Apollo And Daphne - Tumblr Posts
Friendly reminder that Apollo hunted Daphne because of Eros. Apollo claimed that his bows were better so Eros punished him by shooting his arrow on Apollo. And unfortunately the first person he witnessed was Daphne.
So yeah it's more complicated that claiming Apollo as r*pist based on one story alone without seeing other sources because for some reason no one mentions how Eros was involved in this.
I searched different passages and only Ovid (never trust this guy xD) tells us specifically that Eros and Apollo's fight was the beginning of this. The rest of the passages for Apollo and Daphne say he just fell in love with her and chased her.
However, for argument's sake, let's see Ovid's case. (But also don't trust Ovid cause he embellished Greek stuff with extra elements for no reason other than spite) I am doing this to clear some stuff about how "eros" worked.
1) All the times Apollo fell in love, including Daphne's case, it was his usual type of love. Eros was always involved when anyone fell in love, and Apollo felt eros (was hit by Eros) many times, judging from how many people he coupled with. All the times he and other figures and all humans fell in love, it was because of Eros. That was the feeling for everyone who fell in love. As you know eros in ancient Greece was considered to be a very powerful force that drove people to do radical things. (and there is the underlying ancient misogyny of "the poor man just couldn't control himself and raped her!") Hence, there is nothing different in how Apollo fell in love with Daphne than the average person and god. And in the context of ancient Greek culture it was expected of him to do radical things because of love.
2) The arrows weren't even "special" arrows. The one that hit Apollo "rouses love" as usual.
Then winging through the air his eager way he stood upon Parnasos' shady peak, and from his quiver's laden armoury he drew two arrows of opposing power, one shaft that rouses love and one that routs it. The first gleams bright with piercing point of gold; the other, cull and blunt is tipped with lead. This one he lodged in Nympha Peneis' [Daphne's] heart; the first he shot to pierce Apollo to the marrow.
3) What about the other woman he chased off a cliff, Bolina? That was also eros. It was eros every time, for all the gods and humans that ever fell in love.
For that reason, I wouldn't compare Apollo's condition to being drugged. I would say that he got out of control, but as much as one was expected to get out of control when in love. The passages speak of average eros and lust. Eros is not a special guy who only hit Apollo and that's it. That's literally how love happened for everyone. Apollo's case is not special here.
I searched the passages here. If you have extra passages for the arrows, let me know!
daphne's blessing 🌿
Apollo and Daphne, Armand Point, 1919.
Whenever I try to build a timeline about apollo (I tried twice, but still), I just feel like like Hyacinthus was one of his lasts
Like, Hyacinthus, then Daphne, and then we never heard about his love stories until pjo
And there IS a version of the story where Hyacinthus came back to life
I'm just saying, what if they still together? What if they got the happy ending they deserve?