Daphnis
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Daphnis
Daphnis (dăfˈnĭs), in Greek mythology, shepherd, the son of Hermes and a nymph. He was unfaithful to a nymph who loved him, and in revenge she blinded him. He tried to comfort himself by playing melancholy songs upon the shepherd's pipes, and his friends lamented for him in song. Daphnis was revered as the inventor of pastoral music.
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Daphnis
in Greek mythology, a Sicilian shepherd of extraordinary beauty, inventor of pastoral songs executed to the accompaniment of a flute. He was the son of Hermes and a nymph who abandoned her son at birth. According to one version of the myth, Daphnis, blinded by his beloved for not keeping the oath of fidelity, cast himself into the sea from a rock (or was transformed into a rock). Another version is that he died of unrequited love. The Daphnis myth has been used in classical literature (Theocritus, Vergil, and Long) and in bucolic poetry of the 17th— 18th centuries.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Daphnis
shepherd; invented pastoral music to console himself. [Gk. Myth.: Parrinder, 72; Jobes, 414]
See: Music
Daphnis
afraid of causing pain, does not deflower Chloë. [Gk. Lit.: Daphnis and Chloë, Magill I, 184]
See: Noblemindedness
Daphnis
Sicilian shepherd-flautist; invented bucolic poetry. [Rom. Myth.: LLEI, I:326]
See: Pastoralism
Daphnis
creator of bucolic poetry. [Gk. Myth.: Kravitz, 75]
See: Poetry
Daphnis
guards sheep; creator of bucolic poetry. [Gk. Myth.: Kravitz, 75]
See: Shepherd
Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.