Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto and belongs to the second group of the Olympic gods. His birth was quite difficult because the jealous Hera was hunting her mother through the whole world and nobody wanted to give her shelter afraid of the revenge she could take. Finally, the Island of Delos provided Leto with shelter and there she gave birth to the twins Apollo and Artemis.

Apollo was the god of the light, the foretelling and the music. He did a lot of heroic deeds, as for example killing the terrible Dragon Python with his arrows to relieve the people of Delphi of their fear. For this he got the nickname of python Apollo and made Delphi his own.

Apollo was a really beautiful god and had a lot of children, among others Orpheus, Calliope and many more. Once he fall deeply in love with the nymph Daphne, who could just escape from him by transforming herself into a laurel. Since then the laurel is the holy sign for Apollo.

The god built countless temples and shrines to venerate him. Many animals were related with him such as the wolf, the swan, the hawk, the vulture and the dolphin. Later on, even the Romans still venerated Apollo instead of having an equivalent Roman god for him.

If you want to know more about Apollo read the story of “Apollo and Marsyas“.