Apollo
Apollo was the chief god of Romans. He was most important and diverse god. He was recognized as god of light, sun, truth, prophecy, archery, medicine and healing, music, poetry arts and much more, isn’t this more for one god to handle? Anyway, he handled them all. This Apollo has always been symbolized as a clean shaven man, only he was clean shaven in all of Roman gods.
Apollo was son of Zeus and Leto. You know Zeus but there is little interesting fact about Leto. When she was pregnant, jealous Hera, older sister and wife of Zeus, banned her from giving birth on land. Then she, Leto found a piece of land, Delos, which wasn’t attached to ocean floor, so it wasn’t consider land, finally she found one and gave birth to Apollo and Artemis.
Apollo was an oracular god, someone from you get advices about your future, same stuff. Medicine and healing were associated with either him or through his son, but he was called the in-charge. He was seen as the one who could bring ill-health, sickness, plague etc. He was leader of Muses, people who were interested in poetries and songs. He was god of sun and so his sister Artemis was goddess of moon.
His love life was poor. The fleeing Daphne became a laurel tree; the unfaithful Coronis was shot by Artemis, and Cassandra, who rejected him, was doomed to utter true prophecies no one would believe.
He communicated the will of his father Zeus, made humans aware of their guilt and purified them of it, presided over religious and civil law. He was also identified with Helios, the sun god.
Apollo’s son was Asclepius. He was related to healing and medicine as well. Surprisingly his daughter’s names are what we use today as well. Hygieia (health), Iaso(Medicine), Aceso(Healing), Aglaea(Healthy glow) and Panacea(universal remedy). Even the rod of Asclepius remains a symbol of medicine today, the snake entwined staff.
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