Daphne (mythology)
Daphne ( Greek Δάφνη " laurel "), a nymph in Greek mythology , is a daughter of the river god Peneios in Thessaly . According to another version, she is the daughter of the river god Ladon in Arcadia . In another version, she is the daughter of Amyklas and a virgin huntress.
myth
When Apollo mocked the love god Eros as a bad marksman, he retaliated by shooting a love arrow with a gold tip at him and one with a lead tip at Daphne. Apollon fell madly in love with Daphne, while Daphne, hit by an arrow Eros' which had exactly the opposite effect, became insensitive to that love affair. When Apollon pressed Daphne, she fled. Exhausted from the persecution by Apollo, she pleaded with her father Peneios to change her form, which was so charming to Apollo. Then her limbs froze and she turned into a laurel tree . The laurel has been sacred to Apollo ever since. In memory of Daphne he wore a laurel wreath or a kithara decorated with laurel .
In the Erotica pathemata ("love afflictions") Parthenios tells a different version of the myth, which can also be found in Pausanias . Accordingly, Leucippus , the son of King Oinomaos of Pisa , had fallen in love with Daphne. In order to be able to approach her, he let his hair grow and offered himself to the nymph as a hunting companion in women's clothing. In this way he gained her affection. Apollon insisted that Daphne and her companions bathe in the Ladon. In this way, Leucippus was exposed and then killed by his companions. Only now did it come after Parthenios, who appeals to Diodorus and Phylarchus , to the persecution of Daphnes by Apollo and her transformation, here brought about by Zeus .
Daphne with Ovid
Ovid , Metamorphoses , Book 1, verses 545-555
“Fer, pater”, inquit, “opem, si flumina numen habetis!
Qua nimium placui, mutando perde figuram! ”
Vix prece finita torpor gravis occupat artus:
Mollia cinguntur tenui praecordia libro,
in frondem crines, in ramos bracchia crescunt;
pes modo tam velox pigris radicibus haeret,
ora cacumen habet: remanet nitor unus in illa.
Hanc quoque Phoebus amat positaque in stipite dextra
sentit adhuc trepidare novo sub cortice pectus
conplexusque suis ramos, ut membra, lacertis
oscula dat ligno, refugit tamen oscula lignum.
“Help, father,” she says, “when you rivers have divine power!
Transformation spoils the figure with which I was too pleased! ”
As soon as the request was over, severe numbness attacks the limbs:
the soft breasts are enclosed by delicate bark,
the hair becomes leaves, the arms grow like branches;
the nimble foot is already held by sluggish roots,
a top hides the face: the shine alone remains with her.
Phoebus loves them nonetheless. He holds his right hand
against the trunk and still feels the trembling chest under the new bark.
Wrapping his arms around the branches like limbs,
he kisses the wood, but the wood shrinks from the kisses.
Representation in art
Visual arts
The legend of Daphne has inspired numerous artists, mostly focusing on the moment of transformation. An example of this is Gian Lorenzo Bernini's marble group " Apollo and Daphne " (around 1625), which is now in the Roman Villa Borghese .
music
The Daphne myth has been set to music several times.
- Jacopo Peri : La Dafne , Favola drammatica, text by Ottavio Rinuccini , Florence 1598 (first opera ever, mostly lost)
- Marco da Gagliano : La Dafne , also based on the text by Rinuccini, Mantua 1608
- Heinrich Schütz : Dafne , text by Martin Opitz , 1627 (first German opera, only libretto survived)
- Jacob van Eyck : Doen Daphne d'over schoone Maeght , Variations for recorder based on a 17th century song, Utrecht 1646
- Georg Friedrich Handel : Daphne , Hamburg 1708
- Franz Schubert : To a source , 1817, text by Matthias Claudius , 1760
- Richard Strauss : Daphne , bucolic tragedy in one act, text by Joseph Gregor , Dresden 1938
literature
- Bettina Berg (Red.): Daphne. Myth and Metamorphosis. Gerhard Marcks Foundation, Bremen 2009, ISBN 978-3-924412-69-2 (exhibition catalog).
- Katharina Münchberg : Daphne. In: Maria Moog-Grünewald (Ed.): Mythenrezeption. The ancient mythology in literature, music and art from the beginnings to the present (= Der Neue Pauly . Supplements. Volume 5). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2008, ISBN 978-3-476-02032-1 , pp. 203-211.
- Ludwig von Sybel : Daphne . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886, Col. 954 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Otto Waser : Daphne 6. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen antiquity (RE). Volume IV, 2, Stuttgart 1901, Sp. 2138-2140 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Image of the statue Apollo and Daphne by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
- Portraits of Daphne and Apollon (French)
- approx. 230 photos of representations of Apollon and Daphne, in the Warburg Institute Iconographic Database
Remarks
- ↑ Ovid , Metamorphoses 1,472; 1.504 and 505 (if Ovid does not understand “nympha” as “girl” or “daughter”)
- ^ Hyginus Mythographus , Fabulae 203; Ovid, Metamorphoses 1,452.
- ↑ Pausanias , Description of Greece 8,20,4; Statius , Thebaïs 4,289 f .; Nonnos , Dionysiaka 42, 387-390
- ↑ Parthenios , Erotika pathemata 15; Plutarch , Agis 9.2
- ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 1, 454-555
- ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 1, 556-558
- ↑ Parthenios, Erotica pathemata 15 ( Greek ).
- ↑ Pausanias 8: 20, 2–4 ( English ).