Apollo
Part of The Encyclopedia of Southern Italy.
Apollo: The Greek god of healing, oracles & prophecies, hunting, music and poetry. He was the son of Zeus and Leto (or Latona) and the twin brother of Artemis. He was one of the earliest Greek deities to be worshipped in Greek Sicily. The earliest center of his worship was at Naxos, the first Greek colony to be established on Sicily. Here, as Apollo Archagetas, his worship expanded to Catana and Leontini. Apollo was also favorite deity at Megara Hyblaea and Selinus, where he was worshipped as a patron of the fountains and wells. Further cult centers were established at Gela, Akragas, and Syracuse.
Worship of Apollo reached Rome in the latter part of the 5th century BC. The first temple in Rome to be dedicated to that god dates to 433 BC. Apollo was a particular favorite of Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, who erected the temple of Apollo Palatinus, on the Palatine hill. During Roman times, Apollo was worshipped under a variety of other epithets including: Apollo Articenens (Apollo who carries the bow), Apollo Averruncus (Apollo who turns away evil), Apollo Coelispex, (Apollo who watches the heavens), Apollo Culicarius (Apollo who drives away midges).
Syracuse: The 6th century BC temple of Apollo built on the island of Ortygia at Syracuse, was the earliest known peripteral Doric temple ever built. By Cicero’s time, in the mid-1st century BC, it appears that the structure had been rededicated to Artemis. Under the Byzantines, the structure was converted into a church and, under the Saracens became a mosque. Upon the Norman conquest of Sicily, it was reconverted into a church.
Cumae: According to tradition, Daedalus constructed a temple dedicated to Apollo at Cumae.