Daphne was a beautiful nymph, the daughter of the river-god Peneus, who was pursued by Apollo and transformed into a laurel tree to escape him. The myth is and most poignant of the Greek love stories, the original tale of unrequited love and transformation. The myth gave us the laurel wreath, the symbol of victory, achievement, and poetic inspiration, and it has been the subject of countless works of literature, art, and music. The story is told in detail by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, and it is the source of the phrase “I fled from him” that has echoed through Western literature ever since.
The Origins of the Myth
The myth of Daphne and Apollo is the foundation of one of the most familiar symbols in Western culture, the laurel wreath. The myth was well known in the ancient world, and it was the subject of many works of art and literature, including the famous Ovidian version in the Metamorphoses.
The earliest version of the myth is found in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, which tells the story of Apollo’s pursuit of Daphne. In this version, Daphne is not a nymph but a “beloved” of Apollo, and the story is not about unrequited love but about the god’s desire. The story was later developed by the Hellenistic poets, particularly Callimachus, who made Daphne a chaste nymph, and by Ovid, who gave the story its most famous form.
The Cause of the Love
According to the most familiar version of the myth, told by Ovid, the love of Apollo for Daphne was caused by the god of love, Eros. Apollo, having just slain the serpent Python at Delphi, came upon Eros, who was playing with his bow and arrows. Apollo mocked the boy, saying that his bow and arrows were fit for children, not for gods.
Eros, angered, took two arrows: one gold, with a sharp point, which caused love; the other lead, with a blunt point, which caused aversion. He shot Apollo with the gold arrow, and he shot Daphne with the lead arrow. Apollo immediately fell in love with the nymph, and Daphne immediately felt an aversion to all men.
The Pursuit
Apollo pursued Daphne, begging her to stay, to slow down, to let him be her companion. He praised her beauty, her grace, her wisdom, and her modesty. He promised her eternal fame, that she would be a queen of the forest, that he would never let her grow old.
Daphne, however, was unmoved. She ran faster, into the deep forest, with Apollo in hot pursuit. She prayed to her father, the river-god Peneus, to save her, to destroy the beauty that had attracted the god. Her father heard her prayer, and just as Apollo was about to catch her, he transformed her into a laurel tree.
The Transformation
According to Ovid, the transformation of Daphne is one of the most poignant moments in the Metamorphoses. As Apollo’s hands closed around her waist, her skin became soft bark, her hair became leaves, her arms became branches, and her feet became roots. She stood before Apollo, transformed into a tree, but still recognizable as the beautiful nymph he had pursued.
Apollo, in his grief, declared that the laurel would be his sacred tree. He would wear a wreath of laurel on his head, and he would use laurel branches for his lyre. The leaves of the laurel would never wither, and they would be the symbol of victory and poetic achievement.
The Laurel in Greek Culture
The laurel became one of the most important symbols in Greek culture. The laurel wreath was the prize of victors at the Pythian Games, held every four years at Delphi in honor of Apollo’s victory over Python. The laurel was also the symbol of poetic achievement, and the poets of the Hellenistic period, including Callimachus and Theocritus, were often depicted wearing laurel wreaths.
The laurel was also used in the Greek religious rituals, particularly in the ritual of the Pythia, the priestess of the oracle at Delphi. The Pythia would chew laurel leaves and breathe in their smoke to induce the trance-like state in which she would deliver her prophecies.
The Romans adopted the laurel as the symbol of military victory, and the Roman triumph, the highest honor a general could receive, was marked by the victor’s wearing of a laurel wreath. The Roman emperors, including Augustus, were often depicted wearing laurel wreaths, and the phrase “to rest on one’s laurels” has come to mean to be content with past achievements.
The Cultural Legacy of Daphne
The story of Daphne has had a profound influence on Western culture. The image of the beautiful nymph pursued by the god and transformed into a tree has been the subject of countless works of literature, art, and music. The most famous depiction is the statue by Bernini, Apollo and Daphne (1622-1625), in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, which captures the moment of transformation in vivid detail.
The story of Daphne has been the subject of operas, plays, and films, including the 2007 film Apollon and Daphne and the 2019 opera Daphne by Richard Strauss. The phrase “Daphne” has been used for countless things in modern life, including the Daphne genus of shrubs, the Daphne award for mystery writing, and the famous Daphne in the Percy Jackson series, where she is portrayed as a sympathetic character.
The story of Daphne has been interpreted by feminist critics as a symbol of the female resistance to male desire, and the transformation into a tree as a symbol of the choice to remain a virgin and to escape the male gaze. The story has also been interpreted by ecocritical scholars as a symbol of the relationship between humans and nature, and the way that nature can be both beautiful and dangerous.
For more on the cultural legacy, see our guide to Greek mythology in modern culture, and our profiles of Apollo and Eros.