Apollo
has his ominous aspects, too. Marsyas,
who dared challenge him to a music contest, was flayed after
he lost, signifying the stripping power of light. His
arrows can symbolize the rays of the sun that bring light and
insight - but they also can bring death.
The
Iliad begins with a terrible pestilence that Apollo brought
down upon the Greeks because they dishonored one of his priests.
Apollo's
arrows of death struck again when Queen Niobe, who was excessively
proud of her seven sons and seven daughters, disparaged Apollo's
mother, Leto, for having only two children (Apollo and Artemis)…"
Short Excerpt from Jungian author, Edward Edinger's book from
The Eternal Drama
More
About Apollo - The Tragic Story of Apollo and Daphne
The beautiful river nymph, Daphne (meaning laurel and pictured
above) was Apollo's first love. How this love for Daphne was
said to come about is that Apollo, thought to be the second
most powerful of the Olympian gods, had been making fun of the
young god Eros (son of Aphrodite) and bragging about how very
weak and puny little Eros was.
Wounding
of Eros - Cupid
Known to most of us by his Roman name Cupid, in this version
of the story, the Greek god Eros was the youngest of the gods.
Like
the god Apollo, who shot arrows of either insight or death,
Cupid also had two very different types of arrows (gold tipped
and lead tipped) with which he pierced the hearts of both mortals
and gods.
Cupid's
gold tipped arrows evoked irrational desire and irresistible
attraction, while his lead tipped arrows filled the mortal or
god with irrational disgust and repulsion.
To
the mortal or god wounded in the heart with Cupid's special
arrows, it was a wounding of desire (gold) or disgust (lead)
that suddenly, seemingly came from "out of the blue." The mortal
or god struck was then destined (and under the compulsion) to
live out this wounding of the heart, often behaving in irrational
ways and committing mad, irrational acts of passion.
The
Rational Struck Down By The Irrational
To show Apollo, the Greek god of rationality, a thing or two...
the god Cupid struck Apollo with one of his (Eros's) gold tipped
arrows. When struck by the gold tipped arrow, Apollo immediately
became inflamed with irrational desire and love for the lovely
river nymph, Daphne. However, at the same time, Cupid struck
Daphne with his lead tipped arrow of disgust and repulsion.
Thus...
the more ardently Apollo pursued his true love, Daphne – the
more she (Daphne) became repulsed by Apollo. Apollo pursued
Daphne relentlessly across the face of the earth, and he would
not (could not) give up.
Finally
– Daphne, exhausted and terrified, cried out to Mother Earth
for help. Mother Earth then transformed the river nymph, Daphne,
into a laurel tree. Apollo went away rejected and mournful.
Can
anybody say, "Been there, done that?
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