A woman who undergoes artificial insemination against the wishes of her husband is the unlikely heroine of `` A Question Of Adultery '', yesterday's new British import at the Apollo.

Apollo ( Attic, Ionic, and Homeric Greek:, Apollōn ( gen .: ); Doric:, Apellōn ; Arcadocypriot:, Apeilōn ; Aeolic:, Aploun ; ) is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in ancient Greek and Roman religion, Greek and Roman mythology, and Greco – Roman Neopaganism.

Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu.

The etymology of Apollo is uncertain.

The function of Apollo as a " healer " is connected with Paean ( Παιών-Παιήων ), the physician of the Gods in the Iliad, who seems to come from a more primitive religion.

In the Iliad, Apollo is the healer under the gods, but he is also the bringer of disease and death with his arrows, similar to the function of the terrible Vedic god of disease Rudra.

A female dragon named Delphyne ( δελφύς: womb ), who is obviously connected with Delphi and Apollo Delphinios, and a male serpent Typhon ( τύφειν: smoke ), the adversary of Zeus in the Titanomachy, who the narrators confused with Python.

At Eretria the identity of an excavated 7th and 6th century temple to Apollo Daphnephoros, " Apollo, laurel-bearer ", or " carrying off Daphne ", a " place where the citizens are to take the oath ", is identified in inscriptions.

Apollo is said to be filled with grief: out of Hyacinthus ' blood, Apollo created a flower named after him as a memorial to his death, and his tears stained the flower petals with άί άί, meaning alas.

Apollo gives an order through the Oracle at Delphi that Agamemnon's son, Orestes, is to kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, her lover.

Apollo and the Furies argue about whether the matricide was justified ; Apollo holds that the bond of marriage is sacred and Orestes was avenging his father, whereas the Erinyes say that the bond of blood between mother and son is more meaningful than the bond of marriage.

Another contender for the birthplace of Apollo is the Cretan islands of Paximadia.

Another variation is that Apollo played his instrument ( the lyre ) upside down.

Apollo is often associated with the Golden Mean.

Apollo is a common theme in Greek and Roman art and also in the art of the Renaissance.

Ranking from the very few bronzes survived to us is the masterpiece bronze Piraeus Apollo.

In the pediment of the temple of Zeus in Olympia, the single figure of Apollo is dominating the scene.

Apollo as a handsome beardless young man, is often depicted with a kithara ( as Apollo Citharoedus ) or bow in his hand, or reclining on a tree ( the Apollo Lykeios and Apollo Sauroctonos types ).

Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague.

Apollo was called Ismenius ( ; Ἰσμηνιός, Ismēnios, literally " of Ismenus ") after Ismenus, the son of Amphion and Niobe, whom he struck with an arrow.

Such songs were originally addressed to Apollo, and afterwards to other gods: to Dionysus, to Apollo Helios, to Apollo's son Asclepius the healer.

Was believed to have been founded by Branchus, son or lover of Apollo.

* In Oropus, north of Athens, the oracle Amphiaraus, was said to be the son of Apollo ; Oropus also had a sacred spring.

* in Labadea, east of Delphi, Trophonius, another son of Apollo, killed his brother and fled to the cave where he was also afterwards consulted as an oracle

When Zeus struck down Apollo's son Asclepius with a lightning bolt for resurrecting Hippolytus from the dead ( transgressing Themis by stealing Hades's subjects ), Apollo in revenge killed the Cyclopes, who had fashioned the bolt for Zeus.

By Cyrene, Apollo had a son named Aristaeus, who became the patron god of cattle, fruit trees, hunting, husbandry and bee-keeping.

Hecuba, was the wife of King Priam of Troy, and Apollo had a son with her named Troilus.

* Branchus ( alternately, a son of Apollo )

Apollo complained to Maia that her son had stolen his cattle, but Hermes had already replaced himself in the blankets she had wrapped him in, so Maia refused to believe Apollo's claim.

Apollo also had a lyre-playing contest with Cinyras, his son, who committed suicide when he lost.

In the time of Augustus, who considered himself under the special protection of Apollo and was even said to be his son, his worship developed and he became one of the chief gods of Rome.

This Centaurus was either himself the son of Ixion and Nephele ( inserting an additional generation ) or of Apollo and Stilbe, daughter of the river god Peneus.

According to the Homeric-hymn to the Pythian, Apollo shot his first arrow as an infant which effectively slew the serpent Pytho, the son of Gaia, who guarded the spot.

To atone the murder of Gaia's son, Apollo was forced to fly and spend eight years in menial service before he could return forgiven.

The Etruscans coming from northern Anatolia also worshipped Apollo, and it may be that he was originally identical with Mesopotamian Aplu, an Akkadian title meaning " son ", originally given to the plague God Nergal, son of Enlil.

When Orestes, their son, reached manhood, he was commanded by one of Apollo ’ s oracles to avenge his father ‘ s murder at his mother ’ s hand.

Zeus made her choose between them, and she chose Idas on the grounds that Apollo, being immortal, would tire of her when she grew old.

Zeus intervened and, claiming to have seen the events, sided with Apollo.

In the Iliad when Zeus sends Apollo to revive the wounded Hector of Troy, Apollo, holding the aegis, charges the Achaeans, pushing them back to their ships drawn up on the shore.

In the classical period of Greek mythology, Artemis ( Greek: ( nominative ), ( genitive ) ) was often described as the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo.

All accounts agree, however, that she was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and that she was the twin sister of Apollo.

A poem of Callimachus to the goddess " who amuses herself on mountains with archery " imagines some charming vignettes: according to Callimachus, at three years old, Artemis, while sitting on the knee of her father, Zeus, asked him to grant her six wishes: to remain always a virgin ; to have many names to set her apart from her brother Apollo ; to be the Phaesporia or Light Bringer ; to have a bow and arrow and a knee-length tunic so that she could hunt ; to have sixty " daughters of Okeanos ", all nine years of age, to be her choir ; and for twenty Amnisides Nymphs as handmaidens to watch her dogs and bow while she rested.

Zeus appeared to her disguised as Artemis, or in some stories Apollo, gained her confidence, then took advantage of her ( or raped her, according to Ovid ).

Insignia are mainly heads of mythological characters or depictions of mythological beasts arranged in a symbolic motif: Apollo, Zeus, Janus, Athena, Hermes, griffin, gorgon, sphinx, hippocamp, bull, snake, eagle, or other creatures who had symbolic significance.

According to the Homeric Hymn III to Delian Apollo, Hera detained Eileithyia to already prevent Leto from going into labor with Artemis and Apollo, since the father was Zeus.

In the Olympian scheme, Zeus is father of her twins, Apollo and Artemis, the Letoides, which Leto conceived after her hidden beauty accidentally caught the eyes of Zeus.

" Latona for her intrigue with Zeus was hunted by Hera over the whole earth, till she came to Delos and brought forth first Artemis, by the help of whose midwifery she afterwards gave birth to Apollo.

The most important oracles of Greek antiquity were Pythia, priestess to Apollo at Delphi, and the oracle of Dione and Zeus at Dodona in Epirus.

Poseidon and Apollo, having offended Zeus by their rebellion in Hera's scheme, were temporarily stripped of their divine authority and sent to serve King Laomedon of Troy.

Hypotheses have been proposed regarding its relationship with the Muses, the gods Athena, Poseidon, Zeus, Apollo, and the hero Perseus.

The most important deities were: Zeus, the supreme god and ruler of the sky ; Hera, his wife and goddess of marriage ; Athena, goddess of wisdom ; Poseidon, god of the sea ; Demeter, goddess of the earth ; Apollo, god of the sun, law, reason, music and poetry ; Artemis, goddess of the moon, the hunt and the wilderness ; Aphrodite, goddess of love ; Ares, God of war ; Hermes, god of commerce and medicine, and Hephaestus, god of fire and metalwork.

According to Alcestis by Euripides, Apollo killed the Cyclopes, in retaliation for Asclepius's murder at the hands of Zeus.

Apollo is a prime example, although Zeus freed him.