APOLLINARIS WATER 207 APONEUROSIS greatest distance from the earth; prop- erly this particular part of the moon's orbit. APOLLINABIS WATER, a natural aerated water, belonging to the class of acidulated soda waters, and derived from the Apollinarisbrunnen, a spring in the valley of the _Ahr, near the Rhine, in Rhenish Prussia. APOLLO, son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Leto (Latona), who being persecuted by the jealousy of Hera (Juno), after tedi- ous wanderings and nine days' labor was delivered to him and his twin sister, Artemis (Diana), on the island of Delos. XHE APOLLO BELVEDERE IN THE VATICAN, ROME Skilled in the use of the bow, he slew the serpent Python on the fifth day after his birth; afterward, with his sister Artemis, he killed the children of Niobe. He aided Zeus in the war with the Titans and the giants. He destroyed the Cy- elopedes, because they forged the thun- derbolts with which Zeus killed his son and favorite, Asklepios (^sculapius). According to some traditions he invented the lyre, though this is generally as- cribed to Hermes (Mercury). Apollo was originally the sun-god; and though in Homer he appears distinct from Helios (the sun), yet his real nature is hinted at even here by the epithet Phoebus, that is, the radiant or beaming. In later times the view was almost universal that Apol- lo and Helios were identical. From be- ing the god of light and purity in a phys- ical sense he gradually became the god of moral and spiritual light and purity, the source of all intelectual, social, and political progress. He thus came to be regarded as the god of song and proph- ecy, the god that wards off and heals bodily suffering and disease, the institu- tor and guardian of civil and political order, and the founder of cities. His worship was introduced at Rome at an early period, probably in the time of the Tarquins. Among the ancient statues of Apollo that have come down to us, the most remarkable is the one called the Apollo Belvedere, from the Belvedere gal- lery in the Vatican at Rome. This statue was found in the ruins of Antium in 1503, and was purchased by Pope Julius II. It is now supposed to be a copy of a Greek statue of the 3d century B. c, and dates probably from the reign of Nero. APOLLODORUS, a Greek writer who flourished 140 B. C. Among the numer- ous works he wrote on various subjects, the only one extant is his "Bibliotheca," which contains a concise account of the mythology of Greece down to the heroic age, APOLLONIUS OF RHODES, a Greek poet, born in Egypt, but long residing at Rhodes, where he founded a school of rhetoric. He afterward became keeper of the famous library of Alexandria, B. C. 149. He wrote a poem called "Argo- nautica," which is still extant. APOLLOS, a Jew of Alexandria, who learned the doctrines of Christianity at Ephesus from Aquila and Priscilla, be- came a preacher of the gospel in Achaia and Corinth, and an assistant of Paul in his missionary work. Some have re- garded him as the author of the Epistle to the Jews. APOLOGETICS, the department of theology which treats of the establish- ment of the evidences and defense of the doctrines of a faith. Christian apolo- getics, generally called simply apolo- getics, treats of the evidenc«s of Chris- tianity, and seeks to establish the truth of the Bible and the doctrines educed from it. APONEUROSIS, in anatomy, a name of certain grayish-white shining mem- branes, composed of interlacing fibers, sometimes continuous with the muscular fiber, and differing from tendons merely in having a flat form. They serve sev- eral purposes, sometimes attaching the muscles to the bones, sometimes sur- rounding the muscle and preventing its displacement, etc.
