1531 appearance of Halley’s comet. Apian was also the
first to note that the tails of comets invariably point away
from the sun. His son, Philipp Apian, also made an im-
portant contribution to CARTOGRAPHY.
Apollo The classical sun-god, who was adopted into Re-
naissance iconography as the embodiment of reason and
order, and thus particularly associated with philosophy.
He was also closely associated with artistic creativity, and
he appears as patron of the MUSESand GRACESin music,
art, and literature. This concept is epitomized in the crude
woodcut illustrating GAFFURIO’s Practica musicae (1496),
showing a whole range of musical correspondences, with
Apollo, crowned and holding a musical instrument, at the
head of the picture, three dumpy Graces on his right, and
below them medallions depicting the Muses.
Apollo’s role as the creator of universal order through
music is also celebrated in the myth of his victory in a mu-
sical contest with the satyr Marsyas (symbol of the irra-
tional and uncontrollable), a subject treated by RAPHAELin
a fresco for the Stanza della Segnatura, as well as by Pietro
PERUGINO, GIULIO ROMANO, TITIAN, and Guido RENI. An al-
legory of the pursuit of artistic excellence was perceived in
the story, taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, of Apollo’s
pursuit of the nymph Daphne, who was transformed into
a laurel tree at the instant that he caught her; the scene is
depicted in a painting attributed to Antonio Pollaiuolo
(National Gallery, London).Aquaviva, Claudius (1543–1615) Italian theologian,
fifth general of the Society of Jesus
Having joined the JESUITSin 1567, Aquaviva was elected
general in 1581, the youngest in the history of the society.
He was faced with a variety of internal disputes, most im-
portantly the claims of the Spanish Jesuits for special priv-
ileges; these he successfully opposed by defeating Spanish
demands for an additional commissary-general for Spain.
Aquaviva’s writings include his Directorium (1591), a
guide to IGNATIUS LOYOLA’s Spiritual Exercises, and his
Ratio studiorum (Method of studies; 1586), a system of ed-
ucation for Jesuit schools that remained unchallenged
until the 20th century. His introduction of Litterae Annuae
helped improve the society’s efficiency, and during his
time in office its membership increased from around 50002244 AAppoollllooPeter ApianA map of the world from the first French translation (1544) of his Cosmographia(1524). The maps in this work were
among the first to name (South) America and to show it as a separate continent.