Fact 2: He was the son of Zeus and Leto (the goddess of dark nights) and the god of the sun, prophecy and music and the twin brother of Artemis
Fact 3: He was one of the principle 12 Olympian gods who resided on the summit of Mount Olympus where the Olympians fasted on the ambrosia, the food of the gods and nectar the drink of the gods. He played beautiful music with his golden lyre.
Fact 4: The symbols associated with this god are the raven, music and dancing, the lyre, the laurel tree, the wolf, deer, swans and his silver bows and arrows and golden chariot.
Fact 5: His association with the golden chariot was because, as god of the sun and light, he drove the sun across the sky
Fact 6: Apollo, as with Zeus his father, had many love affairs with goddesses and mortals but unlike his father he was was unlucky in love.
Fact 7: One of the myths relating to Apollo concerned a nymph called Daphne. Apollo was renown as a great archer and teased Eros, god of love because of his small size and criticised his skills with his arrows. In revenge Eros shot a golden arrow at Apollo that filled him with desire and lust. He shot a lead arrow at Daphne which had the completely opposite effect. Daphne ran from the god but he kept pursuing her. She eventually appealed to her father for help and she was transformed into a laurel tree.
Fact 8: He desired Cassandra, who featured in the Trojan War. He was the god of prophecy and promised Cassandra the same gift if she became his lover. He kept his side of the bargain but Cassandra did not. He got his revenge by dooming Cassandra to utter true prophecies that no one would ever believe.
Fact 9: Coronis was the lover of Apollo but he believed she was untrustworthy. The god sent a white raven to watch over her and the raven informed Apollo that she had been unfaithful. The goddess Artemis, who was his sister, turned the raven black for being the bearer of bad news.
Fact 10: He was the patron of Delphi (aka Pytho), which was famous for its oracle. A monstrous serpent called Python jealously guarded the oracle at Delphi and Apollo bravely killed the terrible creature.
Fact 11: He was feared as he was able to bring ill health to mortals and was the god of the plague. During the Trojan war he shot arrows of plague into the camp of the Greeks
Fact 12: Hecuba was the wife of King Priam of Troy, and gave birth to Hecuba as results of her affair with Apollo. An Oracle proclaimed that Troy would never be defeated if Troilus reached 20 years of age. Hecuba was killed by Achilles and Troy fell.
Fact 13: He was the slayer of the giant Tityos who attempted to carry off his mother, Leto.
Fact 14: He was challenged to a music contest by the Phrygian satyr Marsyas. The Satyr lost lost and was flayed alive. The rustic gods in their pity then transformed him into a mountain stream.
Fact 15: He represented harmony, order, and reason the direct opposite of Hestia or Dionysus, the god of wine, who represented ecstasy and disorder.
Fact 16: He had the power of transformation, prophecy, healing, the bringer of light, poetry, music, magic, purification, death and hunter of souls, action
