Friday, October 18, 2013

Daphne and the Laurel Wreath

So much for the respite from objectification of women, right? In this odd tale, Apollo was not very nice to creepy baby Eros, son of Aphrodite, making fun of the power of his arrows. Eros punished Apollo by making him fall in love with Daphne, the daughter of the river-god Peneus, but Daphne hated the idea of marrying and bearing children so much that she cried when her father tried to force her. Poor Daphne is chased through the woods running faster and faster until Apollo almost captured her (though I hate to think about what he intended to do with her). In the moment of desperation, Daphne prayed to her father who turned her into a laurel tree. Despite the fact she was a tree, Apollo still loved Daphne (memories of Pygmalion anyone?) taking eternally green leaves from her tree to wear a wreath of laurels around his head forever making laurel wreaths symbols of victory in Ancient Greece.

I hate the idea of eternal youth because of the simple fact I would get tired of living as those around me passed away from old age plus people would probably get sick of me after like 500 years. Similarly, I don't like the idea of seeing the world destroyed by nuclear holocaust which will probably happen eventually anyway. Sorry peeps who want eternal youth, I won't be along for the ride...


On sale at Christie's for $3,008 if you're interested...

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/george-spencer-watson-ra-rws-roi-apollo-5335078-details.aspx


1 comment: