Apollo was one of the most important Olympian gods in Greek mythology. As the god of light, truth, prophecy, medicine, music, poetry and arts, he possessed many attributes including a bow and arrows, a lyre, and a plectrum. One myth tells of how Apollo pursued the nymph Daphne, who did not love him in return, until she was transformed into a laurel tree by her father, the river god Peneus, to escape Apollo's advances.