What was daphne turned into

While the nymph was wild and dishevelled, he saw her as a perfect image of beauty. He called out to her that he worried she would hurt herself while racing through the forest.

She could be scratched by briars or suffer a fall and he would not be able to forgive himself if he was the cause of her pain. He thought she had mistaken him for a rough peasant and did not know who he was, so he shouted out that he was the lord of Delphi, the god of music, and the son of Zeus.

He even lamented that, even though he was the god of healing medicine, he could not cure himself of his love for her. He tried to assure her that he meant her no harm and would not hurt her, but Daphne paid no attention to his protests.

Already hateful of the idea of marriage, the lead arrow made her even more disgusted by the god that pursued her. Daphne ran, according to Ovid, like a hare being pursued by a hunting dog.

She grew more panicked and desperate the farther she went. Daphne began to grow tired. Although she was used to running through the forest and was driven by fear, Apollo continued to grow closer and closer to catching up to her.

Apollo, however, was driven by love. As he gained on her, Daphne knew she would soon be overtaken and she cried out for help. Some versions of the story said that she called out to Gaia , but most, like Ovid, said that she ran for the banks of the river and called to its god, her father.

Scarce had she made her prayer when through her limbs a dragging languor spread, her tender bosom was wrapped in thin smooth bark, her slender arms were changed to branches and her hair to leaves; her feet but now so swift were anchored fast in numb stiff roots, her face and had became the crown of a green tree; all that remained of Daphne was her shining loveliness. And still Phoebus loved her; on the trunk he placed his hand and felt beneath the bark her heart still beating, held in his embrace her branches, pressed his kisses on the wood; yet from his kisses the wood recoiled.

My lure, my locks, my quiver you shall wreathe. Thus spoke the god; the laurel in assent inclined her new-made branches and bent down, or seemed to bend, her head, her leafy crown. Daphne had escaped from Apollo, but was lost to the world forever.

She had been transformed into a laurel tree. Her metamorphosis was complete just as the god caught up to her. He reached to embrace her, but it was already too late.

In the last moments as Apollo embraced her, he could feel her beating heart and the way the tree recoiled from him. From the moment he saw her undergoing her transformation, Apollo vowed that the laurel would forever be sacred to him. The laurel became a sacred symbol of Apollo. It became a symbol of status that lasted beyond the Classical and Hellenistic periods. Even today, the image of the wreath of leaves is used in athletics and academia to signify success and achievement. While the Greeks called the plant daphne , the Latins gave us the world we use today.

One of the most familiar uses of the word today is in the position of poet laureate. This honor began in Renaissance Italy, where writers who emulated the grand traditions of the Roman world were crowned in a fitting manner.

The Roman Emperors held the plant in such high regard as a symbol of favor and victory that they kept their own grove. It had supposedly been planted by Livia, the first empress, when a bird brought her a single sprig of leaves. Apollo was the god of medicine, so it was appropriate that his sacred plant had significant medical value. In fact, Roman sources give even more medical use to the laurel.

Pliny the Elder claimed the plant could cure spasms, paralysis, bruises, ear infections, headaches, and many more ailments. Because of its association with Apollo, the god of truthful prophecy, a form of divination developed in which people burned laurel leaves and interpreted the ways in which they cracked and burned.

Of course, in the modern world we have a much more practical use for laurel leaves. Most English speakers today know the plant by one of its common varieties, bay, and use the leaves in cooking rather than in ceremony. One may also ask, what does the myth of Apollo and Daphne explain? The myth of Apollo and Daphne recounts how the deity Apollo pursues the human Daphne until she is turned by an outside force into a laurel tree to escape his attentions.

Originally, the myth was created to explain the laurel as an attribute of the Greek god Apollo. Daphne was a Naiad nymph in Greek mythology ; naiads were minor goddesses associated with fountains, wells, springs, and other types of freshwater bodies.

She was the daughter of either the river god Peneus and Creusa, or the river god Ladon. His depiction of Apollo and Daphne comes directly from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Daphne , the beautiful nymph and follower of the chaste goddess Diana, was pursued by the sun god Apollo, who had been struck by Cupid's golden arrow of love.

Fleeing Apollo, Daphne reached her father, the river god Peneus, seen here at left. In response, Peneus use metamorphosis to turn Daphne into a laurel tree. Apollo used his powers of eternal youth and immortality to make Daphne's laurel leaves evergreen. It's believed that Daphne has to sacrifice her body and turn into a tree as this was the only way she could avoid Apollo's sexual advances. What is Daphne the god of? Daphne was a Naiad Nymph in Greek Mythology, and was the daughter of a river god.

She was famous for being incredibly beautiful and for catching the eye of Apollo. What did Apollo fear? Answer and Explanation: As one of the Olympian gods, who had the divine power of healing, plague, music, archery, and more, Apollo had little fear from existence. How did Daphne die? Transgender comedian Daphne Dorman has died by suicide after posting a public suicide note on a Facebook Friday, October She was 44 years old. She is survived by her young daughter, Naia. Why did Cupid use his powers to make Apollo fall in love with Daphne?

Cookie Settings Accept All. Manage consent. Close Privacy Overview This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website.

These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Necessary Necessary. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".

The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". It does not store any personal data.