Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

APOLLO 25mankind. His mother is ISIS, who engenderedhim in a lightning flash. The bull is depicted aswholly black apart from a small white triangle onthe forehead, and it bears vulture wings. Betweenits horns are surmounted the sun disc (or, in latertimes, the moon) and the uraeus (snake symbol).The cult of the bull is very ancient and isattested in Egypt from at least 3000 BC. Accordingto the Greek writer Herodotus, huge statuesof Apis supported the temple of Ptah in Memphis.In a ritual of virility, the king paced alongside thecharging bull to renew his strength. The averagelife of an Apis bull was fourteen years, at the endof which each was mummified and interred inhuge sarcophagi, which were placed in catacombsat the necropolis at Seqqara. The bull also hasstrong underworld connections.See also SARAPIS.ApluWeather god. Etruscan. No cult is identifiablyaddressed to this deity. He is depicted partlycloaked and wearing a laurel leaf, but otherwisenaked. Attributes include a staff and laurel twig.Apo (lord)Mountain god. Inca (pre-Columbian SouthAmerica) [Peru, etc]. The apotheosis of anAndean mountain, all mountains being sacred tothe South American Indians.APOLLOORIGIN Greek and possibly cultures in AsiaMinor. God of hunting and healing.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 1300 BC andearlier until Christianization (circa AD 400) andprobably later.SYNONYMS Apellon (pre-Homeric); Atepomarus(Celtic).CENTER(S) OF CULT Delos, Pylo-Delphi andmany other sanctuaries throughout the Greekworld.ART REFERENCES the Parthenon frieze; theBelvedere Apollo triumphing over the Python;Apollo and DAPHNE; a famed but lost statuefrom Delos; Apollo holding the three Charitesin his right hand; other contemporary sculptureand painting.LITERARY SOURCES Iliad and Odyssey (Homer);Theogony and Hymn to Apollo (Hesiod); variousother temple hymns.One of the major Greek deities always perceived asa god who epitomizes youthful masculinity, possiblywith early links to Lycia in Asia Minor (Hittite)and to Minoan Crete. Generally a distant ratherthan an intimate and approachable god. Hismother is LETO who wandered the world in greatsuffering until she chanced on the island of Deloswhere she found refuge, and Apollo is often portrayedas part of a triad with Leto and ARTEMIS. Heepitomizes the transition between adolescence andmanhood in Greek male society. At Delphi hissanctuary is central to the complex. At Delos itappears secondary to that of Artemis. The paeandance of healing which is particularly known fromthe Hyakinthia festival at Amyklai (Sparta) is closelyidentified with the Apollo cult. Not only is he a godof healing but also of pestilence. He is the father ofASKLEPIOS, the god of healing, and he is continuallyassociated with purification rites and oracles.Generally Apollo is drawn as a god of hunterscarrying a bow and arrow and associated with a stagor roe. He is also pictured with lions. He became,improbably, the patron god of poets and leader ofthe Muses (daughters of ZEUS). Literature oftenpresents Apollo in a dual aspect of fearsome hunterand gracious player of the lyre. In the former capacityhe was at times merciless, killing the many childrenof Niobe who had boasted of them to thechagrin of Leto. He fought and slew the Delphic