To understand history of ancient india based on ancient inscriptions & coins, it is important to know the indo greek divinities The Greek divinities are: 1 Apollo “Apollo is one of the Olympian deities in classical Greek & Roman religion & Greek and Roman mythology. The national divinity of the Greeks Apollo has been recognised as god of archery music & dance, truth & prophecy, healing & diseases d Sun and light poetry and more” The son of Zeus and Leto and twin brother of Artemis, was born in d island of Delos whither Leto fled from the jealous Hera The powers ascribed to Apollo, are apparently of different kinds but all are concerned with one another. He is: The God who punishes, whence he is represented with a bow and arrow. All sudden deaths were believed to be the effect of his arrows and with them, he sent the plague into the camp of the Greeks, before Troy The god who affords help and wards off evil. As he had the power of punishing men, so he was also able to deliver them, if duly propitiated As the God who afforded help, he was the father of Aesculapius, the God of healing art & was also identified in later times with Pallon, the god of the healing art in Homer The God of prophecy Apollo exercised this power in his numerous oracles, and especially in that of Delphi. Hence he is frequently called the Pythian. Apollo, from Pytho, the ancient name of Delphi He had the power of communicating the gift of prophecy to both Gods as well as men The God of song and music We find him in the Iliad delighting the immortal Gods with his forminx and the Homeric bards, who derived their art of song either from Apollo or the Muses. Hence he is placed in close connection with the Muses and is called Musegetes, as the leader of the Muses Later tradition ascribed to Apollo even the invention of the flute and Iyre, while It is more commonly related that he received the lyre from Hermes. The God who protects flocks and cattle. There are in Homer only, a few allusions to this feature in the character of Apollo, but in later writings, it assumes a prominent form and in the story of Apollo, tending the flocks of Admetus of Pherae in Thessaly, the idea reaches its climax. The God who delights in the foundation of towns and in the establishment of civil constitutions. Hence a town or a colony was never founded by the Greeks wIthout consulting an oracle of Apollo, so that he became, as it were, their spiritual leader. The God of the Sun. In Homer Apollo and Helios or the Sun, are distinct his identification with the sun. though almost universal among late Writers, was the result of later speculations and of Egyptian Influence. Appollo had more influence upon the Greeks than any other God. The Romans became acquainted with this divinity through the Greeks. In the Indo-Greek coin-portraits Apollo laureate wears chlamys (short cloak) and boots, has quiver slung at the back and holds bow and arrow. Sometimes he is represented by tripod lebes.
Cdr Alok Mohan
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