U is for Unconscionable

I’m doing folklore and book review posts to reach and please a larger audience. Previous years have shown select interest in both and to minimise blogging throughout the year, I’m focusing my efforts on April.

If you’d rather check out my book review for today, go here.

unconscionable
1a: shockingly unfair or unjust unconscionable sales practices b: EXCESSIVE, UNREASONABLE found an unconscionable number of defects in the car 2: not guided or controlled by conscience : UNSCRUPULOUSan unconscionable villain

Merriam-Webster

A sun chariot, a love of music, archer, and the pursuit of Daphne (among others)… Is there something more to this guy?

Folklore

The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology [1844] by William Smith

APOLLO, one of the great divinities of the Greeks, was, according to Homer (Il. i. 21, 36), the son of Zeus and Leto. Hesiod (Theog. 918) states the same, and adds, that Apollo′s sister was Artemis.   But the opinion most universally received was, that Apollo, the son of Zeus and Leto, was born in the island of Delos, together with his sister Artemis; and the circumstances of his birth there are detailed in the Homeric hymn on Apollo, and in that of Callimachus on Delos. (Comp. Apollod. i. 4. § 1; Hygin. Fab. 140.) Hera in her jealousy pursued Leto from land to land and from isle to isle, and endeavoured to prevent her finding a resting-place where to give birth. At last, however, she arrived in Delos, where she was kindly received, and after nine days′ labour she gave birth to Apollo under a palm or an olive tree at the foot of mount Cynthus. 

Immediately after his birth, Apollo was fed with ambrosia and nectar by Themis, and no sooner had he tasted the divine food, than he sprang up and demanded a lyre and a bow, and declared, that henceforth he would declare to men the will of Zeus. Delos exulted with joy, and covered herself with golden flowers. (Comp. Theognis, 5, &c.; Eurip. Hecub. 457, &c.)

Apollo is — 1. the god who punishes and destroys (oulios) the wicked and overbearing, and as such he is described as the god with bow and arrows, the gift of Hephaestus. (Hom. Il. i. 42, xxiv.605, Od. xi. 318, xv. 410, &c.; comp. Pind. Pyth. iii. 15, &c.) Various epithets given to him in the Homeric poems, such as hekatos, hekaergos, hekêbolos, ekatêbolos, klutotoxos, and argurotoxos, refer to him as the god who with his darts hits his object at a distance and never misses it. All sudden deaths of men, whether they were regarded as a punishment or a reward, were believed to be the effect of the arrows of Apollo; and with the same arrows he sent the plague into the camp of the Greeks. Hyginus relates, that four days after his birth, Apollo went to mount Parnassus, and there killed the dragon Python, who had pursued his mother during her wanderings, before she reached Delos. He is also said to have assisted Zeus in his contest with the giants. (Apollod, i. 6. § 2.) The circumstance of Apollo being the destroyer of the wicked was believed by some of the ancients to have given rise to his name Apollo, which they connected with apollumi, “to destroy.” (Aeschyl. Agam. 1081.) Some modern writers, on the other hand, who consider the power of averting evil to have been the original and principal feature in his character, say that Apollôn, i. e. Apellôn, (from the root pello), signifies the god who drives away evil, and is synonymous with alexikakas, Acesius, Acestor, sôtêr, and other names and epithets applied to Apollo.

2. The god who affords help and wards off evil. As he had the power of visiting men with plagues and epidemics, so he was also able to deliver men from them, if duly propitiated, or at least by his oracles to suggest the means by which such calamities could be averted.

3. The god of prophecy. Apollo exercised this power in his numerous oracles, and especially in that of Delphi. (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Oraculum) The source of all his prophetic powers was Zeus himself (Apollodorus states, that Apollo received the mantikê from Pan), and Apollo is accordingly called “the prophet of his father Zeus.” (Aeschyl. Eum. 19); but he had nevertheless the power of communicating the gift of prophecy both to gods and men, and all the ancient seers and prophets are placed in some relationship to him. (Hom. Il. i. 72, Hymn. in Merc. 3, 471.) 

4. The god of song and music. We find him in the Iliad (i. 603) delighting the immortal gods with his play on the phorminx during their repast ; and the Homeric bards derived their art of song either from Apollo or the Muses. (Od. viii. 488, with Eustath.) Later traditions ascribed to Apollo even the invention of the flute and lyre (Callim. Hymn. in Del. 253; Plut. de Mus.), while the more common tradition was, that he received the lyre from Hermes. Ovid Heroid. xvi. 180) makes Apollo build the walls of Troy by playing on the lyre, as Amphion did the walls of Thebes.

5. The god who protects the flocks and cattle (nomios Deos, from nomos or nomê, a meadow or pasture land). Homer (Il. ii. 766) says, that Apollo reared the swift steeds of Eumelus Pheretiades in Pieria, and according to the Homeric hymn to Hermes (22, 70, &c.) the herds of the gods fed in Pieria under the care of Apollo. At the command of Zeus, Apollo guarded the cattle of Laomedon in the valleys of mount Ida. (ll. xxi. 488.) There are in Homer only a few allusions to this feature in the character of Apollo, but in later writers it assumes a very prominent form (Pind. Pyth. ix. 114; Callim. Hymn. in Apoll. 50, &c.); and in the story of Apollo tending the flocks of Admetus at Pherae in Thessaly, on the banks of the river Amphrysus, the idea reaches its height. (Apollod. i. 9. &sec; 15; Eurip. Alcest. 8; Tibull. ii. 3. 11; Virg. Georg. iii. 2.)

Apollo, the national divinity of the Greeks, was of course represented in all the ways which the plastic arts were capable of. As the ideas of the god became gradually and more and more fully developed, so his representations in works of art rose from a rude wooden image to the perfect ideal of youthful manliness, so that he appeared to the ancients in the light of a twin brother of Aphrodite. (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 4. § 10.) The most beautiful and celebrated among the extant representations of Apollo are the Apollo of Belvedere at Rome, which was discovered in 1503 at Rettuno (Mus. Pio-Clem. i. 14, 15), and the Apollino at Florence. In the Apollo of Belvedere, the god is represented with commanding but serene majesty; sublime intellect and physical beauty are combined in it in the most wonderful manner. The forehead is higher than in other ancient figures, and on it there is a pair of locks, while the rest of his hair flows freely down on his neck. The limbs are well proportioned and harmonious, the muscles are not worked out too strongly, and at the hips the figure is rather thin in proportion to the breast.

The Forest in Folklore and Mythology by Alexander Porteous

There was a temple erected at Delphi to Apollo, and the oracle in connection with it became famous. Its origin was as follows: On one occasion some shepherds in the pursuit of their daily labours discovered a large opening in the ground from which mephitic vapours arose, and one of the men, coming under the influence of the vapour, began to foretell the future. This led to the belief that there was something divine, and pilgrimages with a view to prying into the future began to be made to the spot…As time wore on it was discovered that Apollo himself was the tutelary deity of this place, and a temple was erected in his honour. The temple was at first composed of Laurel branches, but afterwards one of stone was built, and a Laurel grove grew up around it, as the Laurel was Apollo’s own particular tree.

*More can be read in the book.

The Greek Myths by Robert Graves

Amorous Zeus lay with numerous nymphs descended from the Titans or the gods and, after the creation of man, with mortal women too… he begat Apollo and Artemis on Leto, daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, transforming himself and her into quails when they coupled; but jealous Hera sent the serpent Python to pursue Leto all over the world, and decreed that she should not be delivered in any place where the sun shone. Carried on the wings of the South Wind, Leto at last came to Ortygia, close to Delos, where she bore Artemis, who was no sooner born than she helped her mother across the narrow straits, and there, between an olive-tree and a date-palm growing on the north side of Delian Mount Cynthus, delivered her of Apollo on the ninth day of labour. Delos, hitherto a floating island, became immovably fixed in the sea and, by decree, no one is now allowed either to be born or to die there: sick folk and pregnant women are ferried over to Ortygia instead.

Apollo, Zeus’s son by Leto, was a seven-months’ child, but gods grow up swiftly. Themis fed him on nectar and ambrosia, and when the fourth day dawned he called for bow and arrows, with which Hephaestus at once provided him. On leaving Delos he made straight for Mount Parnassus, where the serpent Python, his mother’s enemy, was lurking; and wounded him severely with arrows. Python fled to the Oracle of Mother Earth at Delphi, a city so named in honour of the monster Delphyne, his mate; but Apollo dared follow him into the shrine, and there despatched him beside the sacred chasm.

Mother Earth reported this outrage to Zeus, who not only ordered Apollo to visit Tempe for purification, but instituted the Pythian Games, in honour of Python, over which he was to preside penitentially. Quite unabashed, Apollo disregarded Zeus’s command to visit Tempe. Instead, he went to Aigialaea for purification, accompanied by Artemis; and then, disliking the place, sailed to Tarrha in Crete, where King Carmanor performed the ceremony.

On his return to Greece, Apollo sought out Pan, the disreputable old goat-legged Arcadian god and, having coaxed him to reveal the art of prophecy, seized the Delphic Oracle and retained its priestess, called the Pythoness, in his own service.

Next, Apollo killed the satyr Marsyas, a follower of the goddess Cybele. This was how it came about. One day, Athene made a double-flute from stag’s bones, and played on it at a banquet of the gods. She could not understand, at first, why Hera and Aphrodite were laughing silently behind their hands, although her music seemed to delight the other deities; she therefore went away by herself into a Phrygian wood, took up the flute again beside a stream, and watched her image in the water, as she played. Realizing at once how ludicrous that bluish face and those swollen cheeks made her look, she threw down the flute, and laid a curse on anyone who picked it up.

Marsyas was the innocent victim of this curse. He stumbled upon the flute, which he had no sooner put to his lips than it played of itself, inspired by the memory of Athene’s music; and he went about Phrygia in Cybele’s train, delighting the ignorant peasants. They cried out that Apollo himself could not have made better music, even on his lyre, and Marsyas was foolish enough not to contradict them. This, of course, provoked the anger of Apollo, who invited him to a contest, the winner of which should inflict whatever punishment he pleased on the loser. Marsyas consented, and Apollo impanelled the Muses as a jury. The contest proved an equal one, the Muses being charmed by both instruments, until Apollo cried out to Marsyas: ‘I challenge you to do with your instrument as much as I can do with mine. Turn it upside down, and both play and sing at the same time.’

This, with a flute, was manifestly impossible, and Marsyas failed to meet the challenge. But Apollo reversed his lyre, and sang such delightful hymns in honour of the Olympian gods that the Muses could not do less than give the verdict in his favour. Then, for all his pretended sweetness, Apollo took a most cruel revenge on Marsyas: flaying him alive and nailing his skin to a pine (or, some say, to a planetree), near the source of the river which now bears his name.

Apollo was not invariably successful in love. On one occasion he tried to steal Marpessa from Idas, but she remained true to her husband. On another, he pursued Daphne, the mountain nymph, a priestess of Mother Earth, daughter of the river Peneius in Thessaly; but when he overtook her, she cried out to Mother Earth who, in the nick of time, spirited her away to Crete, where she bcame known as Pasiphaë. Mother Earth left a laurel-tree in her place, and from its leaves Apollo made a wreath to console himself.

Apollo earned Zeus’s anger only once after the famous conspiracy to dethrone him. This was when his son Asclepius, the physician, had the temerity to resurrect a dead man, and thus rob Hades of a subject; Hades naturally lodged a complaint on Olympus, Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt, and Apollo in revenge killed the Cyclopes. Zeus was enraged at the loss of his armourers, and would have banished Apollo to Tartarus for ever, had not Leto pleaded for his forgiveness and undertaken that he would mend his ways.

*More can be read in the book.

The Book of Barely Imagined Beings: A 21^st Century Bestiary by Caspar Henderson

Apollo, the god of harmony, order and reason, was said to have taken the form of a dolphin when he travelled from Crete to the mainland to establish the seat of the oracle at Delphi (itself named for the dolphin). When, in winter, Apollo left Delphi for Hyperborea, he would leave the oracle in the care of his brother Dionysus, the god of wine and ecstasy, who had the power to turn people into dolphins.

*More can be read in the book.

Further Reading:

• Apollo
• Apollo
• APOLLON
• Apollo :: Greek God of Music and Light
• Apollo
• Apollo
• Apollo in Greek Mythology: Myths, Legends, and Powers

Folklore in a Nutshell by Ronel

Apollo is the twin brother of Artemis, born to the titan Leto on the moving island Delos. As Hera in her jealousy forbade all land to give Leto a place to give birth, only Delos had mercy – and became an unmoving island in Hera’s rage. Zeus didn’t intervene in Hera’s pursuit of Leto, despite being the cause of it.

Apollo, after being fed ambrosia, took up the lyre and bow and set off to plague the world. It was believed that the sudden death of a person was due to one of Apollo’s arrows. He also killed the serpent Python who pursued his mother. Afterwards he took the power of prophecy from Pan and the Delphic Oracle.

He is sometimes called the god of song and music. He enjoys playing on the lyre that he either got from Hermes or – as he boasted – invented himself. He even built the walls of Troy by playing on this instrument. But he cannot abide competition. Poor Marsyas picked up a flute cursed by Athena, played great music – and the peasants said that not even Apollo could play such great music on his lyre. So he called a competition between the two of them, judged by the Muses. They thought the two musicians equal. And then Apollo said that they should play the same way: with instruments behind their backs while singing. Of course, Marsyas couldn’t do this with a flute and Apollo won. He then flayed the poor satyr alive and nailed his skin to a pine tree.

Though a handsome guy, he wasn’t always lucky in love. When he pursued the nymph Daphne, she ran from him and was turned into a laurel tree just to get away from him – some sources have it that Gaia spirited her away to Crete where she became Pasiphaë and left a laurel tree in her stead. Cassandra, daughter of King Priam of Troy, rejected his advances, too. He punished her by having her utter prophecies that no-one believed, despite being the truth.

There’s more to read about this god – mainly how others suffered because of his pride, temper and lust.

Apollo in Modern Culture

SMITE video game

There are none without admiration for Apollo, God of Music. He is brash, cavalier, and dauntless, with the power to bring hope to the hopeless and change the course of battle with a single arrow. Voices of soldiers, mothers, kings and emperors, even Gods rise in glorious melody in honor of him; and he, basking in their adoration, shines victoriously.

Though Hera, Queen of Gods, challenged his very birth, sending the great serpent Pylos to slay Apollo, his twin sister Artemis, and their mother Leto, not even she could deny him victory. Merely four days old, Apollo, gifted with a legendary bow, slew the Gaia Serpent and defied Hera.

In his humble youth, Apollo was a cattle herder. The trickster God Hermes stole Apollo’s charges and led them to a nearby cave. From the shell of a tortoise and the body of a cow, he crafted the first Lyre. Apollo finally caught up with Hermes, saw the instrument, and simply had to have it, trading the rest of his cattle to Hermes for it. Years later, Hermes would send his son, Pan, to challenge Apollo in a contest of musical prowess, but Apollo soundly defeated the satyr with dexterous mastery of the Lyre.

As Apollo grew into his rightful place among the Gods, his victories mounted, and the songs of the Faithful were sung more and more in his name. Now, they raise their voices for Apollo to take the field as Gods clash. Never one to deny his adoring public, Apollo prepares for one last show.

Learn more here.

Marvel comic book

Apollo is a member of the Olympians, a group of humanoid beings that hail from the pocket dimension; Olympus.

Upon reaching adulthood, Apollo impregnated Coronis, daughter of King Phlegyas of the Lapiths, and she gave birth to their son Asklepios, god of medicine.^[1]

Apollo was among the gods who opposed Hercules and his attempts to convince Zeus to wage war against the Asgardians.^[12] He was a witness when Zeus granted a portion of his power to Thor to assist in resurrecting the Asgardians that were slain by the Celestials.^[13] Apollo helped Thor and other storm-gods and light-gods from other pantheons fight off Demogorge the God-Eater. Apollo and the other gods were consumed by Demogorge, but were later saved by Thor.^[14]

Learn more here.

Apollo books by Rick Riordan

Apollo, known as Lester Papadopoulos in his most recent human form during the Trials of Apollo, is the Greek god of the sun, light, healing, disease, plague, music, art, poetry, archery, reason, knowledge, truth, and prophecy. He is the twin brother of the goddess Artemis, and they are together known as the “twin archers”. He is the main protagonist and narrator of The Trials of Apollo series and one of the supporting characters in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus series.

Apollo used to drive the Sun around the Earth in his chariot—a responsibility he took on when Helios, the original sun-god, faded after he was downsized by the Romans. As punishment for encouraging his legacy Octavian to pursue his perilous approach to conflict, Apollo is cast down from Olympus by his father, Zeus; stripped of his godhood, he becomes human for the third time. Alongside his new master Meg McCaffrey, Apollo is sent on a quest to secure the Oracles and is expected to have to face his old nemesis Python to become a god again. After erasing Python from existence, Apollo is restored to godhood. He bears the same name as his Roman counterpart.

Learn more here.

Apollo in My Writing

Origin of the Fae: Apollo

Apollo is known for his temper, his pride, and for lusting after those who would rather not be noticed by him. He is also known as a bit of a clown: playing music to soothe the other gods, taking part in archery contests with his twin for fun, and backpedalling hard when someone stronger is offended. He asks incessant questions and most of the other gods (any pantheon) can’t really stand him. His brother Dionysus finds him hilarious, but his twin sister doesn’t have much patience with him anymore. He is known to make boastful statements – like being the sun god, when it’s actually Helios – that are later shown to be false or not as grand as he had wanted it to be. The Age of Information hasn’t done much to bolster his pride.

He does a lot of bad things, but perhaps he’s not a bad guy.

See this immortal in action in my writing:

Blaze of Glory (Irascible Immortals #5)

She yawned again, showing off her pointed teeth. Apollo had taken his bow and quiver – where was the orderly in charge of keeping weapons out of the hands of residents? – and was intercepting ping-pong balls where Horus and Thor where playing beer pong.

Kit shrank into the shadows against the cream wall as Thor chased Apollo with his hammer and Horus swooped around as a bald eagle of all things, trying to peck out Apollo’s eyes. Anubis was brooding in a corner. Only Ammit dared approach him. Even Apollo swiftly changed direction when he spotted him.

Blaze of Glory, Irascible Immortals #5, Ronel Janse van Vuuren

Remember that you can request all of my books from your local library!

Where did you encounter this immortal for the first time? Check out my Pinterest board dedicated to this immortal.

You can now support my time in producing folklore posts (researching, writing and everything else involved) by buying me a coffee. This can be a once-off thing, or you can buy me coffee again in the future at your discretion.