December 1, 2024

Uffizi Gallery
10. Apollo (Apollon)

Apollo has appeared several times already, so this time I will introduce a different story.

Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympian gods in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus.

In Roman mythology, he is known as Apollo as well.

He is a god of the arts, such as poetry and music, the guardian of shepherds, the "god of the far-shooting bow" who defeats enemies one after another, a god who shoots arrows of plague and kills people, a healing god who drives away diseases, and a prophetic god who grants oracles.

He has many diverse roles.

In ancient Greece, Apollo was considered the ideal image of youth.

Since he was also the god of light, he later became conflated with the sun god Helios.

The United States named its space exploration program in the latter half of the 20th century the "Apollo Program" because they wanted to emulate the image of the shining god Apollo riding his chariot across the sky.

Apollo, being a handsome youth, had countless romantic relationships, but there was one lady who refused his advances.

That lady was Daphne.

She was the beloved daughter of the river god Peneus and was extremely beautiful.

After Apollo had shot and killed the great serpent Python, he teased Eros, the god of love, saying "That little bow of yours could never strike anything."

Angered, Eros retaliated by shooting a golden arrow (which ignites love) at Apollo and a leaden arrow (which causes rejection of love) at Daphne.

As a result, Apollo pursued Daphne, but she fled from him.

Just as Apollo was about to catch her, her father Peneus transformed her into a laurel tree.

In his despair, Apollo asked, "If you cannot be my wife, then at least become my tree," and Daphne nodded, shaking her branches and dropping her leaves onto Apollo’s head.

From then on, laurel wreaths were given to victors in competitions and great poets, as a symbol of honor.

In later centuries, the laurel tree was used as a talisman to ward off witches and demons.

In Christianity, it symbolized "immortality" and was used to crown martyrs.

Incidentally, the reverse side of the Japanese 10-yen coin also features laurel leaves.

In ancient Greek, laurel trees were called "daphne" in reference to the story of Apollo and Daphne.

In Latin, the laurel tree's scientific name is Laurus nobilis.

Laurel leaves contain aromatic compounds, and when dried, they are called "laurier" in French and "laurel" or "bay leaf" in English, and are used as spices around the world.

In addition to their strong aroma, laurel leaves are said to have effects such as inhibiting alcohol absorption and stimulating saliva and gastric juice secretion.

In my household, we never forget to add laurier to curry or beef stew."

The ancient Greek word for laurel, "daphne," has been repurposed in modern English to mean "fragrant daphne," referring to the plant known as “daphne” (“jinchouge” in Japanese).

The scientific name of daphne is Daphne odora, which also means "fragrant daphne."

Both the leaves of the laurel tree and the flowers of the daphne plant have pleasant scents, which likely led to the confusion between the two.

   As a side note, the name of the Japanese sanitary product "Laurier" is said to be a play on words between "laurel"(“Gekkei-ju” in Japanese) and "menstruation"(“Gekkei” in Japanese).