Thursday 21 November 2013

Dryope

Dryope

Dryope was the daughter of Dryops, king of Oeta or of Eurytus. Dryope used to play with Hamadryads (tree nymphs) of the wood on Mt Oeta. Hamadryads taught her to sing hymns to the gods and to dance. Once Apollo saw her and fall in love with her. In order to gain possession of her, Apollo transformed himself into a tortoise. The tree-nymphs played with the tortoise and Dryope took it into her lap. 
Dryope and Apollo

Apollo then changed himself into a snake, which frightened the nymphs away. Dryope tried to run, but he coiled around her legs and held her arms tightly against her sides, as he seduce her. Soon after she married Andraemon, the son of Oxylus, but she became, by Apollo, the mother of Amphissus, who, afterhe had grown up built the town of Oeta and a temple to Apollo.  
The tree-nymphs came to converse with Dryope, who had became a priestess of the temple, but one day Apollo return in the form of a serpent and coiled around her while she stood by a spring.this time Dryope was turn into a poplar tree.

 According to other version, Dryope saw the red flowers of the lotus tree, the nymph Lotis who when ran from Priapus advances, had transformed into a tree. Dryope wanted to give the flower to her baby (Amphissus) to play with, but when she picked mode the used started to tremble and bleed.   She tried to run away, but the alone of the tree had found her feet slowly began to turn into poplar tree. Before fully transform into poplar tree, her husband Andraemon on hearing her cries, came to her. She had enough time to warm her husband to take case of their child and make sure that he did not pick flower. 

According to some versions, Hermes became father of Pan by Dryope, daughter of Dryops.

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4 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. The moral of the story is don't rely on Ovid (or any other later poets) for the love lives of the gods

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  2. I believe this painting is of Daphne and Apollo, not Dryope.

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  3. Why are you spreading wrong information? There is no version where Apollo coils around her and seduces her. She was turned into a poplar tree by nymphs, Apollo never visited her again.

    ReplyDelete