APOLLO -- BALDER

APOLLO

Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto. His twin sister is Artemis.
He is a god with many attributes. As ruler over the nine Muses
--the source of inspiration to humans in all the arts --
he is identified with the arts but particularly music. He is known as the god of
music,
often portrayed playing a golden lyre. He is also called the Archer,
often depicted shooting long distances with a silver bow.
He is also the god of healing, who taught man medicine, and the god of light,
sometimes referred to as the sun god. One of Apollo's more important daily tasks
is to harness his chariot with four horses and drive the sun across the sky.
He was not supposed to be able to tell lies and was thus the god of truth.

He is famous for his oracle at Delphi. People traveled to it from all over
the Greek world to divine the future. He is thus also known as the god of prophecy
and divination.

He was a patron of Troy and was instrumental in the killing of the Greek hero,
Achilles.

His tree is the laurel and the crow his bird. The dolphin is the animal identified
with him.

BALDER
Balder, the favourite son of Odin and Frigg, is described as a very handsome and
wise god.
His name means "The Glorious." Some consider him to be a god of
light since he was so bright with light shining from him. He was also called
the "god of tears." He was killed by his blind twin brother, Hod.
Balder's wife was Nanna and they had a son named Forseti. Balder and Nanna
lived in Breidablik [The Broad-Gleaming], where nothing unclean could be
and there were "fewest baneful runes." Breidablik had a silver roof on
golden pillars.

Saxo (one of possible authors of the Prose Edda) gave a very different picture of
Balder:
he was a vicious god who fought with Hod to
marry Nanna. Balder's name rarely occurs in place names, therefore, it is
thought that not many people worshipped him. The poets used his name to
mean warrior.

DIRECT COMPARISON
Both Apollo and Balder are known as the gods of light and both are considered to be

beautiful, handsome gods. Apollo was known as the god of divination and one of the
most
common stories about Balder is his dream about his death. Both were sons of the
supreme god
in their respective mythologies and both had twins (Balder and Hod, Apollo and
Artemis.)
While Apollo was known as the sun god, Balder was usually thought to have light
shining
from him.