Apollo

Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, born with his twin Artemis on the island of Delos. As a young god, he killed the serpent Python at Delphi and took over the oracle there. His priestess, the Pythia, gave answers that kings and cities consulted before founding colonies or going to war. Over the temple were the maxims Know thyself and Nothing in excess.

He is the god of music, in particular the lyre, which Hermes gave him in exchange for the cattle Hermes had stolen, and he leads the Muses. He is also the god of healing and plague: his arrows can bring disease, and in the Iliad he sends a plague on the Greek army. His son Asclepius became the god of medicine.

Apollo's love affairs were often unhappy. Daphne turned into a laurel to escape him, and the laurel became his emblem, in the wreath of victors at the Pythian Games. Hyacinthus died by accident from a discus thrown by Apollo, and a flower grew from his blood.

From the fifth century BCE, Apollo was increasingly identified with Helios as the god of the sun, though in Homer they are separate gods.