Apollo - In Greek and Roman mythology, the god of sun, music, poetry, prophesy, agriculture, and pastoral life, and the leader of the muses. Ancient Greek statues of Apollo portray him as the embodiment of ideal male form. He is also known as Phoebus Apollo and is called the Far Shooter and the Pythian. He has no separate Roman name. His attributes in iconography are the cithara, or sometime the lyre, the bow, the fawn, and the tripod. He is often portrayed with his sister, Artemis.

Depictions of Apollo:

Greek, Apollo and Artemis Attacking Giants, c. 525 BCE, marble relief, Treasury of the Siphnians in Delphi, Gigantomachy.

Greek, Apollo of Veii, an acterion sculpture from the Temple of Apollo, Veii, c. 510 BCE, terra cotta.

Greek, The Chatsworth Apollo, c. 470-460 BCE, bronze.

Greece, Didyma, Temple of Apollo, cella view, marble, in the Ionic order, 60 x 118 m. See cella.

Roman, 2nd century CE, Apollo Musagetes, marble, Vatican, Italy. Here Apollo holds a lyre.

Jusepe de Ribera (Spanish, 1591-1652), Apollo Flaying Marsyas, 1637, oil on canvas, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels.

French, Lute Player, the Warrior, and Apollo, drawings of costumes for the Ballet royal de la nuit (Royal Ballet of the Night), c. 1650, Bibliotheque Nationale France, Paris. The ballet ends with the appearance of Aurore, who yields her place to the rising sun -- Apollo -- played the premiere performance by the young King Louis XIV -- popularly known ever since as "The Sun King." See Baroque.