Page:Greek and Roman Mythology.djvu/53

 THE GREEK GODS 39 all that is beautiful and good, and was likewise the chief representative of good morals and civil order. Aside from his epithets, Lycius (' bright '), Phoebus (' shining '), Chrysocomas (' golden-haired '), and Epopsios (' over- seeing '), and his worship as guide of the wanderer, and protector of navigation (A. Agyleus, and Delphmios ; cf. 75), his original significance is indicated, first, by the circumstance that all his festivals occurred in the warm season. On the 7th day of Thargelion (May- June) his birthday was celebrated, especially in Delos ; for, pursued by the hate of the jealous Hera, his mother Leto, after long wandering, finally found a refuge upon this rocky island, which up to that time had been itself without a fixed abode, driven about over the waves ; and there she bore the twins, Apollo and Artemis. In some localities, particularly at Delphi, the next most important place of the worship of Apollo, there was celebrated at about the same time the festival of his return from the land of the Hyperborei', a mythical realm of eternal light and blessed peace, which in later times was supposed to be in the far north ; while in other places it was believed that Apollo spent the winter months in Ethiopia or Lycia, i.e. in the southern land of light. 50. Immediately after his birth he is threatened by the hostile powers of winter and darkness; yet the young god victoriously subdues them. This is the sig- nificance of the story of his killing the dragon Python or Delphyne, the victory which was celebrated by the festival of the Pythian games. Since the growth of vegetation in the pastures and cultivated fields depends upon the sun, Apollo becomes the god of pastures (Nomios) and protector of cattle breeding ; therefore in Sparta and