Apollo looked like a vigorous young man in the prime of his life—handsome, powerfully built, and brimming with vitality.
At that moment, he wore a crown woven from the branches and leaves of laurel, agnus castus, olive trees, and water lilies. Dressed in a luxurious golden bedsheet, he drove his sun chariot, strumming a seven-stringed lyre and singing at the top of his lungs.
Street racing through the sky while singing? He had to be eating his fill of wind by now, right?
But he was enjoying himself immensely. If one listened closely, they would discover that he was singing a shepherd's tune, using yodeling.
Apollo was the son of Zeus and Leto. Naturally, Hera had grown jealous again, drove Leto away, and cursed her to die like a mortal.
As a result, Apollo had been born in the human world. In his youth, he had spent all his time herding sheep in Thessaly, which was near present-day Switzerland, before Zeus eventually brought him back to Olympus.
Thus, besides his divine office as the God of Light, he also bore the title of God of Livestock. But everyone knew how things worked in the Olympian Pantheon. The God of Livestock was really just the god of shepherding, because there were separate gods for raising cattle, chickens, and pigs.
There were simply too many minor gods. When Zeus's illegitimate children came to Olympus, they had to be assigned some divine office, didn't they? So the offices were subdivided. One original office became dozens, everyone got a share, and everyone was happy.
God of Mice, God of Sewers, God of Foot Washing, God of Hairdressing, and so on. If you could think of it, Olympus had it.
Apollo was the God of Light. Though many called him the Sun God, that chariot