Love This Niche

love this niche

also

they both got longer hair now

Apollo throughout the ages! Or at least from birth to Rome. I'm going to go ham on explaining the timeline under the cut, but I hope you guys like the designs I made for the different periods of his life!

Anyways EXTREME TIMELINE RAMBLING TIME

Baby (2591 B.C.E.): The year I arbitrarily decided Apollo was born in lmao. Apollo didn’t look like this for long. Probably only like, a minute. Just long enough for Leto to safely give birth and then he was immediately like “ew, no I wanna be big” 

2. Fighting Python (2591 B.C.E.): Immediately after being born, Apollo flies off to go fight Python for 7 days (fun!). After that, he is punished for committing murder and has to purify himself by serving as a slave for 9 years in the Vale of Tempe (funner!) Yeah, Apollo definitely had an A+ childhood. One thing in his first two designs Apollo doesn’t look entirely human. This is bc I like to think he was born with some cool titan traits!

3. Pre-First Punishment (2582-2300 B.C.E): Back from his years in the mortal realm, Apollo looks much more human. His clothes are inspired by Ancient Aegean fashions I found, as we are long before the start of what is considered Ancient Greece. Apollo is the youngest member of the Olympian council and it shows. This boyish look stays with him until after he serves under Laomedon.

Other events that happen during this time: 

Hermes is born (Around 2500 B.C.E.)

4. Post-First Punishment (2290-ish B.C.E-1500 B.C.E.): Apollo comes back from Troy influenced by their traditions, and it shows in his design. There wasn’t much I could find on how Troy differed from the rest of the Mediterranean at the time (probably bc for a while we thought the place didn’t even exist lmao) but I did find something that said an emphasis was put on those with higher status wearing jewelry. So Apollo gets pearls in his hair and golden bands around his arms. His clothes are inspired by feminine Aegean attire. 

Other events that happen during this time:

Music duel with Marsyas (Around 2000 B.C.E)

Dionysus is born (Around 1600 B.C.E)

5. Post-Daphne (1500 B.C.E-1194 B.C.E.): The introduction of the laurel. After Daphne’s death, Apollo distances himself from his family a bit, which leads perfectly into our next big event-

6. Trojan War (1194-1184 B.C.E): Apollo sides with Troy, and its influence once again appears in his appearance, this time even more pronounced. In a war against not only Greece, but his own family, Apollo keeps himself covered and constantly prepared to aid in battle. Missing his mother back on Delos, Apollo grows his hair out for the first time. 

7. Post-Trojan War and Hyacinthus (1184 B.C.E-776 B.C.E.): After Troy falls, Apollo sheds it’s influence quickly, not wanting to look like he’s supporting a side the rest of his family is either against or has given up on. He breaks his time evenly between Olympus and the mortal realm, and takes many lovers until the death of Hyacinthus around 800 B.C.E. After that, he stays up in the heavens for a few decades. 

8. “Main” Apollo (776 B.C.E-540 B.C.E): Starting with the first Olympics in Greece, Apollo is lifted as a paragon of Greece and its people. Shedding the peplos he has worn throughout his early years, Apollo wears a classic chiton and becomes much more invested in the affairs of man. This is a period of great power and ecstasy for him, but as the saying goes, pride goes before the fall. 

Other events that happen during this time: 

Death of Niobe’s children (Around 770 B.C.E.)

Music duel with Pan (Around 750 B.C.E)

Dating Cyrene (Around 630 B.C.E)

9. Coronis-Asclepius (540 B.C.E-500 B.C.E): A design that only lasts as long as Asclepius lives. Zeus is unsettled by Apollo’s influence over Greece, and starts applying more pressure against him. This leaves Apollo stressed, and that's without the fact that he is now raising a prodigy in medicine alongside Chiron. In these 40 years, Apollo attempts to balance his want to be involved in the mortal world with his fathers wrath. In the end, his father will win. 

Other events that happen during this time: 

Around 515 B.C.E - Tarquin purchases the Sibylline Books. Apollo and the Sybil of Cumae must happen before this point (not entirely sure when yet, but definitely in this period.)

10. 2nd Punishment (500 B.C.E.): Apollo serves his second punishment under Admetus. Crushed by the loss of his son and anger of his father, Apollo spends most of this time in hiding. It is only through the gentle hand of Admetus that Apollo finds some sort of healing. 

11. Late Greece (499 B.C.E-146 B.C.E.): Apollo is definitely trying to move on far too quickly from his punishment. He cuts his hair, dons his chiton, and gets right into being an Olympian. It doesn’t help that he is beginning to see the cracks in the foundations of Greece. Athens is flourishing, but only at the expense of Sparta and his own Delos. Years of civil war and threats of Roman invasion leave Apollo shaken, and he pulls away from both the mortal realm and his family, who seem more and more like strangers every day…

Other events that happen during this time:

Trophonius’ death (Around 200 B.C.E)

12. Fall of Greece (146 B.C.E.-32 B.C.E.): Rome officially takes over Greece, and suddenly Apollo’s family are all lost to him. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t think Apollo has a Roman form like the rest of his family, and I imagine the sudden switch in their personalities must have been terrifying. Rarely worshiped and ostracized from Olympus, Apollo returns to the mortal realm, spending his time in solitude as a shepherd. As his influence grows weaker, he begins to show sign of weakness. This is the only time Apollo “ages” (I gave him a beard) and I tried to take away some of the attributes that would have been considered divine. Apollo is completely covered, and he wears shoes (which gods would never do)

13. Rome: (32 B.C.E.-476 C.E.): I know, I know, Apollo should have multiple Rome designs, but I got lazy. Apollo is credited by Octavian for his success in battle against Marc Antony and Cleopatra, and worship of the god skyrockets. Now back on Olympus, Apollo is still wary of his family’s Roman counterparts. He drowns himself in luxuries, hoping to distract from his worries about his brothers and sisters. Who knows what kind of bad decisions a man might make in this scenario?!? (*cough* Commodus *cough*). 

And that’s my full timeline so far!! If there’s anything y’all have questions about (Any missing myths, questions about why I put things were) I’d be happy to answer! I put a lot of work into this, so I hope y’all like it!

Video essays that make me go “oh, so you’re like smart smart”

Elon Musk and Grimes: A Retrospective

Bo Burnham vs. Jeff Bezos

The Systemic Abuse of Celebrities

Lana Del Rey: the pitfalls of having a persona

we need to talk about Call Me By Your Name

MYTH OF THE AUTEUR: Stanley Kubrick vs David Lynch

In Search Of A Flat Earth

Envy

The Commodification of Black Athletes

The Lies Of The Lighthouse

The Green Knight: The Uncanny Horror of Masculinity

Time Loop Nihilism

How Bisexuality Changed Video Games

The Golden Age of Horror Comics - Part 1 (Part 2)

Weighing the Value of Director’s Cuts | Scanline

The True Horror Of Midsommar

Keep reading

Did some punk Gwen expressions