Apollo Lykeios (PHOEBUS) in Greek religion, a deity of manifold function
and meaning, the most widely revered and influential of all the Greek gods. Though
his original nature is obscure, from the time of Homer onward he was the god of
divine distance, who sent or threatened from afar; the god who made men aware
of their own guilt and purified them of it; who presided over religious law and
the constitutions of cities; who communicated to man through prophets and oracles
his knowledge of the future and the will of his father, Zeus. Even the gods feared
him, and only his father and his mother, Leto, could endure his presence.
In humbler circles he was also a god of crops and herds, primarily as a divine
bulwark against wild animals and disease, as his epithet Alexikakos (Averter of
Evil) indicates. His forename Phoebus means "bright" or "pure," and the view arose
that he was connected with the sun. Among Apollo's other epithets was Nomios
(Herdsman), and he was also called Lyceius, presumably because he protected the
flocks from wolves (lykoi); because herdsmen and shepherds beguiled the hours
with music, scholars have argued that this was Apollo's original role. Although
Apollo had many love affairs, they were mostly unfortunate: Daphne, in her efforts
to escape him, was changed into a laurel, his sacred shrub; Coronis (mother of
Asclepius) was shot by Apollo's twin, Artemis, when Coronis proved unfaithful;
and Cassandra
(daughter of King Priam
of Troy)
rejected his advances and was punished by being made to utter true prophecies
that no one believed.