I. Name
Daphne, metamorphosed into Apollo’s laurel tree (Gk.: Daphnē) to escape his amorous intentions, gave her name to a suburb of Antioch (2 Macc. 4.33). The name can also result from the spelling in Greek of Hebrew placenames—the fortress Tahpanhes in the LXX (e.g. Jer. 2.16) and a source of a tributary of the Jordan (Jos., BI 4:3 and Tg. Num. 34:11).
II. Identity
Stories involving Daphne are variously sited, but seem to go back to a tale focussing on the River Peneios or its tributary the River Ladon on…