Birth
One of the quarrels of Hera Concerned a maiden of the Titans, names Leto, who was always mild and gentle, kind to both men and gods gentlest creature in all Olympos. Zeus loved her, because she was so gentle, and made her on of his wives; but Hera was not gentle at all, she was jealous, and vowed that Leto should have no children. She drove Leto out of Olympos, and laid her commands on earth and sea, that no place should give harbourage to Leto. So Leto wandered all over the world distracted, praying every every land and every island to help her; but they all refused, for fear of Hera's commands. At last Leto espied an island, floating on the top of the sea, so that it was no part either of sea or land; this was the little island of Delos. Then by the power of Zeus, four pillars of adamant grew up from below sea, and rooted Delos to the bottom of the sea; and there the children of Leto were born, by the side of a beautiful .palm tree These children were twins, Apollo and Artemis. This is the birth of Apollo.
This is a picture of a Sacrificial Temple to the god Apollo
This is a short story of Apollo
Apollo went in searchof a place to build a temple , and he saw the little town of Crissa, and above it a dark cleft in the rock, from which a stream came bubbling out. There was room for a temple here, also, some one was settled before him. For here was sacred place of Mother Earth, a hole or cave where gusts of strange vapor came out of the rock, and the place was guarded by a dragon, a great bloated monster, which used to destroy the crops with her breath, and to devour the farmers' cattle and sheep: a terrible and bloodthirsty pest was this dragon. Apollo shot the monster with arrows from his bow; she writhed about, and tried to bite him, but could not, nor could her deadly breath hurt an immortal; so there the dragon died.
And Apollo said, "Rot there, you monster; you shall do no more harm to man." And the dragon rotted; and the place was called Pytho, which means the rotting place and Apollo took the title himself from this place and was called Pythian Apollo. For he took possession of the sacred cave, where Mother Earth had her oracle, and of the sacred spring, Castalia. Close by he built his own temple, not very large at first, but it was to grow great by and by; and underneath the temple, in a small chamber cut of of the rock, he made the vapor come up, which had such strange effects on those who breathed it.
Apollo now had a temple, but he had no servants and priests; what was he to do? As he was wondering, he saw from afar for the gods can see farther than we can, hesaw a ship leaving the coasts of Crete, full of Cretans.
Apollo know that the Cretans were great men for sacrifices and for laws,a nd that it was the Cretans who guarded Zeus, the father of Apollo, when Zeus was a baby in Cretan cave.
Apollo therefor took the form of a dolphin, swiftest of fishes, and he sped through the sea until he reached the Cretan ship: then with a great leap, he shot out of the water, and leapt against the side of the ship, making its timbers quiver and shake. The sailors did not know who he was, but they sat still in fear, and kept on their course as it was set, towards the north-west; and by the will of Zeus, a south-east wind blew them quickly forwards. Past the Laconian coast they sped, and on towards the coast of Elis, and when they would have put in to land, the ship would not obey the helm, but Apollo guided it whither he would. And when they came over against the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth, the wind veered to the west, and blew them straight in to the little bay which lay by the plain of Crissa.
Then Apollo leapt out from the sea, like a shining star, and sped to his temple ; from which he returned in the shape of a handsome young man, with long hair flowing over his shoulders, and he said, "Strangers, who are you?"
They said, "Sir--though you look more like a god than a man--hail to you! Now tell us, what is this place? We are Cretans, and we were bound elsewhere, but some god has brought us here against our will."
Apollo replied, "Stranger from good Crete, I am Apollo, the son of Zeus; and you have been brought here to keep my rich temple, which shall be honored among men. Take in your sails, and draw up the ship on the sand, and upon the shore build an altar and sacrifice to Apollo. Then take your meal, and follow me to my temple at Delphi. So Apollo got his worshipers.