When the goddess Hera the wife of Zeus found out about the affair between Leto and Zeus she was so mad that she banished Leto so that she would have to find her own place to give birth. Leto fled to Delos a floating island in the middle of the Aegean Sea to give birth to Apollo and Artemis his twin sister. When Apollo was born a flock of swans flew overhead and that is why the swan is sacred to Apollo.
One of Apollo's first tales is when he killed the dragon Python. Python was destroying towns and crops and polluting streams and springs. Homer wrote “ he killed the fearsome dragon Python, piercing it with his darts”.
Apollo like his father Zeus had many love affairs with both goddess and mortals. When Apollo insulted the God of love Eros by saying that his archery was pathetic Eros made him fall in love with the daughter of the God of the river Daphne. Apollo became obsessed over Daphne and she fled into the mountains she called to her father for help Apollo followed her into the mountains and when he found her he touched her and she became a laurel tree. Another love of Apollo was the daughter of troy named Hecuba. Through Hecuba Apollo had a son named Troilius.
Apollo also fell in love with two of his own gender, one a Spartan prince named Hyacinthus, and the other a young boy named Cyparissus. One day while Hyacinthus and Apollo were practicing throwing discus the God of wind Zephyrus who also liked Hyacinthus blew the wind so that the disk that Apollo threw hit Hyacinthus in the head and smashed his skull. One day for a present Apollo gave Cyparissus a deer. Another day Cyparissus was throwing a javelin and it accidentally hit the deer, the deer died Cyparissus was so sad he wanted to die so Apollo turned him into a cypress tree and that is why it stands for sorrow.
On one occasion a mortal bragged about having more children than Leto she had 14 and Leto had 2. Apollo was so angered that Apollo and Artemis slew the whole family. Another time a mortal challenged Apollo to a music contest, after Apollo won he had the mortal skinned alive. As you can see you do not want to get on his bad side!
Apollo's tributes are the tripod, the crown of laurel leaves and the bow and arrow. A song sung in honor of Apollo is called a paean.
