Apollo is one of the famous Greek Gods in Greek mythology. He is the Sun God who is associated with healing, music, art, poetry, archery, reason, knowledge, truth and prophecy.  He is usually depicted as a handsome, beardless youth with long hair. He always has a wreath and branch of laurel. He has a bow and quiver of arrows and is always accompanied by his raven. His symbols include the lyre and his sacred animals are the dolphin and swan.

Apollo is believed to be a skilled musician and is said to delight all Olympian Gods with his heavenly tunes. His golden lyre was made by Hermes. He is also known for being adventurous, and indulged in snake wrestling and very tough archery sports.

Apollo is the son of Zeus and his mistress Leto. His birth has an interesting myth. When Goddess Hera, the wife of Zeus found about Leto’s pregnancy, she sent a python to kill Leto and her unborn child. Due to this, Leto escaped to an island and after 9 days of pain delivered twins- Apollo and Artemis. It is also said that, within a few days of his birth, Apollo hunted and killed the python who was sent to kill his mother. The python’s mother was Goddess Gaea who complained to Zeus, and Apollo was banished for 9 years and sent to Earth to live amongst the mortals.

Daphne, a Naiad nymph who was also the daughter of a river God was famous for having Apollo fall in love with her.  However, Daphne wanted to remain unmarried for the rest of her life.

According to Greek Mythology, Apollo had been teasing Eros, the God of love. In order to take revenge, Eros fired 2 arrows; a gold arrow that struck Apollo and made him fall in love with Daphne and a lead arrow which struck Daphne and made her hate Apollo. Under the spell, Apollo continued to follow and pursue Daphne but Daphne continued to reject him.  Daphne asked the River God Peneus, who was also her father, for help. Peneus turned her into a laurel tree. Apollo made the laurel tree’s leaves evergreen by using his powers of youth.

Apollo is most famously known for his contribution in the Trojan war. Achilles had murdered Troilus, Apollo’s dear son and this had angered Apollo a lot. In the Trojan war, Apollo was fighting on the side of the Trojans and when Achilles was hit, Apollo took advantage of the situation and used his archery mastery and fired his arrow into Achille’s weak heel and killed him.