Apollo came to discover that he had slain serpent which was the oracle of Delphi. This was the greatest prophet sought after in those times since it would answer any type of question as it was believed to see beyond the present into the future. It had the ability to foretell the predicaments that were to happen and therefore, it was of importance to the people. The killing of the Python was not taken lightly by the father of Apollo, Zeus. Though he was proud with his son courage, he was not happy that he had killed the serpent. He needed her foresight to know the direction to take since had poor eye sight. This became a problem since the snake was killed rendering him with no overseer. Apollo made up his mind to return to Delphi to learn prophecy in order to appease his father. However, this did not stop Zeus from punishing Apollo despite the fact that he loved him more than anybody else. Zeus decided upon teaching him a lesson by exiling him to work and live on the earth for one year as a mere mortal. He was thence sent to King Admetus in order to give him aid as he was a kind man and treated Apollo well. He also helped his father, Zeus to fight the giants. This made him later to be known as the god of help and who sent away evil. He was referred to as the father of Asclepius, the god of the healing art and this made him to be identified with Paceon, the god of the healing art in Homer. Apollo was also a god of prophecy who exercised his powers in the oracles at Delphi. His power of prophecy was believed to have been borrowed from his father Zeus and therefore he was known as the prophet of his father Zeus. In this case, he rather lacked the power of communicating the gift of prophecy to gods and men. This makes him to be related to the ancient seers and prophets in some manner. The oracle of Delphi makes Zeus to be viewed later differently. Zeus' possession of the oracle of Delphi is not clearly accounted as an Appollordius state. This however, was disputed by Hyginus who asserts that the oracle was in control of the python while Pausania differs by acclaiming that it belonged to both Gaea and Poseidon. Apollo was also the god of song and music. He used to play the phormix to the immortal gods in the Iliad. Homeric bands also borrowed the art of songs from him. He is referred to as the inventor of the flute and the lyre in the ancient tradition while the common tradition asserts that he got the lyre from Hermes. Apollo built the walls of Troy by playing the lyre while the Amphion built the walls of Thebes and thus was much honored in musical contests. The humeric hymn dedicated to Apollo lifted his spirits that he sought to make an oracle shrine to celebrate its benefits and own it, The Greeks always went to worship and pay tribute at the pan-Henellic centre despite their continual political conflicts. After killing the serpent, Apollo took hold of the oracle at Delphi which became under his rule for a period of a thousand years that is between 800AC-A.D. 394. Delphi later became the most famous oracle of the ancient world. Zeus used to send two eagles to Delphi so he could determine the direction to go as he had poor eyesight. Before the Delphic oracle there was the oracle of the goddess Gaea who was also known as Themis. This was replaced by the oracle of Delphi after Apollo killed the Python. The former goddess of Delphi, Phtyia’s name was borrowed from the dragon Python. At the time she was a naïve young virgin from a native village without any special training. She is believed to be a medium by scholars in that her body was used as an instrumental tool in serving divine orders. Ancient traditions assert that she was given chasm vapor so as to gain ecstasy but this has not been proven because chasm was never found in the temple. In other accounts it is stated that she used to chew hallucinogenic laurel leaves as Hugh points out. (47). This laurel referred here, differs from the laurel sacred to Apollo which did not constitute the hallucinogenic power. The Pythia performed rituals in mysterious ways that left many inquirers astounded. It usually sat on a bronze tripod in the inner sanctum where the entrance where inquirers were prohibited from entering. Pyhtia gave replies to the questions after enough sacrifice had been made by the inquirer. The answer was then given by the priest who transformed it into a poem. During the times of the western colonization, Delphi became the center for exchange of information of the Mediterranean world. Apollo’s counsel and advice were highly sought after on matters concerning where to settle, worship, and construct a building and civilization. The Delphic oracle was renown for prophecy as it was an ethical authority that only promoted virtues of moderation and restraint but discouraged human weakness because there were consequences. Apollo was referred to as the god who was pleased when the foundations of towns were set up and civilizations taking the course. He gave hand in the building of Troy by playing the lyre and also supported the construction of Megara walls. He is referred by Pindar as the leader of the Dorians as he helped with their migration to Peloponnesus. There was no endeavor embarked on without first consulting his advise which granted the of a spiritual leader. Apollo was a sun god. This was attributed in the manner he was worshipped as the light and told of being shinier and brighter. He was referred to be identical with Horus who was the god of the burning sun. Hyperboreans and Olenus are believed to be the founders of the oracle of Delphi as stated in an ancient Doric hymn of Pausanins. Leto, the mother of Apollo is thought to have come from the Hyperboreans to Delos and Eileithyia. As claimed by the Hyperboreans, the Diodorus worshipped Apollo more than any other people and they were all his priests. They were inhabitants of one town sacred to Apollo and they used to players of the lyre. In the other account most ancient seats of his worship are believed to be the Thessalian temple and Delphi. This was later relocated to Crete where its dwellers occupied the coasts of Asia Minor and parts of Greece such as Boeotia and Attica. Apollo was promoted to the rank of the principal divinity by the Dorians in their conquest of Peloponnesus. He was a local divinity of the shepherds of Arcadia, which identified him with the Dorian is becoming the national divinity of the Peloponnesians. This character was presumed as the god of herds and flocks which was transformed to other parts of Greece. Hyperboreans made a reference to him as a god of prophecy while the Cretans as a god with bow and darts. The worship of Apollo, his festivals and oracles had much influence upon the Greeks than any other gods. The achievements of the Greeks are attributed to their worship to Apollo. There was no evidence of his worship in Rome. It came to their knowledge through their relations with the Greeks who borrowed all their notions and ideas about him. The Romans had knowledge of his worship among the Greeks since tradition confirms that they used to consult the Delphi oracle before the end of the kings. His worship was more clarified in Rome in the year B.C. 430 when a temple was built in his honor so that he could remove the plague. Consul, C. Julius later made a dedication to Apollo by building a second temple for in porta Capena in the year BC 350. In the period of the second Punic War saw the institution of the lady Apollinars in his honor in the year BC 212 (Hugh, 19). This however did not account to his worship till the reign of Augustus. After the batter of Actium, Augustus dedicated to him the remaining of the ruins and built for him a magnificent temple at Actium. He later founded a new temple at Rome on the Palatine and set in place quinquennial games at Actium. Apollo of Belvedee is represented as a god of command but the peaceful majesty. He also had great intellect and physical beauty. His forehead was poised higher with a pair of locks and the rest of his hair freely falling down on his neck. Apollo was never married, but he many countless affairs. He had a passion in pursuing after many young goddesses and mortal women. He used his power of prophecy to win over his pursuant but in some instances he never succeeded. Apollo fell in love with Cassandra and promised to give her his power of prophecy in exchange for her love. Cassandra agreed but later turned him down. This made Apollo mad and declared a curse upon her that though she prophesied no-one could ever believe her. In Ovid’s metamorphoses they are referred to as unsuccessful love affairs. This reflected on his attribute that he had the power to make man his prophet, the risks involved and the dangers associated with it. Apollo was in love with a nymph, Daphne who was the daughter of Peneus, the river god in Thessaly. His advances towards her were turned down but he did not give up. He sought after to the mountains where she prayed to her father and changed into a laurel tree which later became a sacred plant in Apollo. Apollo also had love for men. In one account, he was in love with a beautiful young boy called Hyacinth. One day as there were playing discus as friends would play together a strong wind caught the discus and rolled it up. It landed on the head of Hyacinth killing him instantly. Apollo grieved by this sudden death and full of mercy turned the blood flowing from his head into a beautiful flower, the hyacinth. This place was paid tribute in memorial of Hyacinth at his tomb near Sparta. Niobe was the daughter of Tantalos who became proud when she gave birth to six sons and six daughters. Since she achieved this she claimed that she was a better mother than Leto. This offended Apollo and Artemis since they were being referred to. They both brought bows and arrows which they used to kill the sons and dispatch the daughters. On another account Apollo was seen a very jealous God. He missed his sister after she fell for Orion. Artemis was a perfect archer and when she was arching, Orion was swimming in the ocean. Artemis hit Orian and killed him. This made her sorrowful and decided not to marry again. Ultimately, Apollo lost his fame when he tried to support nonresistance to the invaders through many oracles in the Persians Wars. Plutarch, a priest of Apollo wrote about the diminishing roles of the oracles in A. D 100. Later Emperor Theodosis brought them to an end in A. D. 390. On that account emperor Augustus asked about the reign after Apollo and the Pythia answered through the priestess that she was forbidden to return to the kingdom of Hades and keep quiet with no complaints by the son of the Hebrews, a god and ruler of the blessed. Works Cited. Hugh, Bowden. Classical Athens & Delphic Oracle: Divination and Democracy. Cambridge University Press. P1-96. 2005. Print. Read More