Rooted in Myth: when Gods turn people into trees

Facinating stories of human to tree transformations!

Daphne is turned into a laurel tree. Sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini created between 1622 and 1625. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

DISCOVER

The ancient Greek gods were petty and vengeful, regularly getting involved in the lives of humans and using their magical powers to bestow reward or punishment as they pleased. A common thread across many ancient Greek myths is the habit of Gods turning humans into trees either in an act of anger or compassion.

A notable example is the sisters Elate and Platanus, who in order to give respite to the anguish they felt at the death of their brothers, are turned into a fir tree and a plane tree respectively. There are stories of people being saved from terrible fates by becoming trees, such as Syceus who was turned into the first Fig tree by his mother, the earth Goddess Gaia, to protect him from the wrath of the Titan Gods. 

The most frequent reason for becoming a tree in response to a human plea to the gods. Well, rather they asked to be saved from unwanted romantic attention from a divine pursuer and were then turned into a tree for safety. This may not have been exactly what they had meant in their request… In one myth, a nymph named Pitys was pursued by Pan, the god of the wild, before she was transformed into a pine tree by Gaia in order to escape his advances. 

Ovid, an ancient Roman poet, wrote an epic poem (a very very long poem) about mythical transformations called Metamorphoses, containing stories of people being turned into various trees, plants, and animals. One story tells of a loving and generous couple, Baucis and Philemon, who are rewarded in death by their transformation into an oak tree and a linden tree with branches forever entwined.

Ovid also wrote about Daphne, a nymph and daughter of the river god Peléüs, who was a free spirit and did not want to be married – a wish her father granted. However, while in an argument about who was the better archer with Apollo, Cupid (known as Eros to the Greeks) pulled out his two arrows – a golden love arrow and a leaden arrow of repulsion. He shot the lead arrow at Daphne and the golden arrow at Apollo. Now filled with desire, Apollo sought after Daphne, who fled. Apollo, with divine power on his side, managed to catch up to Daphne. She reached her father’s river and prayed to him to destroy her beauty and change her form. She immediately began to change; skin into bark, hair into leaves, and arms into branches, eventually transforming into a laurel tree. 

 The name Daphne means 'laurel' in ancient Greek. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

This tradition of human to tree transformation persists into modern retellings of ancient Greek mythology such as Rick Riodan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. In the series, Thalia, daughter of Zeus, is turned into a pine tree by Zeus during a losing battle against cyclopes. This act preserves her life and she becomes a barrier for Camp Half Blood, forever protecting her fellow demigods. 

Each version of this myth causes readers to ask whether being turned into a tree was an act of malice, or mercy?

Until next time,

λεῖος πλόος!

Written by Callum Sterry

Hellenic Museum Intern

---