Apaliunas is a theonym, attested in a Hittite language treaty as a tutelary of Wilusa. Apaliunas is considered to be the Hittite reflex of *Apeljōn, an early form of the name Apollo.
Apaliunas is among the gods who guarantee a treaty drawn up about 1280 BCE between Alaksandu of Wilusas, interpreted as "Alexander of Ilios" and the great Hittite king,[1] Muwatalli II. He is one of the three deities named on the side of the city. In Homer, Apollo is the builder of the walls of Ilium, a god on the Trojan side.
Further east of the Luwian language area, a Hurrian god Aplu was a deity of the plague — bringing it, or, if propitiated, protecting from it — and resembles Apollo Sminthos, "mouse-Apollo"[2] worshiped at Troy and Tenedos, who brought plague upon the Achaeans in answer to a Trojan prayer at the opening of Iliad.[3] The Hurrian Aplu itself seems derived from Babylonian "Aplu" meaning "son of", a title that was given to the Babylonian plague god, Nergal as son of Enlil. In Greek mythology, Apollo remained the son of the chief god, Zeus.