Editing Apollo (section)

===Building the walls of Troy ===

[[File:Sandrart (attributed), Troppa (attr.) - Laomedon Refusing Payment to Poseidon and Apollo - 17th c.jpg|thumb|left|Laomedon refusing payment to Poseidon and Apollo, by [[Joachim von Sandrart]]]]

Once Apollo and [[Poseidon]] served under the Trojan king [[Laomedon]] in accordance with Zeus' words. Apollodorus states that the gods willingly went to the king disguised as humans in order to check his hubris.<ref>Apollodorus, ''Bibliotheca'' 2.5</ref> Apollo guarded the cattle of Laomedon in the valleys of Mount Ida, while Poseidon built the walls of Troy.<ref>Homer, ''The Iliad'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D21%3Acard%3D434 21.434]</ref> Other versions make both Apollo and Poseidon the builders of the wall. In Ovid's account, Apollo completes his task by playing his tunes on his lyre.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

In [[Pindar]]'s odes, the gods took a mortal named [[Aeacus]] as their assistant.<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Olympian Odes'' viii. 39, &c.</ref> When the work was completed, three snakes rushed against the wall, and though the two that attacked the sections of the wall built by the gods fell down dead, the third forced its way into the city through the portion of the wall built by Aeacus. Apollo immediately prophesied that [[Troy]] would fall at the hands of Aeacus's descendants, the [[Aeacidae]] (i.e. his son Telamon joined [[Heracles]] when he sieged the city during Laomedon's rule. Later, his great-grandson [[Neoptolemus]] was present in the wooden horse that leads to the downfall of Troy).{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

However, the king not only refused to give the gods the wages he had promised, but also threatened to bind their feet and hands, and sell them as slaves. Angered by the unpaid labour and the insults, Apollo infected the city with a pestilence and Poseidon sent the sea monster [[Cetus (mythology)|Cetus]]. To deliver the city from it, Laomedon had to sacrifice his daughter [[Hesione]] (who would later be saved by [[Heracles]]).{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

During his stay in Troy, Apollo had a lover named Ourea, who was a nymph and daughter of Poseidon. Together they had a son named Ileus, whom Apollo loved dearly.<ref>Hesiod, ''Catalogues of Women'' Fragment 83</ref>