Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:02:55 -0700
From: dnrock@rock.com
Subject: Red 14

Red
by:  dnrock(dnrock@rock.com)


14: The Adventure of Discovery

We dressed in work cloths, jean shorts and long, sleeved shirts and
reported for breakfast.  We were all seated again, at the long tables in
the outdoor arbor; Seb and Yannie began bringing in large bowls and
platters of food: huge jugs of milk, tea, coffee, juice and the like.  Once
they joined us, everyone began eating and of course talking, laughing and
joking around.  Dem and the nurses were the first to leave, they were
holding clinics, on near by inhabited islands.  Several of the security
staff also left and were replaced by those coming off the night shift.
Thanos was explaining as much as he could to Kos and I.

He gained everyone's attention and made some scheduling announcements.  Our
classes and most sports were being cancelled for the next few days, so we
could all assist the archeologists.  To that end Stavors and Spiros, with
my assistance were to catch up on the surveying, Kos, Photois and Yannie
were to look after the photographic and art assignments and the remainder
of the boys and our tutors were to assist the graduate students.  We were
reminded to keep our hats on, use the sunscreen provided and to swim for at
least 30 minutes very two hours.

We all helped to clear the tables and in nothing flat everyone was mounted
on bicycles and riding toward the dig.

Professor Sepp filled us in as we rode.  The dig was an early to middle,
medieval Byzantine Orthodox monastery of some sort.  That consisted of a
round sanctuary and the foundations of several outbuildings.  It appeared
the monastery was never very large, perhaps 20 to 30 brothers.  The
outbuildings had been dismantled, not destroyed and the sanctuary had been
abandoned and fallen into disrepair.  The island's only spring and source
of fresh water, was about 50 yards from the complex.  Unless its output had
substantially diminished over time, that 20 to 30 figure was probably all
the reliable water supply could have sustained.  Most of the food would
have been sea food, a few sheep and goats or imported.  It appeared that
few if any visitors had disturbed the runes.

When we got to the site, the history tutor gave us all a brief lecture
about the monks that probably had built and maintained the structure.  From
what he knew, the monks had occupied the site until about 1650, when it
appeared to have been abandoned.  There is no record and the professor has
found no evidence of Ottomans, having been present or even interested in
this island.  The island had been unoccupied until the late 1940's, when
the Papas family established a summer home on it.

One could see that the sanctuary was never a very tall structure but round
and squat.  Its walls were massive, close to a meter thick.  In some
respects it resembled a fort, except the entry way was very large and must
have had great doors, at one time.  We saw no hinges or evidence of hinges.
It also had many interesting windows, which were about a foot or 0.2 meters
wide and 2 meters high, all around the building.  At one time it had a
domed roof, which was now completely collapsed.

When I first saw the place, the roof materials had been removed and were
neatly piled up.  I could see right away, if the out buildings were no
higher than the old dome had been, this place would not have been visible
from the sea or the land, until the low surrounding hills had been toped,
as we did on our bicycles.

We gathered in the old court yard before the entrance.  I could see that
the foundations of the out buildings lay in a semicircle, that would have
formed a plaza like place.  Off to one side were some other building
remains, the professor suggested, kitchens, stables and so on.  It was
obvious the professor and graduate students all were very excited and
working very hrad to hold themselves in check.  It was not clear to me why
that was, it just was.

Kos was studying the structure and I could tell he was puzzled by
something.  He always gets the same expression on his face and he get
fidgety when he is puzzled by something.  He walked up and down trying to
figure it out, the professor began asking him questions.  I could see he
was trying to draw Kos' thinking out.  Kos was puzzled by the number of
steps up to the entry and the ratio of the width to height of the opening.
I was puzzled by the thickness of the walls.  So I asked.  "Professor
Albrech, why would anyone build meter think walls to hold up such a small
roof?"

He did not give an answer but responded with another question, more or less
directed at the geology tutor.  "And why would all this limestone be
imported, we have not found any quarries on the island or any rock of this
exact nature here?"

The geology tutor agreed the stone was not native and speculated that the
relative small size of the dimension blocks, suggests they were carried
here from ships, possibly even used as ballast.  Much discussion was held
about how the ancients did things, as well as the middle ages types. ( see:
http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/Greek+architecture and
http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/architects/default.htm)

That is when Kos realized the proportions were wrong, the ratio of height
to width of the openings, such as doors and windows, was just not right.
It was wrong for the ancients and it was wrong for the middle ages too.
Professor Albrech smiled and invited us inside.

The interior had more room than I thought it would have, although it was
not huge, again a proportional problem, given the thickness of the walls.
Anyway it was just a big open area, with a block of stone opposite the door
way, that looked like an altar.  This to was out of proportion, according
to Kos, it was to squarish and just a bit to high for the purpose, he
thought.  The thing was made of still different stone, a polished marble
from Naxos, I was told; 5 slabs, that seamed to smoothly extend below the
level of the floor, which was made up of stone tiles.  Photois was taking
pictures of everything.  He and Yannie were working together, Yannie would
write down exactly what was the subject of each picture, while Kos and the
graduate students would call out the measurements.

Professor Sepp put most of us to work, moving a rock pile in the court
yard, one stone at a time.  These stones turned out to be bricks, he told
us had come from the outbuildings, when they were dismantled.  Once the top
layer or so was removed, all the bricks became very regular, like they had
been carefully placed.  We all had gloves on and passed the bricks in a
chain, carefully piling them as squares like one would do if you were
building up pallet loads.  I joined in this, once the differential GPS
reading were completed.

What we uncovered was a small pool or basin, that was made of marble.  It
was about 2 feet deep with steps on one end and what looked like clay
delivery pipes, on the other.  It was quite long and rather wide.  Perhaps
it had been a reflecting pool.  While we did this work, the graduate
students and a couple of the men moved soil and sand off the court yard,
revealing laid stones and the overflow for the pool.  The geology touter
and professor examined everything in great detail, pronouncing this very,
very old, noting the tool marks were so highly weathered as to almost be
erased.

We all went swimming in the sea, just over the sand dunes, that hid the
site from view.  It was great fun since we all shed out cloths and swam
naked, everyone, boys and men.  God are we good looking too.  Except for
the professor, who is quite old, everyone else looked like a Greek god, me
included.  Well you can have boy gods too, you know.  This was just great,
I managed to get fucked in the water by Yannie, while Photois held my arms
and head up.  We were in the water and the waves splashed over my body, as
Yannie's long cock slipped in and out of my white butt.  That was just for
starters, man am I going to like this visit, that's for sure.  Everywhere I
looked were boys and man getting it on.  I saw Kos and Kon laying on a big
rock just out of the water, they were sure having fun sucking each others
cocks.

Before we went to lunch, the geologist--science tutor, an English fellow,
had us do some weight estimations.  "listen up boys.  We need to estimate
the weight of this marble slab, that forms the top of this "altar thing".
I know you don't have any calculators but you do have pencils and paper, so
lets get to it.  The Density of marble usually ranges from 2.4 to 2.8,
that's grams/cc.  Let us use 2.8 to avoid underestimation."

One of the grad students took the end of his tape and he read off the
dimensions for us.  "Ok, length is 2.66 meters, width is 1.43 meters and
thickness is 18 cm or 0.18 m."  I knew that weight would be about equal to
volume, times density and volume is Length X width X height.  So, 2.66 X
1.43 X.18 = 0.685 cubic meters and 2.8 X that = , not correct since the
density is in grams and the volume is in cubic meter.  Oh yes, we need to
find the number of cubic centimetres in the cubic meter.  Ok, got that,
move the decimal six positions to the right. i.e. a million cc's in one
cm. =685000 cc X 2.8 = 1,981,000 grams and one kg = 1000 grams so move the
decimal point to the left three places, 1981 kg's, now that's heavvvvy for
sure.  I even had the answer first.

"Ok, Russ my lad, what did you find?"

"1981 kilograms or ± 2 tonnes," I announced.  Everyone cheered so I guess
I was right.

It was in the afternoon, that things got real interesting.  We all went
back to the main house for lunch and a quick swim.  This time we swam down
by the harbour, which is right in front of the house.  We were diving off
the boards, fixed on a floating platform; it was lots of fun but from now
on I am wearing a suite, man it stings when your balls hit the water.  Man
was it fun swimming nude and seeing and you know, touching all those naked
bodies.  The boys here are all real hot and you know, so were all the men
too.

On the way back we stopped at the main work shed and loaded all kinds of
stuff on the quad trailers.  A big box of steel toed work boots, another
box of hard hats and a smaller box of safety goggles and leather work
gloves.  On another trailer were big pieces of steel, not solid but they
looked like lattice works, each about a meter long, they kind of looked
like small bridge trusses, along with several ladders.  On another were a
whole bunch of tools and some shorter pieces, of what dad would call angle
iron and some long, thick wooden planks.  I could see we were going to
build a ramp and probably erect come kind of crane.

This was quite a procession, a fleet of bicycles and quads heading along
the central island trail.  Photois was on the job with his cameras, along
with Kos and Yannie.  With the exception of one security man, in the
communications room and the medical staff, who were away, everyone was in
on this scene.  The thing looked a mob scene for a Biblical movie or
something.  I mean everything that had wheels must have been pressed into
service, even the garden tractor was on the road, pulling a little wagon
with the chief and one of the tutors.  Once we arrived in the court yard,
the chief dispensed cold drinks to everyone, while the "engineers" got
organized.

All of us boys were immediately attached to one of the guardians/security
staff or a tutor.  Except Kos, Photois and Yannie, who were documenting
everything, under Professor Albrech direction.  Thanos was right in the
middle of things but he did not seam inclined to take charge.  One of the
security types had been a officer with the Greek army engineers and he
seamed to take command.  I learned later that all of the
security/guardian/non academic tutors, were former military men, mostly
from the Greek special forces army and navy.  Anyway, everything was
explained in minute detail to the boys and we were also right along side
our man, getting involved but not in the way.  Well most of the time
anyway, I am sure we were in the way plenty but no one seamed to complain
about it.

I must say we all looked kind of funny, with hard hats, safety glasses,
gloves, work boots in denim shorts and now quite dirty, white Tee shirts.
All of us from youngest boy to oldest man, that would be Sepp were dress
like this.

While one crew built a ramp over the steps, another was fitting the angle
iron, like a frame around the top of the altar.  They used big bolts and
nuts.  The frame was top and bottom, all around the edge.  On the 4 corners
were large rings, bolted to the frame.  Once that was done, a tripod made
up of the bridge truss like things, was bolted together and chains were
attached between the three feet, so it could not slip.  The chains were
like boat anchor chains and they probably were.  At the top of the tripod
was a huge hook and on the hook, one of the men hung a large pulley wheel,
called a shiv.  One of the empty trailers was backed up the ramp and
through the doorway.

It was obvious, they were going to lift the top of the altar off.  I never
thought to ask if it, in fact, came off.  On thinking about it, I figured
it must, since the top extended about 8 cm outside the base.  Once the
steel frame was in place, the geology tutor examined the altar top, looking
for flaws and fractures.  He said he found none.  Then they attached a big
ring with four thick cables, that had hooks on the end.  They attached the
hooks to the four rings of the frame, that is.

The fellow I was working with is called Angelo, he is also the first mate
of the Aphrodite and I think chief of security too.  Anyway, he and I drove
the biggest quad over to the rock pile.  With several others, we loaded the
big wooden utility box on the back, as full of big limestone blocks as
possible.  Then he drove the quad over to the steps and had others remove
the ramps.  They pulled them wider, so the quad's front wheels could be
snugged tight against the lowest step.  After that I got to run the
electric winch, on the front of the quad.  I had a hand held remote control
on a long black cable.  I let out the cable and he pulled it through the
big door and climbed up a ladder and had me stop, they removed the hook by
taking the pin from the cleaves and then the cleaves.  I gave him more
slack and the fed the cable over the shiv wheel and someone pulled it down.
They reattached the cleaves and hook and put the spider ring on it and had
me take up the slack.

Angelo came back and took the control again.  I guess he has more
experience then me, it was probably a good idea.  Several others attached
big thick polypropylene ropes, to the corner rings and two men and two boys
got on each rope.

With everyone standing well back, Angelo worked the winch again, the
machine strained and the cable tightened.  The altar top would not move and
the back wheels of the quad started to lift off the ground.  Angelo gave it
slack and called for all available men, to pile on the back of the quad.
With about six of the biggest men piled on, he gave it another try and up
it came.  It made quiet a bang when it let go.  I guess it was suck or
maybe glued on, I didn't know.

He raised it up about a foot and the men got off the quad and four of them
took two large logs in and placed them under the top or lid, Angelo set it
down.  Now they moved in and repositioned the tripod by extending the back
leg, making it longer to move the apex of the triangle forward, i.e. toward
the door.  Angelo told me this time, when he lifted the top it would swing
toward to door and the trailer.  The rope boys would try and restrict it
from moving to fast.  I was a bit concerned that the weight would pull the
rear tripod leg off the ground.  Angelo had all the spare men hang on to
the leg, just in case.

Thanos moved into the doorway and Angelo had me stand behind him.  I was
not sure why but I guess if the cable let go, he wanted me out of the way.
Thanos used hand signals and Angelo started to lift, he moved it up and as
soon as the friction with the wooden poles eased, the thing shifted
forward.  The back rope people were trying to hold it and the front guys
were gently pulling it forward.  Angelo raised it up a little more and the
front guys pulled real hard, it swung almost clear but not quite.  Angelo
stopped and Thanos had the poles removed now the back ropes move to the
front as well and Angelo raised it up higher and the rope pullers all
strained to pull it forward.  Thanos gave the down sign and Angelo sit it
down on the trailer so gently, it didn't even raise any dust.  While they
unhooked the cables and ropes, Angelo picked me up and danced around,
holding my face to his and kissing my lips and nose.  I giggled and kissed
him back, he has a big moustache, it tickled.

I wound up, the now slack cable and Angelo moved the quad back by the rock
pile, for unloading.  In the mean time, everyone cleaned up the equipment,
disassembled the tripod and so forth.  When the ramp were pushed back, a
quad was backed up and hooked on to the trailer, slowly bringing the lid
down and into the court yard.  Everyone wanted to look inside the hole but
the professor said to hold off, until the stuff was cleared out.

They set up the tripod again and this time I got to run the winch.  I
lifted the lid above the trailer and it was driven away, then the two poles
were placed on the ground and I slowly lowered the lid.  When the cable
went slack, I stopped and we took this stuff apart again and I wound up the
cable again.

The professor, Thanos and grad students all went over and looked in,
calling for flashlights.  The looks on their faces was priceless and
Photois and Kos capture them.  They were, to a man gobsmacked and pleased
and excited, all at the same time.  Yannie, Kos and Photois came next and
with Thanos and the professor holding the lamps looked in.  Same reaction.

Us plebes were all getting just a bit anxious by this time.  Thanos sent
the photographers behind and called us up two at a time.  This gave the
photographers wonderful facial expressions, to capture from each and every
one of us.

I was standing next to Jason and right behind Max and Seb.  We leaned over
and to our amazement, we saw probably the best preserved classical period
sculpture ever.  In fact it was so perfect that even the thick layer of
dust covering it, could not hide its' beauty.

What we saw, was a rear, three diminutional statue of Zeus and Ganymede.
Zeus was seated, his Ganymede was standing, holding a large cup.  Unlike
most Greek Sculpture from this period, both god and boy had pleasant,
loving expressions.  They were looking at each other.  Mom later told me,
the old Greeks did not show expressions of emotions, on their statues, they
thought that unmanly.  Zeus had his arm around the boy's waist, his fingers
clutching the naked lad's hip.  His other hand reaching for the cup.
Ganymede stood, his hands both holding the cup, which he must have just
kissed.  The statue looked to be life sized but since we were viewing it
from the top, in a tube as it were, a full appreciation was yet to be had.

I don't think anyone knew, quite what to do or quite how to react.  It was
obvious, this place was one of some reverence.  It was obvious, none of us
still worshipped the old gods.  I don't think any of us, worship modern
gods either.  We all looked to the professor and Thanos for answers.
During the coming days, we would no doubt spend many hours studying
classical art and
sculpture. (http://greeklandscapes.com/greece/athens_museum_classical.html)

Professor Albrech spoke first. "This is not a place of solum worship but a
place of celebration.  I don't think this was a temple to worship Zeus and
Ganymede being a mortal, could not be worshiped at all.  No, this was a
place to celebrate love and honor the tradition and ideals embodied in this
work of art."

Thanos spoke next. "I think we men should pay honor to our boys and
celebrate those ideals.  To that end let us cleanse ourselves in the sea
and celebrate together, please."  he pointed to the door and everyone
except the chief and the professor, did as bid.  All I can say is, if this
is what an orgy is, I sure as hell want lots more of it.  God, I love being
a boy in this place.  We are truly princes and were given truly princely
treatment, that afternoon.  I have never been caresses, kissed, fondled and
embraced so much in so short a time.  Including the graduate students and
the four older boys, us younger ones all had three or four men making sure
we understood what honour us, meant.  Everyone and I mean everyone, got
fucked, sucked, kissed, fondled and just loved.

Over the next several days much more work was done on the temple or
sanctuary.  The floor turned out to be false and when removed and emptied
of ballast and the steps lowered, the proportions were restored.  The
statue sat directly on the floor of the round temple like structure.  It
was life sized and when clean was truly a work of beauty; obviously the
sculpture put his heart into making it, demonstrating his honouring of the
ideals.

The walls were also false and when partly removed, revealed standard Greek
columns.  The capstones or capitals were not carved and no freezes were
present; the temple was very simple and plane, except for the one exquisite
statue.  Kos thought the lack of decoration denoted the idea of nothing
distracting from the beauty and meaning of the statue.

In the court yard what appeared to have been a pool, was.  It had been fed
by hot springs, the water piped some distance.  The geology tutor found the
source and sampled the travertine deposits for dating.  He speculated the
spring had gone dry a very long time ago, probably before the second
century CE.

The professor speculated that early on, probably toward the end of the
first century CE, the monks built the monastery to hide and preserve the
old temple or sanctuary, as he called it.  The early Christens, be they
Byzantine or Roman, had a habit of taking over older religious sites,
symbols, celebrations, and so on.  In fact, they often destroyed much in
the process.  It was about the time of construction, when the church,
mostly the western group (Rome based), started making a concerted effort to
stamp out all vestiges of the old ways.  Who ever these people were, they
recognized what was happening around them and what fait would befall their
shrine and themselves.

It appears, that in the face of Ottoman expansion and the drying up of
thermal springs, the monks abandon their monastery.  This was obviously a
planned withdrawal.  All of the out buildings had been carefully
dismantled.  Walls and roofs were taken down.  Building materials,
meticulous stacked and covered with a thin layer of debris.  No evidence of
fire or natural disaster is present.  Any wood or pottery and the like,
seams to have been removed, the only potshards to be found, were in two
small garbage disposal pits or the several middens.

It appears that the monks were meticulous in their withdrawal, taking all
evidence of who they were, with them.  Subsequent searches of old records,
failed to identify them.  Not even a coin or other useful artifact was
found.  It is obvious, people had been worshipping or perhaps celebrating
here, on Paidi Nisi for thousands of years.  The temple had been destroyed
and rebuilt once, early in its history, and maintained so well, that when
hidden behind the false walls, must be considered pristine.  Yet no trace
of who had been the visitors or the keepers has ever been found, anywhere
on the island.  No reference to the island, its temple or monastery has yet
been found, in any literature.  In fact, the name Paidi Nisi was not even
officially given to the island until the late 1930's, when some map maker
asked the local Naxos based fisherman, what they called the place.  None of
them knew who or when, the informal name came about, it just always was
called that.

Kos sketched and painted much.  He made a large portrait of the statue,
that was hung in the Greek bath under the house.  All of this presented
somewhat of a dilemma for the archeologists and the property owners.  As
the professor dug on into the fall, he discovered that this place had been
occupied and used from very early times, originally by the Minions.  He
found good evidence, of the early works having been destroyed by a large
tidal wave and then covered by ash.  The geology tutor Dr. Kemp, believed
this was related to the explosion of Santorini but he would need mineral
dating to be sure.

The major problem they faced, was in dealing with the Greek Antiquities
people and the National Museum.  Obviously the graduate students and
professor needed to publish findings and the presence of such a well
preserved temple and statue would attract a lot of attention, Dem and
Thanos did not want.  Dr. Kemp the science tutor pointed out, several large
earthquakes had shaken the island in the distant past.  He could not
guarantee that none would occur in the future but thought it unlikely.  The
temple could be completely restored but to what end and purpose?

That evening around the dinner table, talk was of little else, as one can
imagine.  The regular history tutor was on sabbatical but Thanos thought it
best to recall him at once and invite mom to visit as well.  Kos agreed,
out mother would be most interested and professor Sepp thought between
mother, the tutor and himself, they could do a lot of good work.  I
wondered how that would work.  Mom, and I guess dad, would come too, would
be the only woman on the island.  I asked.

Thanos suggested he invite his sisters in laws and nieces, his son's
biological mothers and their half sisters and the grandmothers.  They could
all stay on the Aphrodite and we men will just have to keep our cloths on
and our hands off each other, in public for a few days.  "If your mother
comes to visit, your stay can be extended, unless you want to rush home,
Russ."

I just turned red and smiled, he knew my answer to that.  Kos just laughed.
We still have a few weeks before school started again.

Dem thought, Kos and I should be inducted into their most secret society,
Apollo's Phallus.  I was all for it.  Kos was just a bit hesitant, until
someone explained it to him.  We would do that the following evening.  This
evening I had a date with Angelo, in his room and a new boy sleeping
partner, to consider.  So too for Kos, he had made friends with Phillip
(Phillipos) the fine arts tutor.

It was on the next island night, Russell and Kosmos were inducted into the
secret society, Apollo's Phallus.  The purpose of this society is several
fold.  The most important is, keeping these sexual and intergenerational
relationships a secret, to the outside world.  As we have seen, sex between
the boys is accepted and a given.  The boys knew they should never talk
about it, outside of themselves.  The sex between the adults, was something
they knew not to discuss off the ship or island.  The sex between the
adults and the youth, the most prized secret and one they must never talk
about. except to another AP member.  Much like the Ganymedes, in that
respect.

The pageantry and general trappings of a secret society, loyalty to the
fraternity and family, appeals to men and boys alike.  Being part of a
group, is very important to adolescent boys.  Kos believed, you have to
have a scrotum to understand it.  The society reinforces and honors other
social and human values, the bond between members, sex education and just
having a good time, among the many.  Again much like the Ganymedes.

Each member is given a round silver ring, which has a laurel wreath around
the outside, a narrow tripod in the centre and rays radiating outward.  The
tripod when looked at from a distance, resembles a phallus.  This is the
same symbol that appears on one of the standards, flying from the
flagpoles, in front of the main house.  In the basement of the house is a
large pool, an old fashioned Greek bath.  Instead of marble, the bath,
floors and other areas, that could get wet, are granite.  The walls and
other accouterments are mostly marble.  The common themes are: the laurel,
brightness or light, musical instruments; tripods, arrows and other phallic
symbols.

Day light to the "bath", is provided by a series of tubular skylights, that
pipe the sun into the room.  On entering, one sees the pool of course and a
small altar like shrine, in the background.  It has a huge phallus sitting
on it.  The head of this object, has a laurel wreath around its outer
margin or corona and another girdling the sulcus (the indent below the
corona).  The meatus, is prominent and open.  At the base, is a large set
of testicles.  The columns all look in gigantic penises or arrows.  On the
walls are large works of art, mostly frescos that depict naked boys and
men, in all forms of physical contact or athletic activities.  Their are
several life sized statues of the god and other beautiful men and boys.
Long benches covered by cushions, along with large cushions and pillows,
are scattered around the room.  The place smells of men and sex, honey and
herbs.  In addition, Dem has female pheromones, dispensed into the air but
these "smells" are not perceptible.  They do get the hormones flowing.

.........................

A few notes for those readers interested in such things.

[Forgot your Edith Hamilton? It might serve the reader to remind himself of
how the old Greeks saw things, specifically gods.
http://faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/Gods&men.htm, this is a good place to
start and a lot shorter than Hamilton's "Mythology".]

[Apollo is, and always was one of the more popular of the Greek gods, and
the twin brother of Artemis.  Apollo is associated with the sun gods but
remember the sun god is Helios.  Apollo is the god of light, in whom no
darkness exists, therefore he is the god of truth.  In Classical Mythology
he was considered the standard for male beauty.  Some authors speak of his
lovely endowments.  In short, he was well hung and a hunk.  He presides
over religious and civil law, and even foretold the future.  He was the
founder and chief patron of Delphi and other similar temples, the tripod
symbolizes this.  Carrying a lyre that symbolizes music, poetry, and dance,
Apollo is a patron of the arts, poets, and muses.  His bow symbolized
death, terror, and distance.  He is also associated with crops and herds.
Apollo is the only Greek god who did not sleep with Aphrodite, but he did
sleep with her son, Hymen.  Apollo's other male lovers included: King
Admetus of Thessaly, Amyclas and his son Hyacinthus the king of Sparta,
Branchus, Cyparissus, Daphnis, Hylas, Iapis, Orpheus, Paros, Phrobas,
Potneius, Troilus, Tymnius, Zacynthus, and the ram-god Carneius.  He got
around.  It is also said, he had a fond eye for Ganymede.  It is also said,
Ganymede was "well liked" by all the male gods on Olympus.]