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The Arrows and Ardor of Apollo, The Sun God

The Arrows and Ardor of Apollo, The Sun God

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 The sun god Apollo has been identified as the embodiment of the Hellenic spirit, by Scottish classical scholar W.K. C. Guthrie in his 1950 book, The Greeks and their Gods. An eternally youthful deity and a favorite among later poets, Apollo is usually depicted as crowned with laurels that symbolize victory and his attire of a purple robe symbolizes his nobility. A god of multiple roles and significance, as Apollo Pythios he serves as the patron deity of Delphi, an oracular god, as well as the patron of sailors and seafarers, refugees and fugitives. As kourotrophos (the guardian of young people), Apollo oversees children's health and education, as well as their rites of passage to adulthood. Apollo also presides over all music, songs, dance and poetry as the founder of string-music and is revered as the constant companion of the Muses, acting as their chorus leader in festivals.

Apollo, God of Light, Eloquence, Poetry and the Fine Arts with Urania, Muse of Astronomy by Charles Meynier (1798) Cleveland Museum of Art (Public Domain)

Apollo, God of Light, Eloquence, Poetry and the Fine Arts with Urania, Muse of Astronomy by Charles Meynier (1798) Cleveland Museum of Art (Public Domain)

Apart from his diversity of functions, there is still more to Apollo than meets the eye. Apollo is also an important pastoral deity as the patron of herdsmen and shepherds. His primary duties included protecting herds, flocks and crops from diseases, pests and predators. Apollo also promoted the formation of new cities and the development of a civil constitution. He was looked upon as the law-giver as his oracles were consulted in a city before laying down any laws and regulations.

Ambivalent Apollo

Despite all his wonderful functions and qualities, ancient Greek tragedies portray Apollo with a completely different characterization. Although the chorus praises him in cultic scenes, the voice of tragic characters usually portray him as an awful god who lacks the very measures generally attributed to his Delphic aspect of moderation ( µηδὲν ἄγαν, “nothing in excess”, is even inscribed in the temple of Apollo at Delphi). At the very least, as are all the gods portrayed in tragedy, Apollo is portrayed as ambivalent. Standing beyond the sphere of humanity, these ambivalent gods cannot be comprehended within human categories as they are neither “good” nor “bad”. As a result, instead of being the one to turn to for help in the tragic play, the ambivalent god tends to become a terrible threat to mankind.

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Martini Fisher is an Ancient Historian and author of many books, including ”Time Maps: Gods, Kings and Prophets”  | Check out MartiniFisher.com

Top Image: Apollo driving the Chariot of the sun and his muses by Giovanni Battista Maderna, IItalian, Verona (1758–1803) Metropolitan Museum of Art  (Anton biederwolf/ CC BY-SA 4.0)

By Martini Fisher

 

Comments

Hello Martini,

All in all this was a great article thank you for sharing it.

I now know because of Enoch and Revelation chapter 9, that there really is a Apollo.

That His Hebrew Name is Abbaddon.

Abbaddon is described as Evil a Monster so those Apollo stories from The Ancient World wasn't off base about his character as a whole.

Let's see Apollo was a Rapist, a murderer, and when rejected by young girls are Women like in the case of Cassandra He would punish them most severe.

There's probably even more crimes that He committed against Humanity also, it should be noted that Revelation stated that Abbaddon is a Fallen Angel. Then from Enoch's cutting edge testimony in Enoch 1 The Book of The Watchers that would make Him one of The 200 Watcher Angel's that married Human Women and had children by these Women but with Apollo then it was most through Rape.

I know God made certain to send Righteous Angels to arrest and bind up these 200 Fallen Angel's right before The Great Flood.

Abbaddon right now is still imprisoned in Tartarus where He's bound in chains inside Utter darkness The Epistle of Jude chapter 1 talks at length of this punishment regarding these specific Angel's.

Well Martini Until Next Time Goodbye for now.

MartiniF's picture

Martini

Martini Fisher comes from a family of history and culture buffs. She graduated from Macquarie University, Australia, with a degree in Ancient History. Although her interest in history is diverse, Martini is especially interested in  mythologies, folklores and ancient funerary... Read More

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