DAPHNE, in Mythology, daughter of the river-god Ladon in Arcadia, or of the river-god Pencus in Thessaly, by the goddess Terra, was a nymph of surpassing beauty, of whom Apollo became deeply enamoured. This passion had been incited by Cupid, with whom Apollo, elated at his recent conquest of the serpent Python, had disputed the power of his darts. Daphne, filled with terror at the importunities of the god, endeavoured to elude his embraces by flight; and when on the point of being overtaken by her pursuer, she invoked the assistance of the gods, and was metamorphosed into a laurel—in Greek called δάφνη—which tree was thenceforward sacred to Apollo. According to another legend, Daphne was beloved by Leucippus, son of Cnomaus, king of Pisa in Elis, who disguised his sex, and attended her in the woods in the habit of a huntress; but his sex having been discovered by his rival Apollo, Leucippus was killed by the companions of Daphne. (Ovid, Met. i. 452, &c.)
Daphne was also the name of a daughter of the soothsayer Tiresias, a priestess in the temple of Delphi. She is more generally called Manto.