Apollo and Daphne the forest. Due to her identity as an “aemula Phoebes” (female rival or emulator of Artemis), she had dedicated herself to perpetual virginity. Her father, the river god Peneus, demanded that she get married and give him grandchildren. She, however, begged her father to let her remain unmarried; he eventually complied. Apollo continually followed her, begging her to stay, but the nymph continued to reject him. They were evenly matched in the race until Eros intervened, helping Apollo catch up to Daphne. Seeing that Apollo was bound to reach her, she called upon her father, "Help me, Peneus! Open the
Peneus Peneus In Greek mythology, Peneus (; Ancient Greek: Πηνειός) was a Thessalian river god, one of the three thousand Rivers (Potamoi), a child of Oceanus and Tethys. The nymph Creusa bore him one son, Hypseus, who was King of the Lapiths, and three daughters, Menippe (mother of Phrastor by Pelasgus), Daphne and Stilbe. He also had a son Atrax with Bura, and Andreus with an unknown consort. Tricce, eponym of the city Tricca, was mentioned as his daughter. Some sources state that he was the father of Cyrene, alternately known as his granddaughter through Hypseus. Daphne, in an Arcadian version