#oracle of Apollo

[historypaintings]

Alexander Consulting the Oracle of Apollo

Artist: Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée (French, 1725–1805)

Date: 1789

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Private Collection

Description

Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BCE), after becoming king of the Macedonians, but before launching his famous invasion of the Persian Empire, decided to stop by the Oracle at Delphi for a prophecy about his future. Alexander’s visit to Delphi sparked a curious legend, and the odd story was later recorded by the prolific biographer, Plutarch (c. 50-120). As the story goes, Alexander had the bad luck of arriving at Delphi on a day when the Oracle was closed due to religious law and customs. The young king, the legend tells, was such an impetuous and headstrong person that, rather than wait a day or two for the Oracle site to resume its operations, Alexander instead barged into the complex and forcefully compelled the priestess to deliver a divine message, despite the religious laws forbidding her from carrying out her duties on that day. On this odd episode, Plutarch wrote:

“[Alexander] visited Delphi because he wished to consult the oracle of Apollo about the expedition against the Persians. It so happened that he arrived on one of those days which are called inauspicious, when it is forbidden for the oracle to deliver a reply. In spite of this he first sent for the prophetess, and when she refused to officiate and explained that the law forbade her to do so, he went up himself and tried to drag her by force to the shrine. At last, as if overcome by his persistence, she exclaimed, ‘You are invincible, my son!’ and when Alexander heard this, he declared that he wanted no other prophecy…” (Plutarch, Parallel Lives, Life of Alexander, chapter 13).

Such is the scene that Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée re-creates in his painting, featured above. It shows Alexander the Great dragging a priestess, known as a Pythia, towards a statue of Delphi’s patron god, Apollo. The scene likely is set right around the time when the priestess complained that pushy Alexander was invincible, or perhaps incorrigible. Whatever really occurred at Delphi during Alexander’s visit, the king subsequently invaded the Persian Empire with confidence in 334 BCE, beginning his famous series of campaigns that took him from the Middle East to the borderlands of India.

[liliblogs26]

Jobs for demigods

Children of Apollo

Actor

Director

Photographer

Content creator

Influencer

Painter

Sculpture

Dancer

Singer

Drawing

Animator

Voice actor

Magician

Poet

Historian

Theater kid

Comedians

Athletes

Archer

Sniper

Hit man

Doctor of all kinds

Electrician

Therapist

Marigage counselor

Judge

Writer

Lie detector for police

astronomy, astrology, and space are also under Apollo’s influence so….

Astronaut

Tarot card reader

Those influencer that only post about Astronomy

Science teacher

Rocket designer

Rocket scientist

Theoretical physicist

Sheldon

Telescope engineer

[theoi-crow]

"Damn granny, what that mouth do?"

-Apollo interviewing his next Pythia...

(Fun fact: traditionally only women over the age of 50 were eligible to be the oracle of Delphi)

[starrrrr-dreeeeam]

he really said

[wickedweasly]

DID RICK JUST CALL JASON THE SON OF JUNO?!?!

Oh my poor heart-

They way this ties perfectly with the fact that it was Hera/Juno who mourned him and not his own father….

He really was her boy🥹

[imafuckinstar]

i could never be a demigod because quests are literally only for morning people. like why do i have to wake up at the ass crack of dawn just to head to my imminent death with a side of eternal damnation. waking up that early is already punishment enough for paying the debt of my half-godly existence.

[minlicious]

“i asked chatgpt-“ well i asked cassandra of troy, because i prefer to be told the untruth by beautiful women

[hychlorions]

saw another klapollo vision. falling asleep with a distance between them but they're still reaching out to each other.... augh

[leelight]

Small ToA animatic(??)

I used some clips from the auidobooks in this also it didn't let me post this on tiktok ahhhh😭😭

[princessofghosts-posts]

I think we as individuals moved on too fast from this.

Pag 67,Chapter 10,of the Hidden Oracle. Basically when Apollo went to talk to Chiron,with Will and Meg,and met Nico before entering the Big House.

Apollo got scared of Nico. We are talking about a god –the Sun God that brought him and his sister to CHB– that turned mortal not even 24h ago. Also,I love how the first thing Nico tells him,after years of not seeing him,is literally "You are probably going to die",but without making it oblivious.

And "Nico di Angelo's father" ? Apollo personally knows Hades and knows what he is capable of,he had knew so for centuries,but here he address him with his son's connection to him. Apollo ain't scared of Hades because he is Hades,he is scared of Hades because he is Nico's dad and in that moment he was scared of Nico.

Nico had one line with his introduction (before his attention shifted on Will for the rest of the book-) and was still able to put fear in a newly-turned-human-God that he personally met years ago. We need to talk more about this.

[sevsalio]

Silly 'The Hidden Oracle' sketchs

Day 1

[lady-menrva]

(Lester is my platonic darling...)

[liliblogs26]

Rachel Elisabeth Dare is a very artistic person, she likes very soothing music.

Very poetic.

And yes, as an oracle she is a maiden. Thus, promised yourself to Apollo instead of pursuing love and men. Hence, no sex life.

However, I feel like Rachel is one of those people who sees sex as a form of art even if she is in a sexual person and she doesn’t partake in the activity. She thinks it’s artistic..

She feels like it’s a necessary aspect to have in media such as music and cinematography and literature because it’s a necessary part of human life, even if it’s not a part of her life.

I mean the god she devoted her entire life to is one of the most sexual positive beings in the world.

You can’t be Apollo’s servant, and be a slut shamer and a prude. No, you have to acknowledge sex as a necessary part of human life even if it’s not a part of your personal life.

I feel like some of the music she listens to is more sensual, but it’s not it’s also soothing. It’s calm. It can be background music. It can be poetic. It is art. it’s not vulgar.

[o1iveangel]

dionysus and apollo!

i call this mythology studying

close ups under the cut 🫶

[arisketchart]

No words needed…

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

one of the reasons why i love ToA so much is the little bits and pieces of the gods we get to see.

so i guess this is really more of a 'this is why i love the gods so much' rather than my usual 'this is why i love ToA' post lmao

but fr, the gods are just sooooo much more fleshed out in ToA. they're more complex, and have these layers to them that pjo and hoo just Did Not convey (and really, only conveyed those things post publication of ToA, which came with the tools on how to decode the gods and read between the lines).

and i'm not even talking about Apollo here. he is by far the most fleshed out god we have because he's the pov character, but i also mean all 12 of the other olympians - they're just so juicy!!

like okay, sure, in pjo and hoo we get glimpses that Dionysus may care more than he lets on, but ToA CONFIRMS this, but not in an 'in your face' way - but in the 'Dionysus picks at Apollo like a little brother would' way, and in that FIRST interaction between Apollo and Dionysus, we can SEE what their relationship was like!!

Hermes is another VERY layered god, ESPECIALLY with pjo's context. but that context ONLY gains its own importance BECAUSE of the story ToA gives us - we would NOT have 'resigned to fate' Hermes without it. or embittered at his favorite brother Hermes. we love this Hermes eheheheheheheh

Artemis also gains more character, and is no longer just the stoic cool badass #Girlboss she's largely presented as - she's scared, she fears for Apollo, so much so she SPLITS. she comes RUNNING to help him in TTT as soon as she could, giving her a softer side, while simultaneously expands on her previous appearances and allowing us to see how she is unconsciously enabling the abuse Apollo's experienced. LAYERS !! !! !!

DEMETER. OOOHHH DEMETER ILY, IN MYTHOLOGY AND THE RRVERSE. BUT FOR COMPLETELY DIFFERENT REASONS LMAO

we can infer Demeter has basically shot herself in the foot by obsessing so much over Persephone, where she NEGLETS her other kids (ex: Lityerses, Meg). myth Demeter would NEVER but rrverse Demeter is still a fav BECAUSE of how flawed she is.

ARESSSSS do i even need to say anything. we KNOW Ares and Apollo are bros because of how often Apollo takes pot-shots at him in his dialogue LMAO true brother behavior

Hades is a chill uncle with Apollo in particular. i mean. *gestures* he used to purposefully mess up Apollo's aim when shooting for no reason. need i say more?

looking back i'm also a little intrigued by how little Poseidon was mentioned - perhaps lending credence to the idea that he and Apollo grew apart over the centuries?

also Hestia's position as the goddess of the hearth and home calls into question how passive she is on olympus BECAUSE of the shitshow it's become!! she defends it!! what has caused the hearth and home, the FIRSTBORN OF KRONOS, of the ENTIRE PANTHEON to be so stagnant in the face of this toxic cycle? the people want to know and so do i.

Hephaestus is trickier to pin down for me because he has little mention, but there's one SPECIFIC one that has stuck in my brain and its the "apollo missed an entire decade watching Hephaestus's newton's cradle INSIDE HIS OFFICE"

what was apollo doing in his office. and why did hephaestus - notorious introvert - let him stay in there. these are the questions we are all dying to know.

ATHENAAAAAAA !! !! !! !! !! that nod she gives apollo at the end. her bet on his SUCCESS. need i say more? she's bros with him trust <3 add in the mythology and it gets SPICY

Aphrodite is arguably a tricky one to pin down too, and honestly we as a fandom have probably taken more from the mythos to pin down her character than with the others, but she's sooooo interesting too!! the eldest olympian. powerful goddess. extremely cunning and ruthless. and yet she's seen as airheaded and vain by practically everyone.

makes you wonder who else is like that. *quick glance at our favorite god* i dunno who that could be. *whistles innocently*

and do i need to say anything about Zeus? about the tragedy of him falling into the cycle he was meant to break? ABOUT THE TRAGEDY OF HOW HE DEF WANTED TO BE A FATHER BUT HIS PARANOIA GOT THE BETTER OF HIM UNTIL HE NO LONGER WAS ONE??

*seizes you by the shoulders* HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BE NORMAL ABOUT THIS. HOW.

and ofc. one of my FAVORITE gods...Hera. oh, ho ho Hera. you do NOT deserve the hate you get <3 okay maybe a bit of irritation is warranted because you do pull off risky things in hoo but we stan a goddess who takes charge in this house.

YOU CAN'T CONVINCE ME SHE'S GONNA BE - well, nicer? is that the right word? - BETTER WITH APOLLO POST-TOA. AFTER SEEING EVERYTHING HE SUFFERED? AFTER SEEING HIM SHED THE MASK? AFTER JASON GRACE?

*pounds mercilessly on the table* I WILL NEVER NOT BE ANNOYING ABOUT THEM I LOVE THEM ALL INCLUDING THE BITS OF CHARACTER FROM THE MINOR GODS WE GET TOO!!