ABSTRACT
If people examine the associations, the name Apollo conjures up such words as light, harmony or balance. They tend to contrast Apollo's serenity with the uncouth drunkenness of Dionysus. Apollo may originally have come from Lycia, in Asia Minor, since he is described as Lukegenes, apparently meaning born in Lycia. Because the Platonic doctrine was expressed symbolically through the figure of Apollo, they should pay heed to the etymologies in Cratylus. Plato's vehement rejection of a lying, vindictive, bloodthirsty Apollo of the kind described by Thetis in the fragment of Aeschylus's Judgement of Arms. It was in this light that the god was perceived by Plutarch; after discussing the various interpretations of the mysterious E inscribed in Apollo's temple at Delphi, he finally decided that it meant Thou art. Nonethless, if people look carefully at the way in which Ovid treats the gods throughout the Metamorphoses it is evident that Phoebus Apollo has been given pride of place.
