Mythology (III)

Apollo: Bringing the Best in Everybody:

Apolo

The worship of Apollo is the most widely diffused. His birth was adventurous as his mother, Leto, was chased by the serpent Python (Hera's intrigue); he grew up miraculously fast (in seven months he assumed the appearance of a grown man); he avenged his mother's tortures (killed the Python) and learned the art of prophecy from the goat-legged god Pan; he killed Tityos for trying to violate his mother Leto and Marsyas for showing hybris. He never married, but he fathered many children. Not always a successful pursuer of women (he lost the nymph he loved more than anyone, Daphne), he fell in love with a young prince of Sparta, Hyacinthos, making him the first god to express homosexual tendencies. When his son Asclepios, the physician, tried to resurrect a dead man and was killed by Zeus for his hybris, he learned a great lesson in modesty and humility.
He was an old god, more ancient than the Iliad, where he appeared as god of the Trojans (Sminthian Apollo) and particularly unfriendly to Achilles. He was both the god of the Doric race-Apollo Carneios-and of the Ionic-Apollo Patroos. He was the protector and guide of the people sent to colonize new lands and supporter of the amphiktyonic spirit, as he provided sanctity to their meetings. His attributes included his prophetic powers, music, medicine and the sun. Numerous temples and oracles testify to his popularity.