Clytie and Apollo

In Greek Mythology, Clytie, a water nymph fell deeply in love with Apollo. Apollo is a Greek sun god with a highly complicated personality, beardless and youthful, a protector from darkness and evil, and the god of truth, one who could not speak a lie.

Alas, Apollo, renowned for his bad luck, did not love Clytie back. He cast her away and ignored her. Clytie, hair unbound, sat on the soil, where she could watch him throughout the day. She turned her face, from east to west, following his travels across the sky.

After nine days of unyielding grief, it is said, Clytie died of her love for Apollo, and became a plant, her limbs rooted in the ground while her face became a flower, each day turning its face towards the sun.

Clytie, tortured by her grief and her love, became the first sunflower.

(This drawing did NOT photograph well.)