Was Apollo seen as a good deity by the Ancient Greeks and Romans?

Apollo is represented widely as a positive force - example: his son, Asklepios, was the god of medicine -but was Apollo seen in this way? Many times he destroyed others - Icarus flew too close to the sun, Phaethon had to be klled for taking his horses, and Daphne had to undergo metamorphosis to escape him. Were the ancients merely in awe of him because of his negative powers?

Was Apollo seen as a good deity by the Ancient Greeks and Romans?
The Greek gods were forces of the natural world, Apollo was no exception.



Like someone said above I would not confuse him with Helius the sun-god.



The rape of maidens is pretty common amongst gods. A few like Daphne escaped with a trick or two. The Greeks did not view them negatively. The myth was invented merely answered the question "why is the laurel tree sacred to Apollo?"



As for his divine powers, he was a god of disease (e.g. in Book I of the Iliad where he strides amongst the Greek troops shooting them down with plague); and on the other side of the coin the god of healing and good health.



Gods were worshipped to avert their malevolent powers and bring forth their blessings.



Similarly Demeter was not seen as an evil goddess although she might destroy the crops and cause men to starve; or Zeus might cause a drought; or Poseidon a flood. These were merely part of their dual natures -- rain-god is also drought-god, nourishing-water-god is also flood-god.
Reply:Greeks, like most cultures, didn't classify their deities as good or evil. They were powers to be respected because they could both make followers great as well as destroy those who annoyed them. Apollo had a lot of good qualities. Being associated with the sun was actually a late development. Previously he was a god of the arts and worked closesly with the Muses. He was popular, if that helps answer the question. But he also weilded a bow that killed people with excruciating disease. Like most GReek deities, he did not pull punches when someone crossed paths with him.
Reply:Apollo was one of the most complex, and therefore interesting, of the Greek deities. His powers were diverse, from the sun to medicine to prophecy to the hunt (which he shared with his twin sister Artemis) to plague and disease to music. As you point out, some of the most terrible of these powers made him feared and respected, but Apollo's many 'good' powers more than make up for the 'bad'. For instance, Apollo may have sent plague and disease among the greeks when he felt they deserved it (e.g. for insulting his priest Chryses in the Trojan War), but the men and women who were afflicted by his diseases would seek the same source for their salvation, for Apollo was also the god of medicine.



This complexity is mirrored in our current monotheistic conceptions of God: God brings life and He brings death; We praise him for miracles but we are also "God fearing." And of course, the ultimate source of this duality is the complexity of life itself.



At their core, all of mythology and stories are simply tools for humanity to understand itself better. Most of the Greek Gods were quite complex, but Apollo is perhaps the best reflection of the Ancient Greek's advanced understanding of their own humanity.



Like Apollo, we are all complex and unlimited in our potential for 'good' and 'bad.' But I personally believe that Apollo - and humanity - reached for the best within himself more readily than the worst.



P.S. As for the specific examples you reference: (1) Apollo himself was considered the God of Medicine, in addition to his son Asclepius; (2) The stories of Icarus and Phaeton were warnings to braggarts against their conceit, and these stories reflected badly on them, not so much on Apollo; (3) Phaeton was actually killed by Zeus not Apollo for driving the sun chariot of Apollo, but he did scorch the earth of Africa (that's supposedly why the Ethiopians were black, would you believe?). By the way, Phaeton was the son of Phoebus, the sun god of other cultures who was eventually merged with the identity of Apollo when the Greek empire dominated other cultures; and (4) Apollo only pursued Daphne to such lengths because he had been struck by Eros's (Cupid's) arrow; Cupid was getting revenge on Apollo who made fun of the little boy with his bow and arrow, telling him to leave the hunting to real men. So as you can see, Apollo isn't perfect, but he's not quite so bad as he may appear in some of these myths. Hope this helps!
Reply:je ne sais pas
Reply:I think he was seen as good but also looking at some of his storys I thought he sound a kind if ditzy.
Reply:individuals prayed to certain gods for their own reasons... apollo had his following...