Apollo is the Olympian god of light, music and poetry, healing and plagues, prophecy and knowledge, order and beauty, archery and agriculture. An embodiment of the Hellenic ideal of kalokagathia, he is harmony, reason and moderation personified, a perfect blend of physical superiority and moral virtue. A complex deity who turns up in art and literature possibly as often as Zeus himself, Apollo is the only major god who appears with the same name in both Greek and Roman mythology.

The origin of the name Apollo is still not properly understood. Many Greeks seem to have supposed that it stands for “destroyer,” but this was only one of the many suggestions (“redemptory,” “purifier,” “assembler,” “stony”). Modern scholars disagree with most of them, with the majority linking Apollo’s name to the Greek word apella which means “a sheepfold,” and which may suggest that Apollo was originally merely a protector of the flocks and herds.

However, in time, he evolved to become a multifaceted god adored all over Greece as the perfectly developed classical male nude, the kouros. Beardless and athletically built, he is often depicted with a laurel crown on his head and either a bow and arrow or a lyre and plectrum in his hands. The sacrificial tripod – representing his prophetic powers – was another common attribute of Apollo, just as few animals linked with the god in various myths: wolf, dolphin, python, mouse, deer, swan.