Peneus- Greek GodDeity"River God of Thessaly"

The Vale of Tempe

Peneus flowed through the Vale of Tempe, the narrow gorge between Mount Olympus and Mount Ossa where steep cliffs rise on either side and the river cuts the only passage through the mountains. A son of Oceanus and Tethys, he was the river of Thessaly — the water that fed the meadows where his daughter Daphne would one day run for her life.

Daphne and the Laurel

Daphne became the object of Apollo's passion after Eros struck the sun god with a golden arrow of desire and struck Daphne with a leaden arrow that repelled love. She fled from Apollo across the Thessalian meadows. The god called out his lineage and his powers — she only ran faster. As he closed the distance and his breath touched her loosened hair, Daphne cried out to her father.

Peneus answered. His daughter's limbs stiffened into branches and her hair became leaves. Where a fleeing girl had been, a laurel tree stood. Apollo embraced the trunk and felt her heart still beating beneath the bark. He claimed the laurel as his sacred tree — the wreath of victory in poetry and games. Peneus had saved his daughter, but the girl was gone.

Cyrene and the Lion

Peneus's granddaughter Cyrene, daughter of his son Hypseus, was a huntress who scorned the loom for the wild meadows of Mount Pelion. Apollo saw her there one day, wrestling a lion bare-handed, and went to the centaur Chiron to ask who she was and whether it was right to take her. Chiron, amused, told the god he already knew the answer. Apollo carried Cyrene to Libya, where she bore him a son, Aristaeus, and the city that bears her name was founded.