by Judy Joyce

Created on: November 02, 2008   Last Updated: November 05, 2008

In Homer's "Hymn to Apollo" the handsome god and son of Zeus, ascends Mt. Olympus to charm the gods and goddesses including his sister, Artemis. The Muses, Graces, Seasons, Aphrodite, and Hebe sang and danced in response to his arrival and his music. From here, Apollo set out to establish an oracle.

An oracle is a "divine communication given at a special place through specially appointed persons; also the place itself. This form of divination was found among various peoples of the ancient world". (New Advent Encyclopedia)

When Apollo selected a place that pleased him, he informed the resident nature spirit, Telphousa, he intended to build a temple at her sacred spring. The nymph suggested that Apollo select Delphi as the site for his shrine. Apollo left the spring and continued along his journey when near Delphi, he encountered and killed the enormous serpent Python. To commemorate the even, the god's priestess was named Pythia. This is the mythological explanation for how the oracle of Apollo was established at Delphi.

Works of Art and Apollo

The main attraction at Delphi was the temple of Apollo whose ruins are visible as only broken columns and stones now hidden away as it is along the side of Mt. Parnassus. The defeat of the python is the subject of the ceiling mural in the Apollo Gallery at the Louvre by Delacroix, Another commemoration of the same event is an important sculpture by Rodin showing Apollo triumphant over the dead body of Pytho.

One gallery vase is a red-figured painting showing Apollo's priestess. Pythia who performs the duty of the oracle: the male on the right has come to consult the oracle, while she responds seated in a bronze tripod (an object not normally used as a chair). There is also a painting by John Collier from 1891 with the priestess seen seated over a gaseous fissure.
Whether or not the oracle really had prophetic powers is speculative. The ancient Greeks firmly believed in these messages from Apollo delivered through the Pythia. In modern times, fumes seeping into the known location of the oracle, give rise to a theory that the visions seen and reported by the vestil virgins delivering the messages of Apollo and were hallucinogenic and caused by the fume emissions.
Apollo's Mythological Loves

Apollo was not just a fighter. Like other male gods of Mt. Olympus, he was a lover as well. However, in recurring themes of Apollo's loves in mythology, for such a handsome devil, his relationships with women never seemed to work out. The story

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