Apollo
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Apollo. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a-pol'lo, in mythology, the son of Zeus and Leto. He was one of the twelve great gods of Greece, the god of the sun, of poetry, prophecy, and of medicine. With his twin sister, Artemis, he was born on the island of Delos. Next to Zeus, Apollo was the most important of the gods of Olympus. When five days old he throttled the Python. With his father Zeus he fought the Titans and the Giants and destroyed the Cyclops. He aided Poseidon in building the walls of Troy, and afterward sent a pestilence on the city because he was cheated out of his pay. There are many points of similarity between Apollo of the Greeks and the sun-god of the Egyptians. The arrows of Apollo correspond to the beams of the sun. His smile was essential to the prosperity of the herdsmen and the tillers of the field. People dying without sickness were thought to be struck by the darts of Apollo. In the worship of Apollo at Thebes, the peasants are said to have thrust wooden pegs into apples, to represent legs and horns, and to have offered these as an inexpensive substitute for sheep. A temple of Apollo at Delphi in Greece was a noted place of resort. His priests were supposed to be entrusted by him with information as to the future. In art Apollo is represented as youthful, vigorous, and graceful, carrying variously a bow, a quiver, a shepherd's crook, a swan, an olive branch, or a tripod. He is represented frequently as playing while the Muses dance. The most famous statue of Apollo is that called the Belvidere, preserved in the Vatican Palace at Rome. It represents him just after his victory over the serpent, Python, the terror of the people of Parnassus. In his Childe Harold Byron thus describes this statue: The Lord of the unerring bow, The god of life, and poetry, and light, The Sun, in human limbs arrayed, and brow All radiant from his triumphs in the fight. The shaft has just been shot; the arrow bright With an immortal's vengeance; in his eye And nostril, beautiful disdain, and might, And majesty flash their full lightnings by, Developing in that one glance the Deity. See Delphi ; Olympus 2026 Editor's Note: Apollo 's greatest modern monument is off the earth: NASA named its Moon-landing program Apollo, and in 1969 Apollo 11 carried the first humans to the lunar surface. The god of light and reason also gave philosophy the 'Apollonian' — order and restraint — set against the wild 'Dionysian.' (Ed: BR 2026-07-03)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Leto (Latona), who being persecuted by the jealousy of Hera (Juno), after tedious wanderings and nine days' labor was delivered to him and his twin sister, Artemis (Diana), on the island of Delos. THE APOLLO BELVEDERE IN THE VATICAN, ROME Skilled in the use of the bow, he slew the serpent Python on the fifth day after his birth; afterward, with his sister Artemis, he killed the children of Niobe. He aided Zeus in the war with the Titans and the giants. He destroyed the Cyclopedes, because they forged the thunderbolts with which Zeus killed his son and favorite, Asklepios (Esculapius). According to some traditions he invented the lyre, though this is generally ascribed to Hermes (Mercury). Apollo was originally the sun-god; and though in Homer he appears distinct from Helios (the sun), yet his real nature is hinted at even here by the epithet Phœbus, that is, the radiant or beaming. In later times the view was almost universal that Apollo and Helios were identical. From being the god of light and purity in a physical sense he gradually became the god of moral and spiritual light and purity, the source of all intelectual, social, and political progress. He thus came to be regarded as the god of song and prophecy, the god that wards off and heals bodily suffering and disease, the institutor and guardian of civil and political order, and the founder of cities. His worship was introduced at Rome at an early period, probably in the time of the Tarquins. Among the ancient statues of Apollo that have come down to us, the most remarkable is the one called the Apollo Belvedere, from the Belvedere gallery in the Vatican at Rome. This statue was found in the ruins of Antium in 1503, and was purchased by Pope Julius II. It is now supposed to be a copy of a Greek statue of the 3d century B. c., and dates probably from the reign of Nero.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
Son of Jupiter and Latona ; called also Phoebus. He was the god of the fine arts and the reputed originator of music, poetry, and eloquence. He had received from Jupiter the power of knowing futurity, and his oracles were in repute everywhere. As soon as he was born he destroyed with his arrows the serpent Python , which Juno had sent to persecute Latona; hence he was called Pythius. He was not the inventor of the lyre, as some have supposed, but it was given to him by Mercury, who received in return the famous caduceus. He received the surnames of Phoebus, Delius, Cynthius, Paean, Delphicus, etc. He is in sculpture generally represented as a handsome young man with a bow in his hand, from which an arrow has just been discharged.