Classical MythologyThe Temperamental Musician: Apollo
Artemis's brother, Apollo, was just as sure a shot. The god of archery—as well as of music, prophecy, healing, and youth—got an early start on his art. Apollo was just four days old when he demanded a bow and arrows, which Hephaestus created for him. He immediately set out in pursuit of the serpent that Hera had sent to torment his mother, Leto. The serpent, Python, sought refuge at Delphi. But Apollo heedlessly followed Python into the shrine of the Oracle of Mother Earth and killed him there.
Gaia was outraged at this defilement of her shrine. Yet after Apollo was purified for his crime in Crete, he learned the art of prophecy—perhaps from Pan, the goat-legged god of the flock and herds. In any case, he soon took over the Oracle at Delphi. Through the Oracle of Apollo (as it was renamed), the god became so closely associated with the art of prophecy that almost all seers soon claimed to have been either taught or fathered by him.
Originally a herdsman, Apollo was the first god charged with protecting flocks and herds. (Pan was associated primarily with goats and sheep that grazed in rural and wild areas; Apollo more with cattle that grazed in fields on the outskirts of the city.) But he later turned this duty over to Hermes in exchange for some musical instruments the younger god had devised. Apollo demonstrated such talent as a musician that he soon became a god of that art, too. Some even credit the god with having invented the cithara.
Logos
The cithara was a musical instrument that resembled a large lyre.
What a Life!
Pan also lost a musical contest to Apollo. Though Tmolus, the judge, awarded the prize to Apollo, King Midas of Phrygia remarked that he himself liked Pan's playing best. Apollo punished Midas by giving him the ears of an ass.
Some dared to challenge Apollo's musical talents—but never more than once. A satyr named Marsyas once found a flute made from the bones of a stag. (Athena had made this flute, but had angrily thrown it away when the laughter of the other immortals made her realize how ridiculous she looked when she puffed out her cheeks to play it.) Still inspired by Athena, the flute played rapturous music. Listeners even compared the satyr's playing favorably to Apollo's playing of the lyre.
This comparison enraged Apollo, who immediately challenged Marsyas to a contest. The contestants agreed that the winner could choose any punishment for the loser. The jury of Muses found both players magnificent. So Apollo dared the satyr to try to do what he himself could do: turn his instrument upside-down and play it—and sing while playing. Marsyas, of course, could do neither with a flute.
Impressed by his versatility, the Muses judged Apollo the best musician. Not content with merely winning, Apollo then chose a brutal punishment for Marsyas: He skinned the satyr alive and nailed his skin to a pine tree.
Apollo never married, but he was by no means a celibate. He fathered more than a dozen children by at least nine different partners.
What a Life!
Apollo also wooed a beautiful young man, Hyacinthus. Sadly, while Apollo was teaching the boy how to throw the discus, the West Wind—who also desired Hyacinthus—redirected the missile straight into the boy's head, killing him instantly. The drops of blood that fell from his head yielded the flower hyacinth.
Yet his most persistent courtship—that of Daphne, a mountain nymph—was never rewarded. Apollo first eliminated the competition. Leucippus, the son of King Oenomaus of Pisa, also loved Daphne—so much that he once disguised himself as a girl just to be with her while she engaged in her mountain revels with other nymphs. But Apollo knew of this charade—and so the god quietly advised the nymphs to bathe naked. When Leucippus was exposed—literally and figuratively—the nymphs tore him to shreds.
Though Apollo alone now wooed her, Daphne still refused him. Ultimately, she changed into a laurel tree rather than submit to his desires. Thereafter, Apollo made the laurel his sacred plant.
Others refused Apollo, too. When Zeus ruled that Marpessa, daughter of the river god Evenus, could choose between her two suitors, she chose the mortal Idas. (She suspected that Apollo's amorous interest would wane as she grew older.)
The nymph Sinope used cleverness to escape Apollo's advances. Sinope agreed to surrender herself to the god, but only if he first granted her a wish. When Apollo swore to give her anything she wanted, Sinope revealed her wish: to remain a virgin for all of her days. (Some storytellers say that Sinope had used this same trick to avoid Zeus's embrace.)
 Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Classical Mythology © 2004 by Kevin Osborn and Dana L. Burgess, Ph.D.. All rights reserved including the right
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