Apollo Apollo is said to have built a foundation and an altar on Delos using the horns of the goats that his sister Artemis hunted. Since he learnt the art of building when young, he later became "Archegetes", the founder of towns and god who guided men to build new cities. In his young years when Zeus had ignored him, Apollo spent his time herding cows. There, he was reared by Thriae, the bee nymphs, who trained him and enhanced his prophetic skills. During this time, Apollo also invented the lyre, and along with Artemis, the art of archery. He then
Apollo son of", was a title given to the god Nergal, who was linked to the Babylonian god of the sun Shamash. Homer interprets Apollo as a terrible god () who brings death and disease with his arrows, but who can also heal, possessing a magic art that separates him from the other Greek gods. In "Iliad", his priest prays to "Apollo Smintheus", the mouse god who retains an older agricultural function as the protector from field rats. All these functions, including the function of the healer-god Paean, who seems to have Mycenean origin, are fused in the cult of Apollo.