Daphnis and Chloe

Daphnis is one of the protagonists of the novel and the ancient Greek epitome of a handsome youth. Daphnis is named after the Daphnis from Greek legend, who was abandoned as a baby under a laurel tree—which translates in Greek as daphnē. The legendary Daphnis invents pastoral poetry and shares similarities with Longus’s Daphnis, including his musicality and upbringing with herd animals. The Daphnis of legend is also described as an eromenos, which in ancient Greece referred to the passive, younger partner in a male same-sex relationship. In Daphnis and Chloe, Gnathon, a “pederast by temperament” (70), tries to enforce the status of eromenos on Daphnis, but the young man escapes his advances.

Longus pays particular attention to Daphnis’s appearance and often describes him from the viewpoint of his admirers, who are attracted to his physical good looks. In Book 1, as Chloe looks at Daphnis, she notes how “his hair was black and luxuriant, and his body was sunburnt” (10). Later, at the festival of Dionysus, the village women tell Daphnis that he is “as handsome as Dionysus himself” (24). Daphnis is presented as a pastoral demigod, the essence of youth, health, and beauty.

There is also a connection between the abstract concepts of beauty and freedom.