Tʜᴇ ᴍʏᴛʜ ᴏғ Aᴘᴏʟʟᴏ ᴀɴᴅ Dᴀᴘʜɴᴇ.©

Apollo was born from the clandestine union between Zeus and Leto. Daphne is a beautiful nymph, protector of the waterways and priestess devoted to Artemis, daughter of Gea and Peneo. The myth tells that Apollo, after killing the monstrous snake Python, mocked Cupid by telling him that he had never been capable of such feats worthy of glory. Cupid, deeply offended, took revenge by throwing the golden arrow against Apollo, capable of unleashing love and mad passion towards the first person he met and, at the same time, the lead arrow was shot against Daphne who instead with the same principle triggers hatred and deep revulsion. Apollo at the sight of Daphne falls madly in love and begins to chase her. Daphne, frightened and not reciprocating her sentiment, flees from Apollo and to escape his fury invokes Peneus, her father, so that he can help her by transforming her body, object of desire, into something else. And here is that just before Apollo can reach her, Daphne begins her metamorphosis, stiffens, the feet become roots and the arms of the branches, thus transforming into a laurel tree. Apollo, repenting that he was the cause of the end story, surrounds his head with the branches of the tree, proclaiming the laurel sacred to his cult and being an evergreen plant, a sign of glory on the heads of the victors.

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