The Iliad Apollo Quotes

Down he strode from Olympus’ peaks, storming at heart
with his bow and hooded quiver slung across his shoulders…
First he went for the mules and circling dogs but then,
launching a piercing shaft at the men themselves,
he cut them down in droves.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 1, lines 51-59. Apollo, a god of healing, sends a plague to the Greek camp which kills many soldiers. He has been angered by Agamemnon’s offense to Apollo’s priest Chryses in refusing a ransom to free the priest’s daughter Chryseis.

Calchas rose among them,
Thestor’s son, the clearest by far of all the seers
who scan the flight of birds. He knew all things that are,
all things that are past and all that are to come,
the seer who had led the Argive ships to Troy
with the second sight that god Apollo gave him.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 1, lines 79-84. Calchas is a very valued seer in the Greek army who watches birds and other signs of the will of the gods that controls the fate of humans. He guides the Argive ships to Troy and makes a major contribution to the war effort. The god Apollo has blessed him with second sight.

Diomedes, loosing his war cry, charged Aeneas –
though what he saw was lord Apollo himself,
guarding, spreading his arms above the fighter,
but even before the mighty god he would not flinch.
Tydides reared and hurled himself again and again,
trying to kill Aeneas, strip his famous armor.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 496-501. Here the fearless Diomedes heroically takes the gods and Aeneas – Apollo is protecting the Trojan fighter. Again and again Diomedes hurls himself at Aeneas, trying to kill him, unflinching before the mighty archer god.

Father Zeus, is there a man on the whole wide earth
who still informs the gods of all his plans, his schemes?
Don’t you see? Look there – the long-haired Achaeans
have flung that rampart up against their ships,
around it they have dug an enormous deep trench
and never offered the gods a hundred splendid bulls,
but its fame will spread as far as the light of dawn!
And men will forget those ramparts I and Apollo
reared for Troy in the old days –
for the hero Laomedon – we broke our backs with labor.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 7, lines 516-525. Poseidon complains bitterly to Zeus that the Greeks have built their trench and walls to fortify their ships without making the due sacrifice of a hundred bulls to him. Though he appears more concerned that the fortifications will earn some kind of fame and immortality, while his and Apollo’s ramparts for Troy will be forgotten. Even gods are cursed with fragile egos, it seems!

And let Apollo drive Prince Hector back to battle,
breathe power back in his lungs, make him forget
the pains that rack his heart. Let him whip the Achaeans
in headlong panic rout and roll them back once more,
tumbling back on the oar-swept ships of Peleus’ son Achilles.
And he, he will launch his comrade Patroclus into action
and glorious Hector will cut him down with a spear
in front of Troy, once Patroclus has slaughtered
whole battalions of strong young fighting men
and among them all, my shining son Sarpedon.
But then – enraged for Patroclus –
brilliant Achilles will bring Prince Hector down.
And then, from that day on, I’ll turn the tide of war:
back the fighting goes, no stopping it, ever, all the way.
till Achaean armies seize the beetling heights of Troy
through Athena’s grand design.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 15, lines 75-90. Zeus is speaking to his wife Hera, laying out the plan for the events to come. There is not much room for free will here, with each character’s fate predetermined and controlled by the gods. Apollo will drive Hector back to battle, this will launch Patroclus into action, Hector will slay him with a spear, an enraged Achilles will take Hector down, Zeus will turn the tide of war and the Greeks will seize Troy through Athena’s grand plan. A great deal of things are foreshadowed here.

As a stallion full-fed at the manger, stalled too long,
breaking free of his tether gallops down the plain,
out for his favorite plunge in a river’s cool currents,
thundering in his pride – his head flung back, his mane
streaming over his shoulders, sure and sleek in his glory.
knees racing him on to the fields and stallion-haunts he loves –
so Hector hurtled on, his legs driving, his knees pumping,
spurring his reinsmen once he heard the god’s command.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 15, lines 313-320. We are told in one of Homer’s brilliant extended similes that Hector, filled with new courage and strength by Apollo, is like a fully-fed stallion breaking free of his tether and charging with pride down the plain. So Hector rejoins the ranks.

Look – a genuine miracle right before my eyes!
Hector’s escaped again, he’s risen from the dead!
And just as each of us hoped with all his heart
he’d dropped and died at the hands of giant Ajax.
But again some god swoops down and saves this Hector –
and hasn’t he wiped out enough of us already?
Now he’ll make more slaughter, well I know.
He’d never be at the front, smashing our lines
unless Old Thunder, Zeus, had put him on his feet.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 15, lines 339-347. The Greek Thoas is the first to comment when Hector, injured by a boulder, makes a remarkable recovery as if "risen from the dead" – he thought he was going to die. But Apollo filled Hector with new strength and he charges the Greeks with new vigor.

Routed like herds of cattle or big flocks of sheep
when two wild beasts stampede them away in terror,
suddenly pouncing down in their midst-pitch darkness,
the shepherd off and gone – so the defenseless Argives
panicked, routed. Apollo hurled fear in their hearts
and handed Hector and all his Trojans instant glory.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 15, lines 382-387. The Achaeans run away from Trojan leader Hector and Apollo, who puts fear into the Greeks’ hearts and hands instant glory to Hector. An epic simile compares the scene to herds of panicked cattle or flocks of sheep being routed by two wild beasts.

Patroclus never saw him coming,
moving across the deadly rout, shrouded in thick mist
and on he came against him and looming up behind him now –
slammed his broad shoulders and back with the god’s flat hand
and his eyes spun as Apollo knocked the helmet off his head
and under his horses’ hoofs it tumbled, clattering on
with its four forged horns and its hollow blank eyes
and its plumes were all smeared in the bloody dust.
Forbidden before this to defile its crest in dust,
it guarded the head and handsome brow of a god,
a man like a god, Achilles. But now the Father
gave it over to Hector to guard his head in war
since Hector’s death was closing on him quickly.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 16, lines 917-929. Apollo knocks Achilles’s helmet off Patroclus and Zeus gives it to Hector to protect his head, as Hector’s death is said to be closing on him quickly. This foreshadows that Hector has not long to live, for while he escapes immediate death at the hands of Patroclus, he will soon be killed by Achilles in revenge for his friend’s slaying.

Patroclus though – the spear in his grip was shattered,
the whole of its rugged bronze-shod shadow-casting length
and his shield with straps and tassels dropped from his shoulders,
flung down on the ground – and lord Apollo the son of Zeus
wrenched his breastplate off. Disaster seized him –
his fine legs buckling –
he stood there, senseless.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 16, lines 930-935. When Patroclus disobeys Achilles’s instructions to pursue Hector and his men all the way to the walls of Troy and kill many Trojans in a series of charges, the god Apollo enters the battle as an ally of Hector. He sneaks up behind Patroclus and hits him so hard on the back that his helmet flies off, his spear is shattered, his shield drops from his shoulders, and his breastplate is torn off by Apollo. Apollo’s intervention will enable Hector to kill Patroclus.

Hector! Now is your time to glory to the skies…
Now the victory is yours.
A gift of the Son of Cronus, Zeus – Apollo too –
they brought me down with all their deathless ease,
they are the ones who tore the armor off my back.
Even if twenty Hectors had charges against me
they’d all have died here, laid low by my spear.
No, deadly fate in league with Apollo killed me,
From the ranks of men, Euphorbus. You came third,
and all you could do was finish off my life.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 16, lines 986-995. When Hector fatally stabs Patroclus with his spear, Patroclus calls into question the Trojan’s pride as a successful warrior in battle. He reminds Hector that he is only his third slayer, after being knocked down by Apollo and then wounded by Euphorbus. All Hector could do was finish off his life, he says. Hector’s victory and glory is a gift of Zeus and Apollo, he tells him.

mighty Achilles! But the day of death
already hovers near, and we are not to blame
but a great god is and the strong force of fate.
Not through our want of speed or any lack of care
did the Trojans strip the armor off Patroclus’ back.
It was all that matchless god, sleek-haired Leto’s son –
he killed him among the champions and handed Hector glory.
Our team could race with the rush of the West Wind,
the strongest, swiftest blast on earth, men say –
still you are doomed to die by force, Achilles,
cut down by a deathless god and mortal man.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 19, lines 484-494. When Achilles reproaches his horses for allowing Patroclus to die, Hera gives his horse Roan Beauty (Xanthos) a voice to speak. The animal says that Patroclus fell in battle not through their fault but because of Apollo who handed Hector glory. The horse predicts that he, Achilles, is also fated to die by a god and a man. This references that he will be killed by Paris, assisted by the god Apollo.

Hera, so hard, so senseless! Don’t leap to extremes.
I, at least, have no real lust to drive our forces
against the gods of Troy. Our side is so much stronger.
Come now, let us move off and settle down together
far from the trampled field, take a lookout post
and leave the war to mortals…
But if Ares or Phoebus cares to start things off,
if they block Achilles and keep him out of action,
they will have a fight on their hands, then and there,
an all-out fight with us.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 20, lines 157-166. Poseidon tells Hera not to get involved in the Trojan war yet, and leave it to the mortals. But he does warn of an all-out fight with himself and Hera if Ares or Phoebus (Apollo) intervene, or block Achilles in any way.

Father Zeus! To think in all my misery not one god
can bring himself to rescue me from this river!
Then I’d face any fate. And no god on high,
none is to blame so much as my dear mother –
how she lied, she beguiled me, she promised me
I’d lie beneath the walls of the armored Trojans
cut down in blood by Apollo’s whipping arrows!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 308-314. As Achilles continues to flee Xanthus and the river god keeps pulling him down, the Greek warrior cries out to Zeus. Achilles thinks Xanthus is going to kill him, and he accuses Thetis of lying to him that he was fated to be cut down by Apollo’s arrows.

But the distant deadly Archer volleyed back,
"God of the earthquake – you’d think me hardly sane
if I fought with you for the sake of wretched mortals…
like leaves, no sooner flourishing, full of the sun’s fire,
feeding on earth’s gifts, than they waste away and die.
Stop. Call off this skirmish of ours at once –
let these mortals fight themselves to death."

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 526-532. Archer god Apollo declines to fight with the god Poseidon. Comparing mortals in an epic simile to leaves that quickly waste away and die, he says they should leave them to fight themselves to death.

God forbid that Achilles sees me turning tail,
heading from town and out to open country –
he’ll come after me full tilt and run me down!
and then no way to escape my death, my certain doom –
Achilles is far too strong for any man on earth.
Wait…what if I face him out before the walls?
Surely his body can be pierced by bronze, even his –
he has only one life, and people say he’s mortal:
it’s only the son of Cronus handing him the glory.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 648-656. The gates of Troy are opened to allow the routed Trojans back into the city, and Apollo inspires the Trojan Agenor to stand his ground to prevent the Greeks from entering. In this passage Agenor resolves to face Achilles, saying that he is mortal and can be pierced by bronze, and it is only Zeus who gives him glory.

And now death, grim death is looming up beside me,
no longer far away. No way to escape it now. This,
this was their pleasure after all, sealed long ago –
Zeus and the son of Zeus, the distant deadly Archer –
though often before now they rushed to my defense.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 22, lines 354-358. When Hector shouts out to his brother Deiphobus for another spear and finds that he has vanished, he realizes that he has been tricked by Athena. The goddess had appeared to him in the form of Deiphobus saying that they would face Achilles together. This is a good example of dramatic irony, because the audience already knows about Athena’s deception and the gods’ decision that Hector should die. With death looming before him, Hector knows that his fate was sealed by the gods long ago, despite Zeus and Apollo coming to his aid often before now.

But murderous Achilles – you gods, you choose to help Achilles.
That man without a shred of decency in his heart…
his temper can never bend and change – like some lion
going his own barbaric way, giving in to his power,
his brute force and wild pride, as down he swoops
on the flocks of men to seize his savage feast.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 24, lines 46-51. Apollo complains about Achilles’s treatment of the body of fallen Trojan hero Hector. In an epic simile he likens him to a barbaric lion, unleashing his brute force and wild pride to feast on men’s flocks.

But this Achilles – first he slaughters Hector,
he rips away the noble prince’s life
then lashes him to his chariot, drags him round
his beloved comrade’s tomb. But why, I ask you?
What good will it do him? What honor will he gain?
Let that man beware, or great and glorious as he is,
we mighty gods will wheel on him in anger – look,
he outrages the senseless clay in all his fury!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 24, lines 58-65. The gods take pity on fallen Trojan hero Hector, after Achilles in a rage drags the body behind his chariot and plans further disgrace to it. Apollo addresses the gods asking why they don’t allow Hector a proper burial and funeral. He questions what honor will it bring Achilles and warns that the gods will turn on him in anger for this outrage.

Hector, dearest to me by far of all my sons…
and dear to the gods while we still shared this life –
and they cared about you still, I see, even after death.
Many the sons I had whom the swift runner Achilles
caught and shipped on the barren salt sea as slaves
to Sarnos, to Imbros, to Lemnos shrouded deep in mist!
But you, once he slashed away your life with his brazen spear
he dragged you time and again around his comrade’s tomb,
Patroclus whom you killed – not that he brought Patroclus
back to life by that. But I have you with me now…
fresh as the morning dew you lie in the royal halls
like one whom Apollo, lord of the silver bow,
has approached and shot to death with gentle shafts.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 24, lines 880-892. Hecuba speaks to the body of her son Hector, eulogizing him and the other sons Achilles took from her, many of them shipped across the sea as slaves. Achilles dragged her son’s body around his comrade’s tomb, after Hector killed Patroclus. But the gods cared for Hector even in death, by allowing his body to return home, where he now lay "fresh as the morning dew" (simile). She says that Hector appears to have been shot by an arrow from Apollo – this foreshadows that Achilles will die from an arrow guided by Apollo.
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