Apollo
Apollo was the most complex Olympian — god of light, music, poetry, prophecy, healing, plague, and rational thought, the divine embodiment of Greek civilisation.
The Myth of Apollo
Born on the sacred island of Delos — the only land that would receive his mother Leto, whom Hera had cursed — Apollo slew the serpent Python at Delphi and established his oracle there, the most important in the Greek world. He led the Muses, mastered the lyre, and punished hubris with plague arrows. He flayed the satyr Marsyas alive for daring a musical contest. He guided Paris's arrow to strike Achilles' heel at Troy. He loved Hyacinthus, whom Zephyrus killed in jealousy, and Daphne, who fled him and was transformed by her father Peneus. He fathered Asclepius, god of medicine, by the mortal Coronis. Zeus killed Asclepius for raising the dead, and Apollo, in grief, slew the Cyclops who forged the thunderbolt.
Parents
Zeus and Leto
Symbols
Fun Fact
NASA's Apollo program was named after this god — the chariot driver of the sun seemed fitting for the first humans to reach another celestial body.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Apollo
⚡ godGod of prophecy, music, and plague
The radiant god of light, prophecy, music, healing, and plague — the most complex deity in the Greek pantheon.
Apollo
⚡ godGod of the sun, music, poetry, prophecy, healing, archery
God of light, music, poetry, and prophecy. Apollo embodied the Greek ideal of youthful masculine beauty and was patron of the Oracle at Delphi.
Asclepius
⚡ godGod of medicine who could raise the dead
The divine physician whose healing art grew so powerful that he could resurrect the dead — forcing Zeus to strike him down to preserve cosmic order.
Zeus
⚡ godKing of gods and men
Zeus was the king of the Olympian gods, ruler of the sky, wielder of the thunderbolt — the supreme deity whose authority held the divine and mortal orders together.
Asclepius
⚡ godGod of medicine and healing
Asclepius began as a mortal hero trained by Chiron who became so skilled at medicine that he could raise the dead — Zeus struck him down, then deified him.
Hades
⚡ godKing of the dead
The ruler of the Underworld who received the dead, guarded by Cerberus and feared so deeply that Greeks avoided speaking his name.
Jupiter
⚡ godKing of gods, sky, thunder
Supreme deity of the Roman pantheon, equivalent to the Greek Zeus, ruling over gods and mortals from the heavens
Dionysus
⚡ godGod of wine, festivity, theatre, ecstasy, madness
God of wine, ritual madness, and theatrical performance. Dionysus was the only Olympian born of a mortal mother and the last god to join the twelve.
Zeus
⚡ godKing of the gods, sky, thunder, lightning, law, order
Supreme ruler of the Olympian gods and lord of the sky. Zeus overthrew his father Kronos and divided the world among his brothers.
Poseidon
⚡ godGod of the sea, earthquakes, and horses
Poseidon was the god of the sea and earthquakes whose moods determined whether sailors lived or died — and whose grudge against Odysseus drove the Odyssey.
Aesculapius
⚡ godMedicine, healing, physicians
Roman god of medicine and healing, adopted from the Greek Asclepius
Zeus
⚡ godKing of gods and men
The supreme Olympian who rules gods and mortals from Mount Olympus, wielding the thunderbolt as weapon and symbol of cosmic authority.