A P O 
by all the 1 creation, and feen by every animated pari of it, 
to be adored as the fountain of light, lieat, and life. The 
power of healing difeafes being chiefly given by the an¬ 
cients to medicinal plants and vegetable productions, it 
was natural to exalt into a divinity the vifible caufe of 
their growth. Hence he was alfo llyled the God of Phyfc ; 
and that external heat which cheers and invigorates all 
nature, being transferred from the human body to the 
mind, gave rife to the idea of ail mental cffervefeence co¬ 
ming from this god; hence, likewife, poets, prophets,and 
muficians, are faid to be Nuviine afllati, infpired by Apollo. 
Whether Apollo reprefented a real perfonage, or only 
the great luminary, many have doubted. Indeed, Voflius 
lias.taken great pains to [move this god to be only a meta¬ 
phorical being, and that there never was any other Apollo 
than the fun : “ He was flyled the fon of Jupiter (fays this 
author), becaufe that god was reckoned by the ancients 
the author of the world. His mother Was called Latona, 
a name which fignifies ‘hidden;’ becaufe, before the fun 
was created, all things were wrapped up in the obfeurity 
of chaos. He is always reprefented as beardlefs and youth¬ 
ful, becaufe the fun never grows old or decays. And 
what elfe can his bow and arrows imply, but his piercing 
beams?” And adds, “that all the ceremonies which were 
performed to his honour had a manifeft relation to the 
great fource of light which he reprefented. Whence (he 
concludes) it is vain to feek for any other divinity than 
the fun, which was adored under the name of Apollo.” 
However, though this be in general true, yet it appears, 
from many paflages in ancient authors, that there was fome 
illuftrious perfonage named Apollo, who, after his apo- 
theolis, was taken for the fuif; as Ofiris and Orus in Egypt, 
whofe exillence cannot be called in queftioo, were, after 
their death, confounded with the fun, of which they be¬ 
came the fymbols, either from the glory and fplendour of 
their reigns, or from a belief that their fouls had taken up 
their relidence in that luminary. 
Of the four Apollos mentioned by Cicero, it appears 
that the three laft were Greeks, and the firft an Egyptian ; 
who, according to Herodotus, was the fon of Oliris and 
Ifis, and called Orus. Paufanias is of the fame opinion as 
Herodotus, and ranks Apollo among the Egyptian divi¬ 
nities. The teftimony of Diodorus Siculus is dill more 
exprefs; for, in fpeaking of Ifis, after faying (he had in¬ 
vented the practice of medicine, he adds, that fhe taught 
this art to her fon Orus, named Apollo, w ho was the lad 
of the gods that reigned in Egypt. It is eafy to trace al- 
mod all the Grecian fables and mythologies from Egypt. 
If the Apollo of the Greeks was faid to be the fon of Ju¬ 
piter, it was becaufe Orus the Apollo of the Egyptians 
had Oliris for his father, whom the Greeks confounded 
with Jupiter. If the Greek Apollo was reckoned the god 
of eloquence, raulic, medicine, and poetry, the reafon was, 
that Oliris, who was the fymbol of the fun among the 
.Egyptians, as well as his fon Orus, had there taught thofe 
liberal arts. If the Greek Apollo was the god and con¬ 
ductor of the Mufes, it was becaufe Oliris carried with 
him in his expedition to the Indies linging women and nm- 
Jicians. This parallel might be carried on dill further; 
but enough has been faid to prove that the true Apollo 
ryas that of Egypt. To the other perfections of this di¬ 
vinity the poets have added beauty, grace, and the art of 
captivating the ear and the heart, no lefs by the fweetnefs 
of his eloquence than by the melodious founds of his lyre. 
But the moll remarkable incident in the hiftory of Apollo, 
is his defeat of the ferpent Python. The waters of Deu¬ 
calion’s deluge, fays Ovid, which had overflowed the 
earth, left a dime from whence fprung innumerable mon- 
iters; and among others the ferpent Python, which made 
great havoc in the country about Parnalfus. Apollo, arm¬ 
ed with his darts, put him to death ; which, phyfically ex¬ 
plained, implies, that the heat of the fun having difflpated 
the noxious fleams, thofe monflers foon difappeared; or, 
.if this fable be referred to hiftory, the ferpent was a rob¬ 
ber, who haunting the country about Delphos, and very 
Vo]L. 1 - No, 51. 
A P O 805 
much infefting thofe who came thither, to facrifice; a 
prince, who bore the name of Apollo, or one of the priefts 
of that god, put him to death. This event gave rife to 
the Pythian games, fo frequently mentioned in the Gre¬ 
cian hiftory ; and it was from the legend of Apollo’s vic¬ 
tory over the Python, that the god hiinfelf acquired the 
name of Pytkius, and his prieftefs that of Pvthia. The 
city of Delphos, where tire famous oracles were fo long 
delivered, was frequently flyled Pyt/10. 
As Apollo was the god of the fine arts, thofe who cul¬ 
tivated them were called his Jons. Of this number was 
Philammon of Delphos, whom the poets and mytlio- 
logifts make the twin-brother of Autolvchns, by the 
nymph Chione, and Apollo and Mercury. It is pretended 
that both theie divinities were favoured by the nymph on 
the fame day, and that their fires were known from their 
different talents. Philammon, a great poet and mufician, 
was reported to be the offspring of the god who prefides 
over thofe arts; and Autolychus, from the craftinefs and 
fubtilty of his difpolition, was faid to iiave fprung from 
Mercury, god of theft and fraud. Philammon is one of 
the firft, after Apollo, upon fabulous record, as a vocal 
performer, who accompanied himfelf with the found of 
the lyre: his fon was the celebrated Thamyris, 
There can be no doubt but that Apollo was more ge¬ 
nerally revered in the Pagan world than any other deity ; 
having, in almoft every region of it, temples, oracles, and 
feftivals, as innumerable as his attributes : the wolf and 
hawk were confecrated to him, as fymbols of his piercing 
eyes; the crow and the raven, becaufe thefe birds were 
. flip poled to have by inftinft the faculty oi prediction: the 
laurel, from a perfuafion that thofe who flept with fome 
branches of that tree under their heads received certain 
vapours, which enabled them to prophefy. The cock was 
confecrated to him, becaufe by his crowing he announces 
the riling of the fun ; and the grafshopper on account of 
his Tinging faculty, which was fuppofed to do honour to 
the god of raulic. Mod of the ancient poets have cele¬ 
brated this tuneful inleCt, but none equal to Anacreon, 
Ode 43. Plato fays that the grafshopper lings all hummer 
without food, like thofe men who, dedicating themfelves 
to the Mules, forget the common concerns of life. The 
Avan was regarded by the ancients as a bird facred to 
Apollo in two capacities ; firft, as .being, like the crow and 
raven, gifted with the fpirit of prediction ; and, fecondly, 
for his extraordinary vocal powers. The fweetnefs of his 
long, (fee Anas,) efpecially at the approach of death, 
was not only extolled by all the poets of antiquity, but by 
hiftorians, philofophers, and fages; and to call a great 
writer the fwan of his age and nation, was a full acknow. 
ledgment of his fovereignty ; Horace calls Pindar the 
Theban fwan. 
Plutarch, who was himfelf a prieft of Apollo, impreffed 
with the higheft refpefl and veneration for him and for 
mufic, in his dialogue upon that art, makes one'of lvis in¬ 
terlocutors fay, that an invention fo ufeful and charming 
could never have been the work of man, but muff have 
originated from fome god, fitch as Apollo, the inventor 
of the flute and lyre, improperly attributed to Hyaghis, 
Marfyas, Olympus, and others; and the proofs he urges 
in fupport of this affection, ftiew, if not its truth, at lead 
that it was the common and received opinion of the age in 
which he lived. 
Apollo Bei.videre, one in the firft clafs of the an¬ 
cient (fames. The excellence of this ftatue con lifts in the 
exprefiion of fomething divine, whereas the reft excel only 
in things that are common to men. This ftatue may per¬ 
haps jultly claim the preference, even in the fuperior and 
diftinguiflied clafs of the beft remains of antiquity. There 
are about twenty ancient flatties which the moderns have 
difeovered tlutt are referred to the firft clafs, and confi- 
dered each as the chief beauty in its kind. 
APOI-LODO'RUS, a celebrated architect, under Tra¬ 
jan and Adrian, was born at Darhafctis, and ftourifhed 
about the year of Chrift 100. He had the direction of the 
9 T ftone 
