Apollo and the Romans
The multifaceted god

Apollo is a complex, even ambiguous, figure [2]. From his origin to his character, he is a contradiction. Apollo has been called the most Greek of the Greek gods. Yet surprisingly, his origins might be Asian and he was, historically speaking, the last of the twelve Olympian gods to be introduced into Greece [3]. "His association with the Muses allowed Roman, Renaissance, and Baroque artists to call on him for poetic inspiration" [4] and his prophetic Sibyls are painted on the Sistine Chapel. "From his identification as the sun god came the creation of the grand image in which Apollo guides his solar chariot each day across the heavens" [5] and "[a]t Versailles, Louis XIV, the Sun King, had a special association with Apollo as his celestial patron" [6]. Even today the name of Apollo is more widely recognised than that of any other Olympian divinity, from NASA's ambitious lunar program to Italy's most tantalising tongue-twister, "Apelle, figlio di Apollo" [7]. from http://janusquirinus.org/

His epithets and attributes can fill pages [8]. To name just a few, as Apollo Argurotoxos (the god of the silver bow) and Apollo hekatębolos (the far-striker), he is the god of archery; as Pythian or Delphic Apollo, he is the god of prophesy; as Phoebus Apollo, he is the god of light; as Apollo Mousagetęs (leader of the Muses), he is the god of music and poetic inspiration; as Apollo Alexikakos (averter of ills), he is the healing god; as Apollo Agyieus, he is the god of streets and highways, a guide and a guardian. He is the god of order, justice and legality, a god of mental and moral purity, of philosophy [9], of flocks and crops [10]. Yet he is also the god of plagues, and perhaps wolves and mice [11]. from http://janusquirinus.org/plagiarized from http://janusquirinus.org/

The manifold symbols of Apollo correspond with the multitude of his attributes [12]. His weapon is the bow; his tree, the laurel; and his instruments, the lyre and the kithara, whose well-ordered music is opposed to the ecstatic rhythms of flute and drums which belong to Dionysus and Cybele [13]. He is indicated by the tripod, the sphinx. At Delphi, his main home, the walls of his temple bore his advice: "Know Thyself" and "Nothing in Excess". Among animals, the wolf, the dolphin, the snow-white and musical swan, the hawk, raven, crow, and snake associated with him. from http://janusquirinus.org/

Apollo’s "persona shifts from the mercilessly destructive to the graciously beneficial" [14]. Not surprisingly then, his statues include the contemptuous Apollo Belvedere, the atasthalos Apollo of Veii [15], the dreamy Cyrene Apollo and the austere Apollo in Olympia’s Temple of Zeus. from http://janusquirinus.org/

The statue of Apollo on the west pediment in the Temple of Zeus shows Apollo as the god of reason, justice and order, breaking up the fight between the Lapiths and the centaurs. Peirithous, the king of the Lapiths, had invited the Centaurs to his wedding, but at the wedding, Centaurs attempted to abduct the Lapith women. In the scene captured in the pediment, Apollo intervenes to punish the offenders. This portrayal of Apollo has its counterpart in literature. In the Iliad, it is Apollo who intervenes to check the hubristic onslaughts of the Greek warriors [16]; and in the theomachy that Zeus stages for his own entertainment, Apollo refuses to join in the frivolous fighting [17]. "Under his most important and influential aspect may be included everything that connects him with law and order" [18]. from http://janusquirinus.org/

The Apollo Belvedere shows Apollo as the avenging god, the god of archery who had just let fly an arrow against some foe [19]—perhaps against the wild Gallic hordes who had come to storm his temple on Delphi [20]. He is so full of wrath, and at the same time, to many, so beautiful [21] that a noted art historian called Apollo the most beautiful of gods and the statue the highest ideal of art [22]. Perhaps that is the cause of the popular notion that "beauty of every sort, whether of art, music, poetry or youth, sanity and moderation—all are summed up in Apollo" [23]. from http://janusquirinus.org/

Yet this epitome of male beauty is also the Apollo of Veii, the god at his "most awesome and terrible" [24]. Some scholars think "'anger snorts from the nose and a joyous contempt hovers on the lips'… In the mighty, overbearingly victorious stride of the god you will find a reflection of the majesty of Apollo" [25]. Perhaps one does not agree with this interpretation of the statue, but this description of Apollo is unmistakably depicted in literature. "He strides menacingly into Greek literature" [26], his wrath has been aroused by Agamemnon's mistreatment of his priest, his unfailing plague-tipped arrows bringing death to the Greeks until his anger is appeased [27]. Likewise, the first introduction of Apollo to the other Olympian gods vividly portrays the terrifying power of Apollo. They tremble before him, then leap up from their chairs as he approaches and he bends his shining bow [28]. However, the tremendous potential for violence is checked, his mother disarms him and his father welcomes him. from http://janusquirinus.org/

Finally, in the Cyrene Apollo, a gentle Apollo is showed, one who is in inner contemplation [29]. He is portrayed as a god of music [30] and the serpent might point to his role in medicine. This is the Apollo that leads the Muses in song [31], his quiver set aside attached to the tree trunk [32]. from http://janusquirinus.org/

Four statues, four different Apollos [33], four that had played roles in the politics and propaganda at the end of Roman Republic, culminating in the Apollo that symbolised the Golden Age of Rome. plagiarized from http://janusquirinus.org/

• The multifaceted god
• The development of the cult
• In political propaganda
  • Marians vs. Sullans
    - Background
  • Republicans vs. Caesarians
    - Background
  • Octavian vs. Antony
    - Background
• The Golden Age of Rome
• Epilogue

Delphi, home of Apollo.
Plato calls it "the very navel of the earth" (Rep IV.427c)

continue to The development of the cult in Rome