Apollo and his Lyre

The piece I chose is a white marble statue of Apollo, located in Rome’s Capitoline museum.  The white marble statue beautifully depicts Apollo as a young man, boyishly naked, and with his lyre in hand.  The myth associated with this statue tells the story of how Apollo came to be depicted with a lyre. The myth states that Mercury found a tortoise shell lying in the glass, picked it up, and bored holes into the edge of the shell.  Mercury, then fastened hollow reed inside and with leather and strings made a lyre.   Later that night, he stole fifty of Apollo’s finest heifers.  Apollo believed that Mercury had stolen his cattle.  When Apollo accused him of stealing the beautiful cattle, Mercury innocently denied any accusations.  The two brothers paid a visit to Jupiter, their third brother, to settle the dispute.  Mercury then proceeded to play his lyre.  Apollo was astonished by the beautiful sound and agreed to allow Mercury to keep his cattle for producing such a lovely sound.  This act pleased Mercury so greatly that he gave Apollo the lyre. In return for the gift of the wonderful lyre, Apollo gave Mercury a golden wand. 

Dana Lerro