The “Plantheon” j 193193 193
Several other minor female vegetation deities underwent metamorphoses into plants
to escape sexual advances. Lotis was the name of a Naiad Nymph, a water nymph asso-
ciated with the springs of the river Sperkheios in northern Greece. Lotis metamor-
phosed into a lotus flower to escape the god Priapus, of the enormous phallus, who was
pursuing her.
The myth of the goddess Dryope reprises the same theme of escape from a sexual preda-
tor by metamorphosis into a plant. In this case, Apollo at first succeeds in raping Dryope
by disguising himself as a turtle and then changing into a snake when Dryope places him
on her lap. Later, Apollo, disguised as a snake, appears to Dryope again as she drinks
from a spring. However, Dryope frustrates his lascivious intent by turning herself into a
poplar tree.
The goddess Daphne (“laurel”) provides yet another example of escape from unwanted
sexual advances by transformation into a plant. Once again, Apollo is the pursuer, chas-
ing the frightened goddess to the river of her father, the god Peneus. Peneus saves her
by turning her into a laurel tree, which prompts the saddened Apollo to make a lau-
rel wreath for himself (Figure 7.5). As a result, the laurel tree became sacred to Apollo.
Metaphorically, the transformed plants are still gendered female, but they no longer
have “sexua lit y.”
Three other female agricultural/ nature deities, the Horae (“the hours”), are worthy of
note. The Horae represented the orderly progress of time throughout the agricultural year,
which the Greeks divided up into the three (not four) seasons: autumn, spring, and sum-
mer. The three earliest Horae were associated with different stages of plant development.
Auxo (“one who increases”) was worshipped as the goddess of plant growth, Thallo (literally
“one who flowers”) was the goddess of spring blossoms, and Carpo (“bringer of food”) was
associated with fruit ripening.
Finally, in Book Six of the Odyssey, Odysseus encounters the fair Nausicaa after being
shipwrecked on the coast of Phaeacia. Dazzled by her appearance, he sings her praises.
“I never yet saw any one so beautiful,” he tells her, “neither man nor woman, and am lost
in admiration as I behold you.” He goes on to compare her, somewhat incongruously, to a
splendid palm tree he once saw on the isle of Delos:I can only compare you to a young palm tree which I saw when I was at Delos grow-
ing near the altar of Apollo— for I was there, too, with much people after me, when
I was on that journey which has been the source of all my troubles. Never yet did such
a young plant shoot out of the ground as that was, and I admired and wondered at it
exactly as I now admire and wonder at yourself.^27Since there is no obvious resemblance between a beautiful woman and a palm tree,
Odysseus may be referring to an epiphany of a tree goddess. Presumably, the reference
to the palm tree of Delos refers to one of the many sacred groves of date palms, typi-
cally dedicated to a goddess and tended by a priestess, which were quite common in
the ancient Mediterranean world. Although not a deity herself, Nausicaa’s association
with date palms identifies her with the ancient tradition of tree goddesses or their
priestesses.