I’ve had people ask me for suggestions on where to read about Apollo.  My most basic suggestions would be the Apollo pages at theoi.com, the eighth chapter of Karl Kerenyi’s Gods of the Greeks, and ancient source material (The Homeric Hymns is a good start, specifically the third and twenty-first.)

The following is (er, will be when complete so don’t email me just yet to yell at me about stuff I’ve forgotten) my complete list, to be updated when I come across new sources.  Grouped by type (book, website, etc) but otherwise in no specific order.

Books

Fritz Graf- Apollo (This is a more academic work, but quite easy for the lay person to follow. It’s provided lots of references of which I’ve never heard- sadly, many of them are in German and the bibliography is unimpressively organized. An extensive review appears here.)

Karl Kerenyi- Apollo: The Wind, the Spirit, and the God (This book is out of print and very expensive. It’s not hard to find, there are always a few copies on Amazon but cost is frequently over $100. At this writing, it is available for $45, but that’s extremely rare and still a very steep price for such a short book. I have a PDF copy which I am willing to email upon request because it is out of print and because it is so cost-prohibitive (and because the author will not be cheated out of profit from his work).  Jut send an email to painandlight@gmail.com and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.)

Karl Kerenyi- The Gods Of The Greeks– in particular, chapter 8. ( I also recommend this book as an overview of Greek mythology. )

Thomas Sefton- The Gods Remain (in particular, the chapter titled Oidipus, Devotee of Apollon and margianlly, the chapter following, The Gods Jadar. These chapters are both available to be read at Sefton’s website– there is also some interesting material on his site that is not in the book- but I would advise buying the book, it is worth reading in its entirety and I don’t believe in cheating the author just because he’s gone so far as to put a large chunk of his work out there for people to preview. I will say that there are a few things that he says that I have to argue, most notably a citation of Robert Graves that, if you follow the reference, is a dead-end- the supposed ancient reference from which it comes does not exist. But even while I may argue a few small literal facts, I cannot deny that anything he says does not make perfect sense.)

William J Broad- The Oracle: The Science Behind Delphi and its Lost Secrets (

Don’t Waste Your Time Or Money On…

Gregory Zorzos- Apollo: The Great God (Or any of his other “works”) See my review for more details.


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