By Rob DowneyThe sculpture "Apollo and Daphne" by Bernini in the Galleria Borghese (from a file from the Wikimedia Commons)

Long ago, in the days before the crisis (B.C.)… Apollo, god of light, poetry, and eternal youth, the son of Zeus & Leto, was betrothed to Daphne – daughter of the River god, Peneus – and she was a lovely lithesome athlete. Fresh from defeating Python with his bare hands, brash Apollo made fun of chubby be-winged Cupid and his small bow. Impulsive Cupid shot a golden Arrow of Love into Apollo’s heart, but a lead Arrow of Revulsion into the heart of Apollo’s fiancee Daphne. 

Both utterly besotted and frustrated, Apollo chased the fleeing, frightened Daphne through the woods of Olympia for a year. Too tired to run anymore, she asked her father’s help to escape Apollo. Peneus cleverly turned his daughter into a laurel oak tree – source of royal staves and Olympic leaf crowns – so she could be forever near him on the banks of the rivers he ruled. 

Click to read more ...