The myth of Apollo and Daphne is a story describing what happens when lust faces

rejection. It’s a tale about the power of love, the power of Cupid (or Eros in Greek) who
can even blind the most powerful amongst the Greek Gods. In the myth, Apollo falls
madly in love with Daphne, a woman sworn to remain a virgin. Apollo hunts Daphne
who refuses to accept his advances. Right when he catches her, she turns into a laurel
tree, a scene famously depicted in Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne sculpture.

Apollo Slays The Python And Offends Cupid

The story of Apollo and Daphne in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (I.438-567) took place right
after Apollo killed the Python, the great snake that terrorized mankind. Apollo, called
Phoebus by Ovid, pierced the Python with 1,000 arrows and founded the sacred Pythian
Games named after the serpent. The sanctuary of Delphi, home to the famous oracle,
called Pythia, was built on top of the Python’s dead body.
After his triumph over such a powerful enemy, Apollo was full of arrogance. Seeing the
god of love, Eros, better known as cupid, who was also a famous bowman, Apollo started
making fun of him:

“Impudent boy, what are you doing with a man’s weapons?”

Cupid was often depicted as a winged boy who explains Apollo’s comment. Apollo felt
that Cupid was stealing his glory by gaining fame as a famous archer. Having defeated
the Python, he believed that he and only he was worthy of holding a bow and a quiver.

“I can hit wild beasts of a certainty, and wound my enemies, and not long ago
destroyed with countless arrows the swollen Python that covered many acres with
its plague-ridden belly. You should be intent on stirring the concealed fires of
love with your burning brand, not laying claim to my glories!”

Cupid’s Reaction To Apollo’s Remarks

Cupid did not take the offense lightheartedly:

“You may hit every other thing Phoebus, but my bow will strike you: to the degree that
all living creatures are less than gods, by that degree is your glory less than mine.”

The next thing Cupid did was something Apollo did not see coming. The god of love
stroke his wings and flew right next to the god of music. He then shot him in the chest
with a “golden arrow with a sharp glistening point”. This arrow did not kill or hurt
Apollo. The actual injury was not corporeal, it was sentimental, but Apollo would learn
that soon.

With a second arrow, a “blunt one with lead beneath its shaft”, Cupid shot Daphne, a
nymph who also happened to be a virgin huntress of the goddess Artemis. Daphne was
very beautiful and many men came to ask for her hand. However, she was devoted to
hunting and following the laws of the goddess Artemis, who demanded chastity and
virginity. Ovid writes that her father, the river god Peneus, disagreed with her life and
asked her to settle down and give him grandchildren:

“It is my due, child of my heart, to be given grandchildren”, said Peneus.

“Dearest father, let me be a virgin forever! Diana’s father granted it to her”, Daphne
always replied.

Apollo’s Love Meets Daphne’s Disgust: A Tragic Dead-End

Coming back to Cupid’s arrows, they both had special abilities. The one that hit Apollo,
was an arrow of love and intense passion. The moment he got hit by the arrow, Apollo
spotted Daphne hunting in the wild and unable to contain his passion went after her.
However, the arrow that hit Daphne, was an arrow that filled the nymph’s heart with
disgust for the god who appeared in front of her.

Cupid’s revenge was cruel. Apollo was madly in love with a woman who hated him with
every ounce of her being.

Apollo’s love for Daphne was so strong that the god of prophecy was unable to foretell
his future but still, his emotions were uncontrollable. He approached the nymph whom he
now saw as more beautiful and virtuous than she actually was. He started praising her
again and again. But Daphne could not even stand his presence. Before Apollo could
even get a proper response, Daphne had fled.

Apollo Chases Daphne

“Wait nymph, daughter of Peneus, I beg you!”, screamed Apollo but Daphne did not
even look back.
The god kept begging Daphne to stop. He tried to explain that he posed no threat to her
and that his intentions were good:

“I who am chasing you am not your enemy. Nymph, Wait! This is the way a sheep
runs from the wolf, a deer from the mountain lion, […] but it is love that is driving me
to follow you! Pity me!”

The chase went on as Apollo was becoming more and more paranoid. He was afraid that
Daphne might fall and get hurt. In a hopeless attempt to make her stop he started
explaining to her who he was. Besides, he was the god of beauty, prophecy, medicine,
and music, no woman should be able to resist him:

“Rash girl, you do not know, you cannot realize, who you run from, and so you run.
Delphi’s lands are mine, Claros and Tenedos, and Patara acknowledges me, king.
Jupiter (Zeus) is my father. Through me what was, what is, and what will be, are
revealed. Through me, strings sound in harmony, with the song. My aim is certain, but
an arrow truer than mine has wounded my free heart! The whole world calls me the
bringer of aid; medicine is my invention; my power is in herbs. But love cannot be
healed by any herb, nor can the arts that cure others cure their lord!”

The Tragic Conclusion

“Like a hound of Gaul starting a hare in an empty field, that heads for its prey, she for
safety”

With these words, Ovid (Metamorphoses 525-550) describes Apollo and Daphne’s chase
as the story was nearing its tragic conclusion.

Apollo focused on catching Daphne. He was running and running while the nymph could
see that she was getting closer and closer to getting caught. At times Apollo could almost
grab her but she escaped him at the last second. However, it was becoming clear that
Daphne would be caught sooner or later. As moments passed Daphne was becoming
exhausted. And then, finally, Apollo grabbed her:

“So the virgin and the god: he drove by desire, she by fear. He ran faster, Amor giving
him wings, and allowed her no rest, hung on her fleeing shoulders, breathed on the
hair flying around her neck. Her strength was gone, she grew pale, overcome by the
effort of her rapid flight”
right at that moment Daphne saw the waters of her father’s river, Peneus and
screamed:

“Help me, father! If your streams have divine powers change me, destroy this beauty
that pleases too well!”

Peneus helped his daughter who was now firmly in the hands of Apollo. Daphne started
transforming into a tree. Her hair became leaves, her arms branches, and her legs roots.
Before Apollo could have a look at her face, she was gone. The only thing standing
where Daphne stood was a beautiful laurel tree (literally a daphne tree in Greek).

Apollo’s Love Never Dies

Even after Daphne’s transformation, Apollo’s love did not wither away. The god took the
leaves of the tree in his hands and kissed the wood of the tree. He then whispered:

“Since you cannot be my bride, you must be my tree! Laurel, with you my hair will be
wreathed, with you my lyre, with you my quiver. You will go with the Roman generals
when joyful voices acclaim their triumph, and the Capitol witnesses their long
processions. You will stand outside Augustus’s doorposts, a faithful guardian, and
keep watch over the crown of oak between them. And just as my head with its
uncropped hair is always young, so you also will wear the beauty of undying leaves.”

And truly since then, the laurel became the sacred tree of Apollo. In the Delphi, the
oracle would chew laurel leaves before receiving the divine wisdom that she translated
into a prophecy. Also, the prize of the Pythian Games, the second most important Games
in antiquity after the Olympics was a crown of laurel.