Daphne
Apollo and Daphne by
Gian Lorenzo Bernini,
depicting the moment of Daphne's transformation
into a laurel tree
According to
Greek myth Apollo chased the
nymph Daphne (
Greek: Δάφνη, meaning "laurel"), daughter of
Ladon, who had scorned him. His infatuation was caused by an arrow from
Eros, who was jealous because Apollo had made fun of his archery skills. Eros also claimed to be irritated by Apollo's singing. Daphne prayed to the river god
Peneus to help her and he changed her into a
laurel tree, which became sacred to Apollo. See
Ovid.
Metamorphoses. Book I: 452-567.
Things named after Daphne
- Dapne is also the title of an opera by Richard Strauss based on the myth of the nymph Daphne.
- Dafni, sometimes called Daphne, is also a suburb of Athens, Greece. It has an Athens Metro station (red line) and Vouliagmenis Avenue. It is the smallest municipality in Athens covering about 1 km². The city hall is in the south, 200 m near the municipal boundary. The municipality is divides in two, one covers 85% to 90% of the total area, and the southeast covers 15% or 10% (smaller than the Vatican) about 0.5 km². It sits on a hill and almost the entire land is covered with residential area; there are no industrial factories in that part of suburban Athens.
- Dafni, sometimes called Daphne, is a village lying in a hilly, forested region on a road between Amalias and Simopoulo in north-central Elia, Greece. It is NE of Amalias and SW of the Peneus Dam. Before the 20th century, the village was called Damiza.
- Dafni is a village located E of Agia Marina and N of Aetorrachi in Elia, Greece.
- Dafni, sometimes called Daphne, is a village in the Pella prefecture of Greece. Its latitude is 40.769722° N and 22.226944° E. Its elevation is around 5 m.
