Apollo:
The name conjures up many images into the eyes of people around the world. When I was very young, the image that Apollo gave to me was a strong complex man who used his powers to the fullest to get the best out of life. Later I learned that Apollo was famous as a lover, of women like Daphne, and of boys too, like Hylas.
Apollo was a fighter. He was fiercely protective of his family and did take care of his followers. Apollo was a god whom both the Greek and Romans worshipped. The Greek town of Delphi was sacred to Apollo because the god had defeated the giant monstrous snake called Pytho that had been attacking the city. He was named the "Pythian" god and made the people hold the Pythian Games every four years in his honor.
He was the god of light and sun. Also, he was the god of music (he directed the choir of the Muses) and of prophecy, colonization, medicine, archery, poetry, dance, and intelligence, and he was also the caretaker of herds and flocks. In addition to being the god of medicine, he was also the god of plague. According to Homer's Iliad, Apollo shot arrows of plague into the Greek camp. Apollo, being the god of healing, would also assign purifying tasks to those guilty of murder and other bad deeds. Sacred to Apollo were the swan, the wolf and the dolphin. He was always seen with a bow and arrows, a laurel crown on his head, and the lyre. In art, Apollo was shown as a clean-shaven, handsome young man.
He was the son of Zeus and a goddess named Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis, the goddess of hunting. When Hera, Zeus’ wife, learned of Leto's pregnancy, she was so angry with jealousy that she sent Leto to roam the world to find a place where she could give birth. Leto could not give birth on a “terra firma” so she had to find ground that was not fixed to the earth. So Apollo and his twin were born on a floating island. This made Apollo fiercely protective of his mother and he made sure that no one made fun of her or upset her. Like his father, Apollo had countless love affairs with both nymphs and young boys.
He fathered many children who usually had great beauty and amazing powers. This Storybook tells about one of his sons, Phaethon, and how he went through the world to find out more about the god who was his father.
And so Phaethon's story begins…
Phaethon pulled the blanket over his head as the morning sun rose over his house. He wasn't going to school today. He was tired of the boys teasing him about who his father was. His mother had never told him but he knew it had to be some big famous king because of how much he was liked by the goddess of love, Aphrodite. Instead of all the other young men running around outside of the school, she had chosen him to take care of her temples. He had been given a great honor, so surely he was from some special lineage. Clymene his mother, who was a nymph, walked in to see him still under the sheets.
"Why are you still in bed, son? Are you feeling sick?" she asked as she sat down in the chair by his bedside.
"Yes, I don't feel good, Mother. I don't want to go to school today,” Phaethon said, making his mother frown at him. She touched his forehead to feel for a fever but found it as cool as normal.
"I know you very well, my son. You are not sick. Something is bothering you. Tell me what it is," Clymene asked as she watched her son look down at the sheets.
"The boys at school make fun of me because all of them have special fathers when I don't even know who mine is. Please tell me he is a king," Phaethon begged, reaching out to hold his mother’s hand
Clymene laughed softly. "A king? Oh no, son, your father is far more important than a king. He is the god, Apollo. Go and tell your school friends that."
Phaethon jumped up quickly. Apollo was his father! This was the best news that anyone could get. However, he didn't know much about Apollo, except for the things he had heard in the myths.
"I am going to school, Mother," Phaethon said, grabbing his bag, but he went to the right of the road instead of the left. School wasn't important now. Finding out more about his father the god Apollo was.
Phaethon meets a sunflower who tells him about how Apollo transformed her because of her jealousy
Phaethon speaks to a cypress tree about how Apollo granted the wish of his broken-hearted lover
Phaethon is told by the sheep of how Apollo punished a man who dared to challenge him
Phaethon finally meets his father who lets him drive his chariot
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