Apollo Loxias
An epithet of Apollo meaning "the Oblique One," referring to the deliberately ambiguous nature of his oracles at Delphi.
The Myth of Apollo Loxias
Apollo Loxias was the god in his capacity as deliverer of ambiguous prophecies through the Pythia at Delphi. The epithet acknowledged that Apollo's oracles never lied but could be fatally misunderstood. When Croesus of Lydia asked whether he should attack Persia, the oracle said he would destroy a great empire — it was his own. Oedipus received a prophecy from Loxias that he would kill his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta, and every attempt to escape fulfilled it. Orestes was commanded by Loxias to avenge his father Agamemnon by killing his mother Clytemnestra, then was pursued by the Erinyes for the matricide. The Pythia sat on her tripod over a chasm, inhaling vapours, while Apollo spoke through her in hexameter verse. Priests interpreted her utterances, often adding further layers of ambiguity.
Parents
Zeus, Leto
Symbols
Fun Fact
Modern geological surveys confirmed that two fault lines intersect directly beneath the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, producing ethylene gas — a known intoxicant that causes trance states. The Pythia really was inhaling mind-altering vapours, exactly as ancient sources described. Apollo's "oblique" prophecies may have been the product of genuine chemical intoxication, interpreted by priests with a political agenda.
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 light, music, prophecy, and plague
Apollo was the most complex Olympian — god of light, music, poetry, prophecy, healing, plague, and rational thought, the divine embodiment of Greek civilisation.
God of Prophecy
💭 conceptProphecy, oracles, divination, truth
Apollo speaks through oracles, revealing the will of the gods and the shape of things to come.
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.
Oracle
💭 conceptSacred site of prophecy
Oracles were sacred sites where mortals could consult the gods — the most important decision-making institutions in ancient Greece.
Mopsus
🗡 heroprophecy
Son of Manto and grandson of Tiresias who defeated the great seer Calchas in a divination contest, causing Calchas to die.
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.
Cassandra
🗡 heroprophecy
Trojan prophetess cursed by Apollo to always speak true prophecies that no one would ever believe.
Oedipus Prophecy
💭 conceptprophecy, fate
The Delphic prophecy that Oedipus would kill his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta, which every attempt to prevent only fulfilled.
Fortuna
⚡ godLuck, fate, chance, fortune
Roman goddess of fortune and chance, equivalent to the Greek Tyche
Prophecy of the Wooden Walls
💭 conceptprophecy, Delphi
The famous Delphic oracle that saved Athens from Persian destruction by advising trust in "wooden walls," interpreted by Themistocles as the Athenian fleet.
Oracle
💭 conceptLanguage and technology
An English word meaning a source of wise counsel or authoritative prediction, derived from the oracular shrines of ancient Greece where gods spoke through human intermediaries