Learn more about the Apollo and Daphne myth
Retelling
Apollo, the god of music, poetry, and the sun, has just slain the Python. He gloats about his victory and mocks Cupid, the son of Venus, for having the audacity to carry a bow and arrow that are not used for fighting.
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“What are you doing with that bow and arrow? It is only for grown-ups! I can use the bow and arrow to kill all of my enemies! I had just slain the Python using the bow and arrow. You should just give that bow to me, because I would use it properly!”
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Cupid responds angrily, “Wow, Apollo, congratulations on slaying the Python! But my bow and arrow can give you something that you need, even though you are much above everything! My bow and arrow are not used for fighting, but rather to give out love!”
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Thus, Cupid flies into the air, finds a blunt arrow dipped in lead, nocks it, and lets it fly at Daphne, the daughter of the river god, Peneus. Cupid then nocks another arrow, but this one is different. He finds a sharp, golden arrow, nocks it into the bow, and draws it at Apollo. The arrow flies, and the tip of the arrow shreds itself into Apollo’s body, and through the pain, he feels a deep affection for Daphne. At the same time, Daphne begins to run from Apollo.
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Daphne does not give any thought to marriage or having children. Whenever her father asks Daphne to give him a grandchild or a son-in-law, Daphne persuades him to let her be a virgin and have nothing to do with having children or a husband.
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At present, however, Apollo wants to marry Daphne. Because of the love-tipped arrow, he starts chasing Daphne, calling out:
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“Stop running! I am not going to hurt you! Unlike prey who fear their predators, unlike deer who run away from wolves, you shouldn’t fear me because I am not an enemy! Run slower, and I will too. You should know who you are running away from! I am the son of Jove. I had just slain the mighty Python with my bow and arrow! I am the god of the lyre, healing, and poetry. I can cure anything with my power and might. But, only you can cure my unrequited love. Just stop running, and you will be in good hands…”
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Daphne, however, ignores Apollo and runs even faster. She prays to her father, Peneus, for help.
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“Please Father, will you change my body that Apollo longs for!”
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As soon as she utters this, her body becomes heavy. Her legs become anchored to the soft earth. Roots begin sprouting from her ankles and plunge into the ground. Her fingers start to sprout branches, and her body becomes encased in bark. Her hair turns to luscious, green leaves. In her last moments of freedom, she watches as Apollo catches up to her and tries to grab her before she turns fully.
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Apollo puts his hand on the laurel tree, once Daphne, and tries to feel her heartbeat. He puts his arms around the tree as if he is hugging Daphne. The tree rustles in the wind, as if she is pulling back.
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“If you can not be my wife, then you can be my tree!”
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He rips off part of the tree and adorns himself, his lyre, and his bow and arrows with wreaths of laurels.
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Apollo exclaims, “Roman victors will now wear laurel wreaths for their bravery and victory!”
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Once the leaves shake from the wind again, Apollo turns away, smiling, thinking Daphne would have loved for this to happen.
Daphne Transformed into Safety, But What is the Cost of Her Escape?
by Annika Fan January 14,2026
Throughout Greek mythology, there are depictions of violence and the corruption of consent. For example, Ovid’s Apollo and Daphne, translated by Rolfe Humphries, depicts gender inequality and nonconsent.
Daphne, on multiple occasions, is depicted as weak and small. When Apollo is chasing after Daphne, he lists predators chasing after prey, but he says that he is not a predator and that she should stop running away.
However, Ovid says otherwise as a narrator in the next 2 stanzas. Contrary to what Apollo was saying, Ovid compares Daphne to prey, a rabbit, and Apollo to a predator, or a hound.
Not only does Greek mythology create this sense of hierarchy between genders, but Ovid, as a translator, also writes about gender inequality through the use of the third-person point of view, where he is the narrator.
Pointing to another theme depicted in Apollo and Daphne, Ovid says she seems to be consenting to Apollo’s wish to turn the laurel into wreaths and to wear the laurels as a symbol of honor and victory, and to wear the laurels.
A tree clearly can not consent to anything, which ties back to how women can not even express their disagreement in these Greek myths.
Kate McDowell’s sculpture, “Daphne,” is more than just an interpretation of Apollo and Daphne; it is a metaphor for environmental impact, such as global warming and pollution.
Daphne as a tree is depicted as being chopped down. Her head, still showing her horrified expression, lies on the floor, and the stump of the tree, representing her legs of her once human form, is surrounded by leaves and wood chips.
Her sculpture also depicts the absence of consent. Daphne, as a tree, never agreed to be cut down.
Luigi Ademollo’s engraving vividly depicts Daphne as a tree. The viewer can see the structure of her body inside the tree, and claims that Daphne is consenting. Apollo is seen simply taking leaves from the laurel tree.​
Christine de Pizan’s illuminated manuscript also depicts Daphne as a tree, but very differently.
Instead of her entire body being a tree, only her upper body is a tree, and she has human legs.
This artwork shows she is still part of a human, but she is unable to make decisions because her upper body is a tree.
She does not have a head to make rational decisions.
But this work shows how, even though Daphne is still part human, she is still treated as an object.
I wonder if Apollo would still treat Daphne as an object inferior to him, even if she was not a tree.
​​​​​​​​​​​​This poem shows how gender inequality is exemplified in Greek mythology, but also through the author's interpretation.
It shows the culture that Ovid lived in. Women during this time were not considered equal to men, and it was acceptable to treat women as objects.
But, this can also reveal what some modern translators believe to be true.
Humphries translated a version of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and through his translation, we also learn about what he thought and what his beliefs were.
Translations can not only allow readers to understand what is being conveyed, but they can also depict the beliefs of the artist, translator, or writer.
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About
For this project, I wanted to retell one of my favorite poems in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Apollo and Daphne. Additionally, in one of the homework assignments, I was instructed not only to read a poem referencing the myth of Daedalus and Icarus by W.H. Auden, but also to visit an interactive website that compares and contrasts Auden’s poem with artwork based on Icarus’ death. I wanted to create something similar to this New York Times article by Elisa Gabbert, but using artwork that we discussed in class concerning the Apollo and Daphne myth, and using Ovid’s translation of the myth. I also wanted to connect my reimagining with the Arachne myth. In the Arachne myth, as retold by Ovid, Arachne competes with Athena (or Minerva) to create a more beautiful weave. Arachne creates a weave that depicts the gods’ mistreatment and actions towards mortal women. Similar to how Arachne creates weaves to retell myths in her own interpretation, I wanted to retell myths using an interactive website, more specifically, the Apollo and Daphne myth, because this myth incorporates metaphors and interpretations, especially when Apollo assumes Daphne is consenting to using the laurel as a symbol of honor and glory to adorn him. I wanted my project to be a modern-day translation of a myth.
Images
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Picasso, Pablo. Woman in the Garden, www.moma.org/audio/playlist/18/395. Accessed 29 Dec. 2025.
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Bernini, Gian Lorenzo. Apollo and Daphne, www.britannica.com/biography/Gian-Lorenzo-Bernini. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.
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van Huysum, Jacob. Wooded Landscape with Apollo and Daphne, www.liechtensteincollections.at/en/collections-online/wooded-landscape-with-apollo-and-daphne. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.
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MacDowell, Kate. Daphne, 2007, glasstire.com/2024/02/14/cupids-revenge-iv-apollo-and-daphne-in-sculpture/. Accessed 23 Dec. 2025.
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Ademollo, Luigi. Daphne into a Laurel or Apollo Crowned with Laurel, 1832, glasstire.com/2022/02/14/cupids-revenge-iii-apollo-and-daphne-revisited/. Accessed 23 Dec. 2025.
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des Dames, Master of the Cité. “Apollo and Daphne,” glasstire.com/2021/02/13/cupids-revenge-2-apollo-and-daphne-from-ancient-greece-to-airbrushed-fantasy/. Accessed 23 Dec. 2025.
Text Based Upon:
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Ovid’s Metamorphoses, translated by Rolfe Humphries
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Ovid, and Rolfe Humphries. Metamorphoses. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1983.
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Inspired by:
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Gabbert, Elisa. “A Poem (and a Painting) about the Suffering That Hides in Plain Sight.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Mar. 2022, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/03/06/books/auden-musee-des-beaux-arts.html. Accessed 23 Dec. 2025.
