Apollo's Belt

I've always had a thing for the 'Apollo's Belt' on a guy. It stems back from those first stirrings of my sexuality and seeing a photo of a guy in speedos. Even now, I can see the image that started it all off. It's burned into the album in my mind forever. Whilst the guy below isn't wearing speedos, just seeing this image creates those butterflies in my stomach.

Apollo was the God of music, poetry, plague, oracles, sun, medicine, light and knowledge, in fact pretty much all of the other gods rolled into one (a bit like the Pisceans of the zodiac - we have a bit of all the other star signs). Although he had many female lovers, he also seems to be one of the first gay stereotypes partly due to his ability to be a danger where all things sporty were concerned, and partly down to the fact that he seemed to have a thing for crying at the drop of a hat and bringing ill-health or plagues on people if he didn't get his own way. This guy could clearly be one nasty bitch from hell.

The unfortunate soul managed to kill his first male lover Hyacinthus while they were practicing throwing the discus. Apparently the god of the West Wind, Zephyrus (another bisexual), was also in love with Hyacinthus, but Hyacinthus chose Apollo over Zephyrus. In a fit of jealousy, old Zeph blew the discus off course and slammed it into Hyacinthus's head - killing him instantly. Apollo created a flower, the Hyacinth, cried all over it and stained the petals with 'alas' - which is pretty potent.

Not to be put off by sporting endeavours, Apollo then gave another of his lovers Cyparissus, a javelin. While practicing with this, Cyparissus, managed to spear a tame deer that Apollo had given him as a companion (presumably as a pet kind of companion, and nothing untoward). Well Cyparissus was racked with grief and asked Apollo to let him cry forever - so Apollo turned him into a tree whose sap seeps from the trunk and forms tearlike droplets. Of course we know it as the Cypress.

Other than a tryst with a boxer, Apollo steered clear of sporty things and concentrated on music contests, where he could either nail the loser from a tree and whip them, or turn his opponents ears into those of a donkey. Clearly this was too much for one lover Leucates, who, rather than take chances, chose to throw himself off some rocks rather than be carried off by Apollo.

Despite this, one of the things that Apollo left us with (apart from the legacy of the Olympic Games) is what is deemed a perfectly proportioned body, and the area that is known as the 'Apollo's Belt'. It's correct term is the iliac furrow, and it refers to either one of two shallow grooves running from the iliac crest (hip bone) to the pubis.