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

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