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Apollo
Apollo is often portrayed as the quintessential beautiful young man who is tragically unlucky in love. A bisexual deity, both his male and female loves inevitably came to bad ends. His first male lover, Hyakinthos, died after the god accidentally struck him in the head during a discus throwing competition between the two. Some variations say the discus was diverted by Zephyros, god of the west wind, out of jealousy because the boy preferred Apollo over him. Unable despite his healing skills to save the boy, Apollo instead caused the hyacinth flower to grow and bloom from the youth's blood as a memorial to his dead love. When his second male lover, Kyparissos, wished desperately to die after accidentally killing a sacred stag, Apollo turned him into a weeping cypress tree to stop the boy from ending his life. Apollo was a close friend and ally of Hercules, another son of Zeus who also had both male and female lovers. The god was always seen in the company of the Muses, nine sister goddesses of the arts and sciences, - one of whom, Urania, was said to be the special protector of homosexuals. And it was Apollo who guided the poisoned arrow fired by Paris into Achilles' vulnerable heel during the seige of Troy, as revenge for the Greek warrior's desecration of the god's temple by killing Troilus on its altar. Apollo's shrine at the city of Delphi was world-renowned for the prophecies delivered by its priestess, the Pythia, and a phallic stone at the site was regarded by some as the center of the world. Alexander the Great consulted the Pythia, and he as well as others identified himself with the god. A symbolic dichotomy is still used today wherein Apollo is used to symbolize logic and temperance while his half brother, Dionysus, is used to represent wild passions and indulgence. Links: Apollo - Windows to the Universe Apollo in Western Art (restricted access)
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