Apollo is the Greek God of the sun, music, poets, archery, painting, prophecy and healing. He is the leader of the Muses and one of the twelve Olympians. Apollo is seen as a handsome young man with curly golden hair. He is usually seen beardless. He is an extremely beautiful man who usually has either a bow or a lyre in his hands and a laurel leaf wreath upon his head. Apollo was the first of the male Greek Gods to have sexual relations with other men. The majority of his relationships were with men. Unfortunately, Apollo never had any success in love and never married. Despite his misfortunes with love and his preference for men, Apollo still had four children. They were Cyrene Aristaeus, Calliope Orpheus, Heccuba Troilius and Coronis Asclepius. Heccuba Troilius was killed by Achilles.

Apollo is a favourite son of Zeus. He is the twin brother of the Goddess Artemis. Their mother was a nymph named Leto. When Hera found out the Leto was pregnant she banned her from giving birth on the mainland or any island. Leto outsmarted her by finding a floating island to give birth on. The floating island of Delos was neither mainland nor a real island so it did not fall in to Hera’s ban. After the birth of the twins, the island was secured with four strong pillars so it would no longer float aimlessly and became sacred to Apollo.

Apollo participated in the Trojan War. Not only did he assist Paris in the slaying of Achilles, he also bombarded the Greeks with plague-infected arrows. The Greeks had kidnapped the daughter of one of Apollo’s Priests and he continued to spread illness amongst the warriors until they complied with his demands of freeing the girl.

Apollo is God of Music and the Lyre and does not take well to others comparing their music to his. He and the God Pan had a falling out over whose music was better and decided to settle the argument with a musical competition. Tmolus, the Greek God of Mountains was to judge the two musicians and proclaim a winner. Pan played a tune on his rustic Panpipes and Apollo played his elegant lyre. Tmolus immediately declared Apollo the winner. King Midas, who was both follower and friend of Pan, loudly disagreed with the decision. Apollo insulted by Midas’ audacity told him he was a jackass and transformed his ears into jackass ears.

Apollo has a beautiful golden chariot that is pulled by snow-white swans. During Ancient times, he would ride his golden chariot across the sky each day. His major centre of Worship was Delphi. In Rhodes, his followers erected a giant magnificent statue to honour him. This statue is one of the seven wonders of the Ancient world. The Greeks also held the Pythian Games every four years to honour him. Today, Apollo is a popular God with Neo-Pagans throughout the world, especially those of the Hellenic Faith.