Phoebus and Daphne or Apollo e Dafne, illustration from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Florence, 1832 (hand-coloured engraving)

P. Ovidii Nasonis Metamorphoseon Libri XV cum Appositis Italico Carmine* Interpretationibus ac Notis, 5 VoLS (Florence, 1824, repr. 1832); Book I;Apollo Phoebus Apollo, often referred to as Phoebus; The son of Zeus and Leto and the twin brother of Artemis. Apollo is the God of Music, Medicine, Prophecy and the arts. In the Metamorphoses, Apollo is also portrayed as the sun god, but this characterization contradicts most mythology which names a distinct sun-god named Helios. Daphne, daughter of the river-god Peneus, Daphne is a wood nymph who wishes to live chaste, like Diana. When she flees the love of Apollo, she prays to her father to save her and he transforms her into a Laurel tree.