According to Greek myth Apollo chased the dryad Daphne (Greek: Δάφνη , meaning "laurel"), daughter of Peneus. 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 Lauraceae tree, which became sacred to Apollo. See Ovid. Metamorphoses. Book I: 452-567.

The River God Peneus, Daphne and Apollo

Apollo and Daphne, Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Apollo chasing Daphne, Cornelis de Vos

Apollo and Daphne, Paolo de Matteis

Apollo and Daphne, Jean-Etienne Liotard

Daphne Gallery

Things named after Daphne

41 Daphne is the name of an asteroid.

• Dafne is the name of an opera by Jacopo Peri (1597), no longer extant, and is considered to be the first opera ever composed.
  
• Dafne (opera), Heinrich Schütz
• Daphne is also the title of an opera by Richard Strauss based on the myth of the nymph Daphne.
  
• Daphne is also a genus of shrubs in the plant family Thymelaeaceae, noted for their scented flowers and poisonous berries.
  
• 41 Daphne is the name of an asteroid.
  
• Many cities and villages in Greece are named Dafni
  
• Daphne is the name of a city in the U.S. state of Alabama.
  
• SS Daphne was a ship which sank disastrously in 1883.
  
• Daphne Blake is a character in the television cartoon Scooby-Doo.
  
• Daphne Broon is a character in the Scottish cartoon strip The Broons.
  
• "Daphne Descends" is a song on the Smashing Pumpkins' Adore album.
  
• Daphne Moon is a character in the Emmy Award Winning Show Frasier.
  
• DAPHNE is an emulator of Laserdisc Arcade Games.
  
• DAΦNE is a nuclear physics experiment in Frascati, Italy.
  
• Daphne is the name of a tree that is important in finding Maia Mizuki's lost memories, in the anime Daphne in the Brilliant Blue (2004)
  
• "Daphne" is a song on several Django Reinhardt albums, such as Djangology. The song was originally written in 1938.

M. Barnard, The Myth of Apollo and Daphne from Ovid to Quevedo: love, agon and the grotesque, Duke Univ Durham 1987 ISBN: 0822307014

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