Daphne

Daphne was a nymph of Greek mythology, daughter of a river god, who escaped the pursuit of Apollo by being turned into a laurel tree. Her name is the Greek word for the laurel, and the story explains why the laurel became Apollo’s tree. The fullest ancient account is in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (1.452–567).

Who Was Daphne?

In Ovid she is Daphne Peneia, the nymph daughter of the river god Peneus (Metamorphoses 1.452, 1.472, 1.545). Hyginus likewise calls her the virgin daughter of the river Peneus (Fabulae 203). Pausanias knows a different father. Writing of the Arcadian river Ladon, he says it is famous for the story of Daphne that the poets tell, and elsewhere he calls her the daughter of Ladon, whom Apollo loved, which in his view is the reason why the Pythian victor wins a crown of laurel (Description of Greece 8.20.1, 10.7.8). The Ladon is a river of Arcadia, and the two fathers belong to different local traditions. She is a nymph rather than a goddess; Ovid calls her a nympha (Metamorphoses 1.472, 1.504).

Myth of Apollo and Daphne

According to Ovid, Daphne was Apollo’s first love, and this came about not by chance but through the cruel anger of Cupid, the Roman Eros. Apollo, proud after his recent victory over the serpent Python, saw Eros bending his bow and mocked him: what business had a lascivious boy with the weapons of warriors? Such arms suited Apollo, who could wound wild beasts and enemies; let the boy be satisfied with stirring up love with his torch and not claim the glory of Apollo (Metamorphoses 1.452–462).

The son of Venus answered that Apollo’s bow might pierce everything, but his own would pierce Apollo. He flew to the shady peak of Parnassus and took two arrows from his quiver, of different workmanship: one that causes love, golden and with a sharp point, and one that drives love away, blunt and tipped with lead. With the leaden arrow he struck the nymph, daughter of Peneus, and with the golden one he wounded Apollo to the marrow of his bones. At once Apollo loved and Daphne fled the very name of a lover (Metamorphoses 1.463–474).

Daphne’s Vow

Daphne took delight in the shade of the woods and in the spoils of wild beasts she had caught, a rival of Phoebe (Artemis), the unmarried goddess, with her hair held back by a simple band. Many suitors sought her, but she shunned them and roamed the pathless woods, caring nothing for Hymen, love or marriage. Her father told her again and again that he owed himself a son-in-law and grandchildren; she blushed, threw her arms around his neck and begged him to let her keep her virginity for ever, as Jupiter had once granted to Diana. Peneus gave way, but, as Ovid says, her own beauty made this wish impossible to keep (Metamorphoses 1.474–489).

The Pursuit and Transformation

Apollo burned for her and hoped for what he desired. He followed Daphne as she fled, lighter than the breeze, and called out that he was not an enemy; he was a god of Delphi, Claros, Tenedos and Patara, son of Jupiter, the god who reveals what has been and will be, who invented medicine and knows the power of herbs, but no herbs could cure love (Metamorphoses 1.502–524). Daphne did not stop. Ovid compares the chase to that of a hound after a hare: the god gains on her, and his breath touches her hair (Metamorphoses 1.525–542).

Her strength was spent. Pale with the effort of flight, she looked at the waters of the Peneus and prayed to him: “Help me, father, if you rivers have divine power.” She asked that the earth might open, or that the form by which she had pleased too much be destroyed by changing it (Metamorphoses 1.543–547). Hardly had she finished when a heavy numbness seized her limbs. Her soft body was wrapped in thin bark, her hair grew into leaves and her arms into branches, her swift foot was held fast in sluggish roots, and her face became a treetop; only her beauty remained (Metamorphoses 1.548–552).

Another Version: Gaea Takes Her In

Hyginus tells the end differently. When Apollo pursued Daphne, the virgin daughter of Peneus, she asked the Earth for protection, and the Earth took her into herself and changed her into a laurel tree; Apollo broke off a branch and put it on his head (Hyginus, Fabulae 203). Pausanias adds a different story from the Arcadian tradition: the prince Leucippus, son of Oenomaus, fell in love with Daphne, who avoided men, and joined her hunting disguised as a girl. The poets who sing of Apollo’s love for Daphne, he says, added that Apollo grew jealous of Leucippus, and that Daphne and the other maidens at once conceived a longing to swim in the Ladon, stripped Leucippus against his will and, seeing that he was no maiden, killed him with their javelins and daggers (Description of Greece 8.20.2–4).

The Laurel and Apollo

Ovid says that Apollo embraced the tree, felt her heart still trembling under the new bark, and kissed the wood, which shrank from his kisses. He then said: “Since you cannot be my wife, you will certainly be my tree. My hair, my lyre and my quiver will always have you, laurel.” He promised that she would be present when Roman generals celebrated their triumphs, would stand as faithful guardian before the doors of Augustus’ house, and, like his own unshorn hair, would always keep her leaves green. The laurel bowed its new branches in agreement (Metamorphoses 1.553–567).

Daphne's Legacy

Ovid says that before this the victors at the Pythian Games, which Apollo founded after killing Python, were crowned with leaves of oak, since there was not yet any laurel (Metamorphoses 1.445–451). Pausanias gives the same reason for the later custom: in his opinion the crown of laurel is the prize for a Pythian victory solely because tradition says that Apollo fell in love with the daughter of Ladon (Description of Greece 10.7.8). He adds that the oldest temple of Apollo at Delphi was said to have been made of laurel branches brought from Tempe (Description of Greece 10.5.9). In Ovid, the laurel is also promised to Roman triumphs and to the doorposts of Augustus (Metamorphoses 1.560–565).

Daphne Sources

Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.438–567; Hyginus, Fabulae 203; Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.20.1–4, 10.5.9, 10.7.8.

See Also: Peneus, Apollo, Eros, Gaea, Artemis, Python, Ladon