Bow of Apollo
The silver bow of the god Apollo, bringer of both plague and healing through its far-reaching arrows
The Meaning of Bow of Apollo
The Bow of Apollo was a weapon of divine precision, fashioned from silver, capable of striking from immense distances with unfailing accuracy. Apollo received the bow and arrows from Hephaestus, and they became inseparable from his identity — he bore the epithet Hekebolos, "the Far-Striker." The Iliad opens with Apollo descending from Olympus in fury, his silver bow clanging on his shoulders, to rain plague arrows upon the Greek camp at Troy as punishment for Agamemnon's dishonour of his priest Chryses. For nine days the god's arrows fell silently among the Greeks, striking men and animals with pestilence. Yet the same bow that brought death also symbolised Apollo's power to heal, for the god who sent plague could also withdraw it. Apollo used the bow to slay the great serpent Python at Delphi, claiming the oracle as his own sacred site. He killed the giant Tityos for assaulting his mother Leto, and together with his sister Artemis, he used his arrows to destroy the children of Niobe, who had boasted of her superiority to Leto. The silver bow represented the paradox at Apollo's core: beauty and destruction, healing and plague, order and sudden, merciless violence.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Greek word toxon (bow) is the root of "toxicology," because the Greeks poisoned their arrowheads, linking archery permanently to the concept of poison
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
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