Apollo

Anyone who has ever suffered from "middle child syndrome" will most likely become a Red Sox fan and hate Apollo nearly as much as the New York Yankees. Apollo is the favorite son of the most powerful god in the Greek pantheon. He was also one of the most beloved by the Greeks themselves. The god of music, prophecy, rationality and civilization, Apollo embodied many of the qualities the Greeks emulated in themselves. He was held up as a paragon of society and what the social order stood for and was rightly embraced.

Apollo's unusual birth circumstances are something he shares with most figures who are destined to be great. Hera decreed that he could not be born on land or sea and so with some help from the gods Leto is able to deliver Apollo on the "floating" island of Delos.

One of his first great deeds, as is normal with patriarchical systems, is to slay the serpent Python. Python is of course a symbol of the old religion that existed before his arrival and is most likely a goddess worshiping tradition. This solidifies his rule as the major deity in the region.

It is a bit troubling though that he basically kidnaps sailors to serve as the tenders of his temple.

As the god of prophecy Apollo was very important to the life of Greeks . He was the conduit the Greeks had to the realm of Olympus and becomes an attenuated version of Zeus. I will leave to you the question of his failure in love. It seems probable that the kind of release in letting go of your inhibitions to embrace love wholeheartedly would be impossible for him.