Apollo Apollo Apollo (Attic, Ionic, and Homeric Greek: , "Apollōn" ( ) is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The national divinity of the Greeks, Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis. Seen as the most beautiful god and the ideal of the "kouros" (a beardless, athletic youth), Apollo is considered to be
Europa (consort of Zeus) as "The Abduction of Europa" and "The Seduction of Europa", substituting the god Jupiter for Zeus. The myth of Europa and Zeus may have its origin in a sacred union between the Phoenician deities `Aštar and `Aštart (Astarte), in bovine form. Having given birth to three sons by Zeus, Europa married a king Asterios, this being also the name of the Minotaur and an epithet of Zeus, likely derived from the name "`Aštar". According to Herodotus' rationalizing approach, Europa was kidnapped by Greeks (probably Cretans) who were seeking to avenge the kidnapping of Io, a princess from Argos. His variant