It's All Greek to Me!

Apollo and Daphne!

Apollo, the God of the Sun, light, poetry, and all around what every young ancient Greek man aspired to be, was not as lucky with the ladies as his father Zeus was. While Apollo had his own share of lovers, both male and female, it seems to be his unsuccessful love affairs that are the most prominent.

Here, Apollo has fallen for the beautiful young maiden Daphne, whose father was a River God (thus, in some versions, making Daphne a nymph). Apollo tries tried to woo said young lady, but she was much more concerned about her unspoiled virginity and did not wish to become another one of Apollo’s numerous lovers. Besides, she knew what happened to lovers of the gods- their seed is ALWAYS fruitful, she will be left alone to raise their child, and usually neither of their fates have happy endings.

Wishing to avoid all of that, Daphne ran away from the god, but of course he pursued. Seeing that Apollo was gaining on her, Daphne called out to her father to help her. As soon as her toes touched the bank of her fathers river, they became rooted to the spot, bark started to enclose her legs, her fingers started elongating into branches, her hair into twigs and leaves. Just at that moment, Apollo caught up with her and just as he wrapped his arms around her, her transformation was complete. She had been turned into a laurel tree.

To honor his lost love, Apollo took a branch from the tree and created the laurels (the circular crown made out of laurel branches/leaves) and claimed her as his tree. The laurels became one of the highest honors in Ancient Greece and the laurel tree was forever a symbol of the Sun God.

In a way, they both won and lost. Daphne got turned into a tree, but she preserved that which was most precious to her. Apollo did not win Daphne, but he did manage to somehow call her his own.

And so, here are some of the most famous representations of these two crazy kids- two are done by some of my favorite artists, aka Bernini and Waterhouse.