Hermes: Where does Percy belong? Right answers only.
Poseidon: Atlantis!
Apollo: In my arms!
Zeus: On the floor, kneeling before me.
Poseidon, holding his trident: I dare you to repeat that.
Zeus, grabbing his lightning bolt: On. The. Floor. Kneel-ling.
Posedion and Zeus argue and fight
Hermes: Shocked he hasn't aimed it at you, brother.
Apollo: He will, give it time. Anyway, there are two places my pearl rightfully belongs. In my arms and my lap. He's on my lap more often... not that I'm complaining. Happy even.
Hermes snickers, and they watch the elders fight.
I was wondering just how unfortunate of a love-life our boy Apollo had, so - as one does - I did the research, math, and writing of said love-life.
such is the life of an adhd teen :)
In total, there are 64 people on this list. I have them separated into eight groups; Immortal, Immortal & Rejected, Lived, Died, Rejected & Died, Rejected & Cursed, Rejected & Lived, and who were Rejected by Apollo
Disclaimer: I am not a historian nor an expert in Greek Mythology, I am just a very invested nerd in Mythology, and in Apollo's mythology in general, and got curious about what his rap sheet actually looks like.
Sidenote: There will be some "lovers" not on this list. Reasons being;
No actual literary sources behind them
Said literary sources are dubious at best
Not enough information is given about the nature of their relationship to make an accurate take
So if somebody isn't on this list, it's because of one of those three reasons. Although there is still a chance I missed somebody! :)
Also, no RRverse lovers include in this list. Sorry my fellow ToA fans.
(Edited 09/05/25 - ALL SECTIONS SOURCED)
*Added a new person and expanded on another in this edition!
Let's begin! :D
Immortal Lovers
Calliope: muse of epic poetry. Mother of Hymenaios and Ialemus (Pindar's 3rd Threnos) by Apollo.
Clio: muse of history
Erato: muse of love poetry
Euterpe: muse of music
Polyhymnia: muse of hymns/sacred poetry
Melpomene: muse of tragedy
Thalia: muse of comedy. Mother of the Corybantes (The Bibliotheca by Pseudo-Apollodorus) by Apollo.
Terpsichore: muse of dance
Urania: muse of astronomy
Boreas: the North Wind. The Boreads called Apollo "beloved of our sire" in Apollonius of Rhodes's Argonautica.
Rhetia: alternate mother of the Corybantes by Apollo. (Strabo's Geography 10.3.21)
Rhoeo: mortal princess, eventually married an apprentice of Apollo (Diodorus Siculus's Bibliotheca historica 5.62 and Tzetzes on Lycophron 570)
Ourea: demigod daughter of Poseidon, dated Apollo during his punishment with Laomedon; had a son named Ileus, after the city of Troy (Hesiod's Catalogues of Women Fragment 83)
Evadne: nymph daughter of Poseidon, Apollo sent Eileithyia & (in some texts) the Fates to aid in their son's birth (Pindar's Olympian Ode 6)
Thero: great-granddaughter of Heracles, described as "beautiful as moonbeams" (Pausanias's Description of Greece 9)
Cyrene: mortal princess-turned-nymph queen, kick-ass lion wrangler, and mother of two of Apollo's sons - Aristaeus (a god) and Idmon (powerful seer) (Pindar's Pythian Ode 9.6 ff. and Nonnus's Dionysiaca and Callimachus's Hymn to Apollo 85)
Admetus: mortal king, took great care of Apollo during his second punishment, Apollo wingmanned him for Alcestis's hand - basically Apollo doted on him <3 (Callimachus's Hymn II to Apollo and Apollodorus's Bibliotheca 1.9.15 and Hyginus's Fabulae 50–51, and also written about by Ovid and Servius)
Hecuba: queen of Troy, together they had Troilus.
It was foretold that if Troilus lived to adulthood, Troy wouldn't fall - unfortunately, Achilles murdered Troilus in Apollo's temple. When the Achaeans burned Troy down, Apollo rescued Hecuba and brought her to safety in Lycia. (Stesichorus's Fr.108)
Hyrie/Thyrie: mortal. mothered a son by Apollo. Their son, Cycnus, attempted to kill himself after some shenanigans and his mother attempted the same. Apollo turned them into swans to save their lives. (Antoninus Liberalis's Metamorphoses 12 and Ovid's Metamorphoses 7.350)
Dryope: mortal. had a son named Amphissus with Apollo, who was a snake at the time. Later turned into a lotus flower, but it had nothing to do with Apollo so she's still on this list. (noncon; written by Ovid in Metamorphoses 8 CE/AD and later by Antoninus Liberalis in his own Metamorphoses sometime between 100-300 CE/AD)
Creusa: mortal queen. had a son named Ion with Apollo (Euripides's Ion). Please check out @my-name-is-apollo's post for more details because they make some good points about what's considered "rape" in Ancient Greece. I expand on this further at the end of the post.
Melia: Oceanid nymph. Had a son w/h Apollo named Tenerus. (Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece 9.10.5–6)
Melia was said to be kidnapped, and her brother found her with Apollo. He set fire to Apollo's temple in an effort to get her back, but was killed. Melia and Apollo had two kids - but here's the interesting part. Melia was highly worshiped in Thebes, where her brother found her. She was an incredibly important figure in Thebes, especially when connected with Apollo. She and Apollo were essentially the parents of Thebes.
As I read over their story, it sounded like (to me, at least. it's okay if you think otherwise!) that Melia just absconded/eloped with Apollo.
Was kidnapping an equivalent to assault back then? Perhaps. But it's still debated on whenever or not that's true. However, one thing I've noticed reading up on these myths is that when Apollo does do something unsavory, the text says so.
It never says anything about Apollo doing anything to Melia. Her father and brother believe she was kidnapped, but, like mentioned previously, it seems far much more likely that she just ran off with her boyfriend or something.
But that's just my interpretation.
Moving on! :)
Iapis: a favorite lover. Apollo wanted to teach him prophecy, the lyre, ect. but Iapis just wanted to heal :) so Apollo taught him healing :) (Smith 1873, s.v. Iapis)
Aethusa: daughter of Poseidon & the Pleiad Alcyone. Mother of Linus and Eleuther. She is the great-great grandmother of Orpheus. (Apollodorus's Bibliotheca 3.10.1 and Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece 9.20.2 and Suida, s.v. Homer's Of the Origin of Homer and Hesiod and their Contest, Fragment 1.314)
Acacallis: daughter of King Minos. there's a lot of variation on whether or not she had kids with Hermes or Apollo. Some say she had a kid with each. (Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Kydōnia (Κυδωνία and Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, 4.1492)
Chrysothemis: nymph queen who won the oldest contest of the Pythian Games - the singing of a hymn to Apollo. She had three daughters, and one of them is said to be Apollo's. (Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece 10.7.2 and Hyginus's De Astronomica 2.25)
Corycia: naiad. had a son with Apollo. the Corycian Cave north of Delphi is named after her (Hyginus's Fabulae 161)
Leuconoe (also Choine or Philonis): daughter of Eosphorus, god of the planet Venus, and mother of the bard Philammon. (Hyginus's Fabulae 161) She was killed by Diana for her hubris.
Melaena (also Thyia or Kelaino): mother of Delphos, member of prophetic Thriae of Delphi. Priestess of Dionysus. (Herodotus's Histories 7.178.1)
Othreis: mothered Phager by Apollo, and later Meliteus by Zeus. (Antoninus Liberalis's Metamorphoses 13)
Stilbe: mother of Lapithus and Aineus by Apollo. (Diodorus Siculus's Library of History 4.69.1 and Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, 1.40 and Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, 1.948)
Syllis (possible same as Hyllis, granddaughter of Heracles): mothered Zeuxippus by Apollo. (Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece 2.6.7)
Amphissa: Apollo seduced her in the form of a shepherd. They had a son named Agreus. (Ovid's Metamorphoses 6.103 and Hyginus's Fabulae 161)
(hey, has anybody else noticed that 'Apollo disguising himself' seems to only be a thing in Roman literature?)
Areia (or Deione): had a son named Miletus. Hid him in some smilax. Her father found him and named him. (Apollodorus's Bibliotheca 3.1.2)
Arsinoe: she and Apollo had a daughter named Eriopis. (Hesiod's Ehoiai 63 and Scholia ad Pindar's Pythian Ode 3.14)
Queen of Orkhomenos (no name is given): Mother of Trophonius (Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece 9.37.5)
(my fellow ToA fans will recognize that name haha).
Hypermnestra: Either Apollo or her husband fathered her son Amphiaraus. (Hyginus's Fabulae 70)
(sidenote: @literallyjusttoa suggested that Apollo was dating both Hypermnestra and Oikles, and I, personally, like that headcannon)
Manto: Daughter of Tiresias. Apollo made her a priestess of Delphi. They had a son named Mopsus. When Apollo sent her to found an oracle elsewhere, he told her to marry the first man she saw outside of Delphi. That man turned out to be Rhacius, who brought her to Claros, where she founded the oracle of Apollo Clarios. (Apollodorus's Bibliotheca E6. 3)
Later, another man named Lampus attempted to assault her, but was killed by Apollo. She is also said to be a priestess who warned Niobe not to insult Leto, and to ask for forgiveness. Niobe did not. (Statius's Thebaid 7 and Ovid's Metamorphoses 6)
(Dante's Inferno places her in the eighth circle of hell, and let me just say- what the FUCK Dante! What did Manto ever do to you, huh??!! Don't do my girl dirty!!)
Parthenope: granddaughter of a river god. Mothered Lycomedes by Apollo (Pausanius's Descriptions of Greece 4.1)
Phthia: prophetess. called "beloved of Apollo". Mother three kings by him; Dorus, Laodocus, & Polypoetes (Apollodorus's Bibliotheca 1.7.6)
Procleia: Mother of Tenes, son of Apollo, who was killed by Achilles before the Trojan War. Daughter of King Laomedon, king of Troy. (Apollodorus's Epitome 3. 26)
Helenus: prince of Troy. Received from Apollo an ivory bow which he used to wound Achilles in the hand. (Photius's 'Bibliotheca excerpts')
Hippolytus of Sicyon: called "beloved of Apollo" in Plutarch's Life of Numa. I don't think this guy is the same as Hippolytus, son of Zeuxippus (son of Apollo), king of Sicyon Pausanias talks about in his Description of Greece. That would be a little weird taking the whole family tree into account - though it's never stopped other gods before. *shrug*
Psamathe: daughter of King Crotopus of Argos [not to be confused with the Nereid!].
At the request of an anon, I dug a little deeper into her story due to conflicting tellings!
The 19th, how Psamathe the daughter of Krotopos got pregnant by Apollo and because she feared her father she exposed the child, whom she named Linos. The shepherd who received him raised him as his own, and one day the sheepdogs tore him apart. Deeply grieving, she was detected by her father, who sentenced her to death, assuming she had been a harlot and lied about Apollo. Apollo, however, is incensed at the killing of his lover and punishes the Argives with plague. To those consulting the oracle on how to be freed of it he responds that they must appease Psamathe and Linos. They honored them in other ways and sent women and girls to mourn Linos. They mixed the laments with entreaties and wept for his fate and their own. And thus the mourning over Linos was distinguished. And from this, by later poets Linos is sung as a counterpoint of any pathos. They named the month Arneion (lamb-month) because Linos was raised together with lambs. And they conduct a sacrifice and Arnis festival, on that day killing all the dogs they find. But not even in this way did the evil abate, until Krotopos in accordance with an oracle left Argos and founded a city in the Megarid. He called it Tripodiskion, and settled there.
The Megarians have also the grave of Coroebus. The poetical story of him, although it equally concerns Argos, I will relate here. They say that in the reign of Crotopus at Argos, Psamathe, the daughter of Crotopus, bore a son to Apollo, and being in dire terror of her father, exposed the child. He was found and destroyed by sheepdogs of Crotopus, and Apollo sent Vengeance to the city to punish the Argives. They say that she used to snatch the children from their mothers, until Coroebus to please the Argives slew Vengeance. Whereat as a second punishment plague fell upon them and stayed not. So Coroebus of his own accord went to Delphi to submit to the punishment of the god for having slain Vengeance.
(Early 90s CE/AD) Statius's Thebaid 560-579:
When that the god had smitten the dark and sinuous-coiling monster, the earth-born Pytho, who cast about Delphi his sevenfold grisly circles and with his scales ground the ancient oaks to powder, even while sprawling by Castalia’s fountain he gaped with three-tongued mouth athirst to feed his deadly venom: when having spent his shafts on numberless wounds he left him, scarce fully stretched in death over a hundred acres of Cirrhaean soil, then, seeking fresh expiation of the dead, he came to the humble dwelling of our king Crotopus. A daughter, in the first years of tender maidenhood, and wondrous fair, kept this pious home, a virgin chaste. How happy, had she ne’er kept secret tryst with the Delian, or shared a stolen love with Phoebus! For she suffered the violence of the god by Nemea’s stream, and when Cynthia had twice five times gathered her circle’s visage to the full, she brought forth a child, Latona’s grandson, bright as a star. Then fearing punishment – for her sire would ne’er have pardoned a forced wedlock – she chose the pathless wilds, and stealthily among the sheep-pens gave her child to a mountain-wandering guardian of the flock for nurture. No cradle worthy of a birth so noble, hapless infant, did thy grassy bed afford thee, or thy woven home of oaken twigs; enclosed in the fibre of arbutus-bark thy limbs are warm, and a hollow pipe coaxes thee to gentle slumbers, while the flock shares thy sleeping-ground. But not even such a home did the fates permit, for, as he lay careless and drinking in the day with open mouth, fierce ravening dogs mangled the babe and took their fill with bloody jaws. But when the tidings reached the mother’s horror-struck ears, father and shame and fear were all forgot; herself straightway she fills the house with wild lamentation, all distraught, and baring her breast meets her father with her tale of grief. Nor is he moved, but bids her – Oh horrible! even as she desires, suffer grim death.
Conon's was the first recorded, during the reign of Emperor Augustus, just to put the timeline into perspective. So all three of these versions are later tellings, though Conon himself was Greek.
Statius's would come next, and after him Pausanias.
In a previous incarnation, I mixed up this Psamathe with the Neried (oops! it happens lol), so in every version I am currently aware of, her son is always Apollo's, and is always torn apart by dogs.
Now, the anon who brought her back to my attention mentioned that in the Thebaid, it sounds like it was rape, and looking up at the text itself, it does sound like that! I am, however, squinting at the choice to also use phrases such as "secret tryst" and "stolen love", since those two could be interpreted differently from "the violence of the god" and "forced wedlock".
I also want to point out, though, that Conon's and Pausanias's versions don't specify like Statius does, so their tellings are up for interpretation, and personally? I think they are implying a normal relationship, because when I look at Psamathe's fear of her father...it sounds less like she's hiding it because of a horrible experience and moreso because she knows her father would never believe/approve of her unwed relationship.
Conon specifically says she "feared her father" and that he "assum[ed] she had been a harlot and lied about Apollo [being the father]". Pausanias states she was in "dire terror", and even Statius shows how awful of a guy the king is.
I'm curious as to why the Thebaid never popped up before lol. Goes to show that there's stuff hiding in all nooks and crannies, I guess XD
I would like to keep something from a previous incarnation of this post, though! PSA time!
Lesson, kids! Don't trust youtube videos on mythology! Yes, even if they dedicated lots of time to it! They can still get things wrong! In fact, don't even take my word for it! Do your own research <3
And now we move on <3
Hymenaeus: No, not his kid. This is a different Hymenaeus haha! This Hymenaeus is the son of Magnes, and comes from Megalai Ehoiai fr. 16, commonly attributed to Hesiod, and Antonius Liberalis's Metamorphosis. Legend states that while Apollo was preoccupied with Hymenaeus, baby Hermes stole his cows ;)
Euboia: Daughter of Macareus. Bore a son named Agreus. (Hyginus's Fabulae 161)
Philodice: Wife of Leukippos, mothered Phoebe and Hilaera by Apollo (Descriptions of Greece 3.16.1, citing the Kypria).
Oenone: First wife of Paris of Troy, nymph; non-con but the text gets weird about it (Ovid's Heroides v.)
By that, I'll let @/littlesparklight explain this, since she has done a LOT more research on the Trojan family/related than I have! Taken from her comments:
When it comes to Oenone and Apollo, there's not much - A lot of modern editions have removed the specific lines that make it clear it's rape. This at least partially because it sits weirdly with the next reference to Apollo being in love with Admetus, as I understand the critics of those lines? (The other critique is "this is gross" but like. That's not a critique lol It's not like Oenone's rape is singular in Ovid!) So those lines are contested in authenticity, but we don't actually know if they've been inserted by another author or not.
I was reading a paper yesterday and reading another thing now, and as far as Ovid is concerned, I'm kind of convinced by the arguments that he did add this Apollo/Oenone assault. And that he probably invented it (though we can't know for sure, of course). But since it's a singular account, it's not like one HAS to acknowledge it.
So all and all, Oenone is in the same boat of Dryope - only attested by Ovid, and nowhere else. So...hey rude anon, here you go, I have Oenone on the list now smh 🙄
Just as an aside for any future askers, if you want me to update this in a timely manner, don't come into my inbox to yell at me. I'll leave it alone out of sheer spite.
If you nicely let me know about someone I missed, or another version of their myth, I'm far more likely to get it on here. It pays to be a, y'know, nice person? Life tip.
Alright. 38 lovers here.
6 Male. 32 Female.
34 are 100% consensual. Creusa and Psamathe are questionable, depending on who's translating/which tradition you go with. Dryope and Oenone are noncon.
Lovers Who Died:
Hyacinthus*: mortal prince. we all know this one, right? Right? one and only true love turned into flower (okay that's my bias speaking but AM I WRONG?) (Plutarch's Life of Numa, 4.5; Philostratus the younger's Imagines; Pseudo-Apollodorus's Bibliotheca 1.3.3; Ovid's Metamorphoses 10.162–219; Bion's Poems 11; and various pieces of art)
Cyparissus: mortal. his DEER DIED and he asked Apollo to let him MOURN FOREVER so he was turned into a cypress tree (Ovid's Metamorphoses X 106ff)
Coronis: mortal princess. cheated on Apollo w/h Ischys, who in Fabulae was killed by Zeus. mother of Asclepius. killed by Artemis. (Pindar's Pythian Odes 3.5; Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece 2.26.6; Hyginus's Fabulae 202; Ovid's Metamorphoses 2.536 and 2.596; Hyginus's De Astronomica 2.40; Isyllus's Hymn to Asclepius 128.37 ff.)
There is another version of Asclepius's birth given by Pausanias in Descriptions of Greece 2.26.1-7, where Coronis exposes him on a mountain and Apollo takes him in.
Adonis: yes, THAT Adonis. he's in this category because. well. he died. rip (Ptolemy Hephaestion's New History Book 5)
Phorbas: Okay so Apollo's lover Phorbas and another Phorbas sometimes get mashed together so this is what I was able to gather.
Plutarch's Life of Numa 4.5 and Hyginus's De Astronomia 2.14.5 cites Phorbas as Apollo's lover. The other Phorbas is said to be a rival to Apollo in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo. Personally, I separate the two because it makes more sense with Phorbas the lover's overall story.
Here it is: The island of Rhodes fell victim to a plague of dragons or serpents, and the oracle said to summon Phorbas for help. He defeated the infestation, and after he died, Apollo asked Zeus to place him in the stars, and so Phorbas became the constellation Serpentarius, also known more widely as Ophiuchus (a man holding a serpent).
FORGET ORION AND HIS ONE-OFF MENTION OF BEING DIANA'S LOVER HERE IS A CONSTELLATION TRAGIC LOVE STORY!!!!!
(*Hyacinthus was resurrected, as celebrated in the Hyacinthia festival in Sparta. Nonnus's Dionysiaca 19.102 and Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece 3.19.4 supports this belief as well.)
5 lovers.
4 Male. 1 Female. All consensual.
Sidenote: QUIT BURYING THE GAYS GREECE!!!!
Love-Interests Who Rejected & Died:
Daphne: do i nEED to say anything? Nymph. turned into tree to escape.
Daphne and Apollo actually go back a bit. Their story was used to explain why the laurel was so sacred to Apollo. It's in Delphi, Branchus planted laurel trees around the temple he built to Apollo, the laurel was even sacred to Apollo's historical forebearer Apulu, an Etruscan god! (I have sources to back this up :3 along with an Essay.)
Apollo & Daphne first originate from Phylarchus, but we do not have any of his work :( It's been lost to history...a moment of silence RIP. He was a contemporary in the 3rd century BC/BCE (first day of 300 BC/BCE and last day of 201 BC/BCE).
He was, however, cited as a source in Parthenius's Erotica Pathemata, written sometime in the 1 century AD/CE (sometime between 66 BC/BCE and the author's death in 14 AD/CE).
Then they show up again in Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece, written between 150 AD/CE and 170 AD/CE.
Hyginus wrote his Fabulae sometime before Ovid's because it's widely criticized to be his earliest work and Ovid wrote his Metamorphoses in 8 AD/CE.
The first two versions are roughly the same, and Ovid's shares similarities with the first in only the ending. Hyginus is basically like Ovid's but without Eros.
So in publication order, it's; Erotica Pathemata, Fabulae, Metamorphoses, then Descrip. of Greece.
In Erotica Pathemata, Daphne is the daughter of Amyclas and is being courted by Leucippus. She is not interested in any sort of romance. Leucippus disguises himself as a girl to get close to her, but his ruse is revealed when Apollo nudges Daphne and her attendants into taking a bath in the river. Leucippus is consequently killed.
Apollo then becomes interested and Daphne runs away, imploring Zeus that "she might be translated away from mortal sight", and is transformed into the laurel tree.
In Fabulae, Daphne's story is a bit more familiar. She's the daughter of Peneus, the river god, and Gaea is the one who transforms her into a laurel tree.
In Metamorphoses, Eros is added to the story and is the reason why Apollo is so enamored and Daphne is so repulsed.
(I would just like to say that in this version, it was 100% nonconsensual for both of them! And I don't mean with rape- Apollo never touches Daphne in any of these version. What I mean here is that Eros maliciously makes Apollo chase down a woman and makes sure Daphne would be repulsed by him. That is noncon behavior there on both sides.)
In Descriptions of Greece 10.7.8, Daphne is the daughter of Ladon and her and Apollo are only connected by way of why the laurel crown is the victory prize of the Pythian Games. However, in Descriptions of Greece 8.20.2-8.20.4, Daphne and Leucippus make an appearance here too, but Apollo is not the reason why they stop to take a swim and his ruse is revealed, resulting in his death.
Castalia: Nymph. turned into spring to escape.
First things first, Castalia was used to explain the existence of the Castalian Spring in Delphi. However, in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, the spring is already there when Apollo was born. So there's that to consider first.
Anyway, to escape Apollo's advances, Castalia transforms herself into a spring. (Lactantius Placidus's On Statius's Thebaid 1.698. This was written between Lactantius's lifespan of c. 350 – c. 400 AD/CE, placing it firmly in Roman times.)
2 Interests.
2 Female.
Love-Interests Who Rejected & Cursed
Cassandra: mortal princess. Received the gift of prophecy from Apollo. Due to a broken oath, she was then cursed. (Aeschylus's Agamemnon)
It is only in Roman-era tellings where Cassandra is cursed for not sleeping with Apollo, and there was no oath made (Hyginus & Pseudo-Apollodorus). In Agamemnon, it was done so because of the broken oath- not the refusing to sleep with Apollo thing.
The version where she gains prophetic abilities by way of a snake licking her ears is not part of Greco-Roman literature, but rather by an American poet.
Nevertheless, even after the curse Cassandra still loved Apollo, and called him "god most dear to me" in Eurpides's play The Trojan Women.
1 Interests.
1 Female.
Love-Interests Who Rejected & Lived
Sinope: mortal. there are two different version of her myth.
In Diodorus Siculus's Library of History 4.72.2 and Corinna's Frag. 654, Apollo "seizes" her and they have a son named Syrus.
In Apollonius's Argonautica 2.946-951 and Valerius Flaccus's Argonautica 5.109, it is Zeus who abducts her, but she gets him to promise her anything and requests to remain a virgin. He obliges. Later, Apollo and the river Halys both try to charm her, but fall for the same trick.
Library of History was written between 60-30 BC/BCE, Apollonius's Argonautica between 300 BC/BCE and 201 BC/BCE, and Valerius Flaccus's Argonautica between 70-96 AD/CE, making Apollonius's version the oldest and Valerius Flaccus's the youngest.
Marpessa: mortal princess, granddaughter of Ares. Idas, son of Poseidon, kidnapped her and Apollo caught up to them. Zeus had Marpessa chose between them, and she chose Idas, reasoning that she would eventually grow old and Apollo would tire of her. (Homer's The Iliad, 9.557 and Apollodorus's Bibliotheca 1.7.8–9)
Bolina: mortal. Apollo approached her and she flung herself off a cliff. He turned her into a nymph to save her life. (Pausanias's Description of Greece 7.23.4)
Ocroe/Okyrrhoe: nymph and daughter of a river god. asked a boatman to take her home after Apollo approached her. Apollo ended up turning the boat to stone and the seafarer into a fish. (Athenaeus's The Deipnosophists 7.283 E [citing The Founding of Naucratis by Apollonius Rhodius]. The Deipnosophists was written in the early 3rd century AD, between 201 AD and 300 AD)
Sibyl of Cumae: mortal seer. promised to date Apollo if she was given longevity as long as the amount of sand in her hand. he did, but she refused him. (Ovid's Metamorphoses 14)
5 Interests. All female.
Okyrrhoe's story is the only one with any iffy stuff, although, when something iffy does occur, the text usually says so outright.
Rejected by Apollo:
Clytie*: Oceanid nymph. turned into a heliotrope to gaze at the sun forever after the rejection.
1 Advance. Female.
(*Clytie's story was originally about her affection for Helios. [Ovid's Metamorphoses 4.192–270; Ovid used Greek sources about the etymology of the names involved, meaning Clytie and Helios go back to Greek times] As Apollo got superimposed over Helios's myths, people have assumed it is he who is the sun god in her myth and not Helios.)
In Conclusion...
64 people total, and 36 of them have Roman-Era roots with (as far as I know!! Don't take my word as gospel truth!!) no relation to Greece except by way of shared mythology.
Here's the list:
Rhoeo
Thero
Hyrie/Thyrie
Dryope
Melia
Aethusa
Acacallis
Chrysothemis
Corycia
Choine
Thyia
Othreis
Stilbe
Syllis
Amphissa
Areia
Queen of Orkhomenos
Hypermnestra
Manto
Parthenope
Phthia
Procleia
Helenus
Hippolytus of Sicyon
Psamathe
Cyparissus
Adonis
Phorbas
Castalia
Sinope
Bolina
Ocroe/Okyrrhoe
Sibyl of Cumae
Rhetia
Euboia
Oenone
Meaning, 56% of the lovers listed on this post are not entirely Greek in origin (AS FAR AS I KNOW-)! That does not mean ofc that you have to ignore them. I, for one, really like the story of Rhoeo, and Manto, and Psamethe- I find their myths sweet (Rhoeo & Manto) and bittersweet (Psamethe).
Let's get to the calculations now, yeah?
63 people total (Not Including Clytie, because really, she doesn't count lol)
51 Women (81%). 12 Men (19%).
19% were Immortal
70% Lived (Lovers & Cursed & Rejected)
11% Died (Lovers & Rejected)
in that 11%, one was apotheosized - Hyacinthus.
Meaning 9% died permanently, while 2% were resurrected.
2% were Cursed
0% were Rejected by him, because Clytie doesn't count lol
Additionally, I left off five male lovers and two female lovers - Atymnius, Leucates, Cinyras, Erginus, Leukippos, Hecate, & Acantha.
Atymnius has no references to being Apollo's lover, only to Zeus's son Sarpedon. (Wikipedia why do you even have him listed? You need sources smh)
Leucates is another male "lover" left off the rack - apparently he jumped off a cliff to avoid Apollo, but I couldn't find any mythological text to account for it- and no, OSP's wiki page is not a reliable source. There is a cliff named similarly to him where Aphrodite went (by Apollo's advice) to rid herself of her longing for Adonis after his death. Also Zeus uses it to rid himself of his love for Hera before he...well, commits adultery again. 🤷
Cinyras was a priest of Aphrodite on the island of Cyprus. He was also the island's king. Pindar calls him "beloved of Apollo" in his Pythian Ode. However, looking further into Cinyras's life throws a bit of a wrench into it. He's also cited to be a challenger to Apollo's skill, and either Apollo or Mars (Ares) kills him for his hubris.
(honestly, I kinda like the idea that Mars went into Big Brother Mode)
I did consider leaving him on the list, since technically you could argue it was a romance-gone-bad, but among every other source Cinyras is mentioned in, Pindar's the only one who puts a romantic label on him and Apollo. Pindar out here shipping his fav god with everyone lmao one of us one of us one of us-
Plus, Cinyras been described as a son of Apollo too, and I personally like that more lol But hey! Include him if you'd like!
Erginus now I only put on here because I saw a tumblr post saying he was a lover of Apollo, but after consulting fellow nerds on the matter we concluded that there is (very likely) no records indicating such. Hence his placement here to curb potential misinformation <3
Leukippos is here for much the same reasons as Erginus. Full disclosure here from fellow nerds but long story short a few of his daughters are said to be Apollo’s by way of his wife, who is on this list (Philodice in the Lived section!)
Hecate, the goddess of magic and crossroads, is said to be the mother of Scylla (like, the sea-monster) by Apollo, but Scylla's parentage is one of those "no specific parents" ones, so I left her off the list.
Acantha has absolutely no classical references. There's a plant like her name, but she's made-up, so she doesn't count. *stink-eyes the guy who invented her and claimed his “sources” were reliable when they really aren’t*
(Of course, I could be wrong about any of these. Again, I'm not an expert.)
With all this in mind, this means Apollo's love life actually isn't as tragic as media portrays it, and he isn't as bad as Zeus or Poseidon in the nonconsensual area.
Does he still have those kinds of myths? Yes; Dryope and Oenone are plain text, while Psamathe and Creusa depends on the version/translator. We covered Psamathe earlier, and just to add a but more about Creusa;
Ion is given different parentage in the Bibliotheca, which yes, came much after Ion, however Xuthus was traditionally considered to be Ion's father rather than Apollo. This means there was probably a different oral tradition on Ion's parentage that just wasn't written down as early as Euripides's was- in fact, it may even just be an invention of Euripides's.
(and honestly Apollo's characterization in Ion just doesn't quite match up with the rest of his appearances in the wider myths (in my opinion, at least))
So that leaves us with just Dryope, who comes from Ovid, a Roman poet, and Antoninus Liberalis, a late Greek one, and Oenone, also from Ovid.
Now I'm not saying we should throw them out because of Ovid's whole "wrote the gods even more terribly to criticize Augustus" thing, but it is something to keep in mind. Political mechanics have been used to change myths before, and this is certainly one example of it.
Additionally, I have seen many people discard Dionysus's rapes in the Dionysiaca because of how late it was written, so this one can be given similar treatment if one choses too because of just how late Ovid and Antoninus Liberalis's work was.
You can, in fact, pick and chose if you wish, especially if it'll increase your enjoyment of literature. That's certainly what I do :)
So overall, I'd say Apollo has a rather clean relationship past. He's doing pretty damn good.
Also, I think we should all take note that even with noncon myths, it should not reflect on the actual god. The Ancient Greeks did not see the myths as "canon" to their gods- in fact, some were not happy with the myths showing the gods in such a light.
That's something else to keep in mind. The gods of the myths are not the gods of Greece, and are more like parables or fables for the Ancient Greeks I'd say. Lessons on morality and such, and of course, warnings against hubris and the like.
This was quite the journey, and I really hope you all enjoyed reading and learning with me! This really makes me wonder- if Apollo's love life is this good, I wonder how misinformed we are on everyone else's? I have no plans on doing Zeus or Poseidon or anyone else (not for a LONG time lol, this took a lot of effort and research!), but if anyone has any idea, or gets inspired to do something like this for any other god, please tag me!! I'd love to see it! :D
And since this was on a previous reblog, here be a meme from a while ago:
[ID: Me Explaining Me. On the left is a girl with her hands up, fingers pinched together, like she's intensely explaining something. The text over her says "Me giving a detailed diatribe about Apollo's love life and how modern media has done him and his lovers dirty". On the right is the girl's mother, wrapped up to her chin in a blanket, with a look on her face that screams "absolutely done with this shit". The Mother is labeled "My family". /End ID]
suffers in I'm the only mythology nerd in the family
Apollo trying to heal his lovers and children past the point of their death. Apollo resting glowing fingers on their blood-slick temples and kissing their charred flesh to knit the skin back together. Even though all hope is lost, even though the god of healing should be the first to recognise the signs of death.
Thanatos no longer comes to collect the archer god’s dead. Hermes has to crouch down to where his brother cowers over the corpse and give him words of comfort and dry his tears and pry his hands away from the limp body. He promises that he will bring his darlings to Elysium and that they will be fine and free of pain. And still every time his big brother cries and begs for him to let their soul remain in the body he can hold, begs Hermes to finally let him cross the border to the underworld himself. And every time Hermes listens and embraces him and let’s Apollo bury his face in the crook of his neck knowing exactly that he won’t bring his loves back and would never let his beloved brother leave this earth.
Sacille belongs to the Teleri and met Maglor at some point during his music studies at Swan Harbors. She's not much younger than him, and a spark immediately ran between them. The prince sought her hand for some time, because by nature, Sacille is a rather quiet and shy elf, it was difficult for her to accept courtship from such an elf as Makalaure Kanafinwe, the son of Feanor, despite her growing sympathy for him.
Eventually they got married and Maglor moved to live with her in Alqualondae, which became a reason for Feanor's displeasure. But they kept in touch—especially since Kano has six brothers—and visited each other. And then the couple had a child, who was named Earion, from ear — the sea and ion — the son, so it turned out to be the "Son of the Sea". He was born a little later than Celebrimbor (and they grew up together because their mothers are childhood best friends)☺️
However, Sacille did not follow Maglor to Belleriand. It is possible that she did not know about what had happened, because she could not be with her husband at that moment, but for work (she is mainly a historian and could well teach young elves) she left the Harbors and returned only after the Exodus of the Noldor. The incident came as a great shock to her and tormented her for many years, including because Maglor took their young son with him and did not tell her anything. But for some reason she didn't follow and stayed in Valinor.
But everything ended happily and they reunited after Kano's death, around the beginning of the Second Age. Of course, they might have suffered more if Maglor had roamed the shores of Middle-earth before the Fourth Age, but they are too precious, so I was merciful to their fate.
translator translated it for me so sorry for mistakes and wrong place names!🙏
I like that he looks soft and cute while he's literally The Enemy but he should look like that to seduce my Tyelpe in Eregion and then marry him and have kids.
