Myths featuring Apollo

Following his failure to rescue Eurydice from the Underworld, the master musician Orpheus retreated to the slopes of Mount Olympus, where he shunned all women and turned his devotion to Apollo. His refusal to participate in the ecstatic rituals of Dionysus led to a violent confrontation with the Maenads. In a frenzy of divine madness, the women tore him limb from limb, an act so horrific that...

Trophonius was a legendary architect who, alongside his brother Agamedes, built great structures including the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. After a daring theft from a royal treasury went wrong, Trophonius fled to the grove of Lebadeia where the earth miraculously swallowed him alive. He was thereafter transformed into a chthonic deity and established a famous, terrifying oracle in a...

The goddess Leto, persecuted by a jealous Hera, wanders the earth seeking a place to give birth to her twins. The floating island of Delos finally accepts her, leading to the birth of Artemis and Apollo under the shadow of Mount Cynthus.

To punish their rebellion against his authority, Zeus commanded the gods Poseidon and Apollo to serve the Trojan King Laomedon as mortal laborers for a full year. During this time, they constructed the legendary, impenetrable walls of Troy, only to be cheated of their wages by the king's greed and arrogance. This divine betrayal cursed the city's future, leading to Poseidon’s eternal enmity...

King Midas of Phrygia is granted a wish by Dionysus and chooses that everything he touches turn to gold, only to find it a deadly curse when he cannot eat or drink. After being cured by the River Pactolus, he later offends the god Apollo by favoring Pan's rustic music, resulting in his ears being transformed into those of a donkey.

After the murder of King Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus, the young prince Orestes is forced into exile. Years later, commanded by the god Apollo, Orestes returns to his ancestral home in Mycenae to seek vengeance. Alongside his sister Electra and his loyal friend Pylades, he orchestrates a deadly plan to reclaim the throne and punish those who betrayed his father.

During the Trojan War, the Greek hero Diomedes undergoes a period of divine empowerment granted by the goddess Athena. With his vision cleared to perceive the gods themselves, he dares to attack and wound the goddess Aphrodite and later the god of war, Ares, on the battlefield. This rare instance of a mortal striking deities highlights the intersection of human courage and divine will in the...

Following the death of his companion Patroclus, the Greek hero Achilles returns to the battlefield of the Trojan War with a singular focus on revenge. He pursues the Trojan prince Hector around the city walls before engaging him in a fatal duel. This confrontation stands as the pivotal climax of the Iliad, representing the tragic intersection of divine will and human mortality.

After being insulted by King Agamemnon, the legendary Greek hero Achilles withdraws his forces from the Trojan War, leading to a series of devastating losses for the Greeks. To save his comrades, Achilles' closest companion Patroclus dons his armor and enters the fray, only to be slain by the Trojan prince Hector. This tragic loss fuels Achilles' vengeful rage, bringing him back to the...

King Admetus of Pherae is spared from death only if someone else takes his place, a sacrifice his wife Alcestis willingly makes. When Heracles arrives as a guest and discovers the tragedy hidden by his host's hospitality, he ventures to her tomb to wrestle the god of death, Thanatos. Through sheer physical might, Heracles defeats Death and restores Alcestis to her husband, celebrating the...