Apollo and Daphne

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In Greek Mythology, Apollo is the god of the sun. He was believed to be the one who pulled the sun up each day with his chariot drawn by four horses. Apollo was also the Ancient Greek god of music, poems, art, medicine, plague, archery and knowledge.  In this myth, he falls in love with a wood nymph called Daphne. It goes like this:

Apollo the sun god had been mocking Cupid (aka Eros) the god of love, after Cupid had had enough of the taunting he decided to have revenge. He fired two arrows. The first gold arrow struck Apollo, which made him fall in love with Daphne, a Naiad nymph, daughter of the River. The second was made of lead. It struck Daphne and made her despise Apollo.

Under the spell of Cupid's arrow, Apollo chased a distressed nymph along the river bank declaring that he would always love her. Daphne, harassed at being chased by Apollo, turned to her father the River and begged him to help her get away from the sun god. Hearing his daughters desperate pleas, the River god, Peneus, used metamorphosis to transform Daphne into a beautiful laurel tree. Suddenly the nymph skidded to a halt, Apollo crashed straight into her but instead of hitting a girl, he scraped himself against the rough bark of a laurel tree.

Apollo, still desperately in love, was upset. Therefore he made the laurel tree sacred to him, and wore a laurel leaf on his clothing; any Ancient Greek warrior who returned home from fighting a battle was rewarded by a wreath of laurel leaves for his bravery in honour of the sun god's desperate love for a nymph.


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