Thenceforth Apollo developed a special reverence for laurel. At the Pythian Games, which were held every four years in Delphi in honour of Apollo, a wreath of laurel gathered from the Vale of Tempe in Thessaly was given as a prize. Hence it later became customary to award prizes in the form of laurel wreaths to victorious generals, athletes, poets and musicians, worn as a chaplet on the head. The Poet Laureate is a well-known modern example of such a prize-winner, dating from the early Renaissance in Italy. According to Pausanias the reason for this was "simply and solely because the prevailing tradition has it that Apollo fell in love with the daughter of Ladon (Daphne)".Pausanias, 10.7.8 Most artistic depictions of the myth focus on the moment of Daphne's transformation.
Thenceforth Apollo developed a special reverence for laurel At the Pythian Games, which were held every four years in Delphi in honour of Apollo, a wreath of laurel gathered from the Vale of Tempe in Thessaly was given as a prize Hence it later became customary to award prizes in the form of laurel wreaths to victorious generals, athletes poets and musicians, worn as a chaplet ,on the head. The Poet Laureate is a well-known modern example of such a prize-winner, dating from the early Renaissance in Italy According to Pausanias the reason for this was "simply and solely because the prevailing tradition has it that Apollo fell in love with the daughter of Ladon (Daphne)".Pausanias, 10.7.8 Most artistic depictions of the myth focus on the moment of Daphne's transformation.