Apollo Greek Culture

Apollo

Apollo, the Greek god of the Sun, was a very powerful figure in ancient Greek culture. Two different myths dealing with Apollo bring about explanations of how Apollo originated and the other depicts the bravery of him at such a young age. Along with the myths and stories of this great Greek god, there are also multiple works of art that depict the way he was viewed by the people of that time. Three pieces that could be found that were dated correctly are as follows, K5.12 APOLLON & PYTHON; a Bronze statuette of Apollo; and a Lekythos, oil flask, of Apollo Attributed to the Nikon Painter. All three of these pieces share common characteristics that follow the myths and legends but on the flip side they also bare a few differences.

Taking a look at the first myth as it is describing the origins of Apollo, it goes on to talk about

how his birth along with his twin sister was kept secret from his father Zeus. The birthplace of Apollo ended up being the small island of Delos, which is depicted in the red-figure lekythos with the symbol of a palm tree representing the island (Attributed to the Nikon). The reason for the palm tree can be found in the description for this work of art, it states “ancient literary references describe that he was born by Leto under the fronds of a date palm tree”(Attributed to the Nikon). Because of this, the ancient Greeks thought of Delos as Apollo’s greatest sanctuaries, which can also be found in the description of this piece. Looking closely, there is a visible laurel crown atop of Apollo’s head. The significance of this headpiece comes from time in Apollo’s life where he fell madly in love with Daphne, who wanted nothing to do with Apollo. After crying to mother earth to turn her into something unappealing, she instantly turned into a laurel tree. In conclusion to this piece, an additional detail that can be pointed out is the kithara that Apollo is holding on to; this was depicting Apollo’s great love of music and his favorite instrument to play (Attributed to the Nikon).
This lekythos was created around the year’s ca. 460–450 B.C by the Nikon Painter and was most likely created in order to pour libations during religious rituals (Stokstad, Cothren 141). This piece is currently located at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and was a gift from the previous owners Mr. and Mrs. Leon Pomerance in the year 1953 ”(Attributed to the Nikon).
Similar to the previous mentioned lekythos, this next piece is also a lekythos; however this one depicts Apollo as a young boy showing his bravery as he sleighs the monstrous Python with arrows shot from his bow.

As the myth goes, Apollo is only 4 days of age and sets off on his own in order to earn respect and it gave his father a reason to be proud of him, or so he thought (The God and Goddess). The only difference between this lekythos and the myth is that the piece clearly depicts the python with the face and breasts of a woman. Depending on what version is being read the myth says that the python was referred to as either man or woman. In the version cited below the python is said to be a woman, but gives no detailed description of the way the python looks. Besides that one simple difference, both the myth and the lekythos match up with each other. The date of creation for this piece is estimated to be around ca. 470 BC and the creation has been attributed to the Beldam Class (Ancient Greek Art). As stated before, the purpose of this lekythos was more than likely to pour libations during religious rituals (Stokstad, Cothren

141).
To complete this trio, the third piece of art is a Bronze Statuette of Apollo created around the year ca. 500 B.C. by an unknown artist (Bronze Statuette). As Apollo and his twin sister were welcomed into this world, their father Zeus gave them both silver bows and arrows. The Statuette displays just that, a bow in the left hand of Apollo, just as the myth says it should. This statuette has been dated ca. 500 B.C. with no accredited artist (Bronze Statuette).