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Rape in Greek mythology is a common motif. The struggle to escape from sexual pursuit is one of the most popular motifs of classical mythology. In the poem Ode on a Grecian Urn, Keats writes:
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
This type of pursuit and struggle could be those of gods assaulting mortals, or mortals upon other mortals, and less commonly also the attacks of mortals upon gods and gods upon other gods. Other supernatural beings like satyrs and centaurs were often depicted attacking nymphs and maidens. Greek mythology depicts women as vulnerable to assault, able to escape only through death, or metamorphosis like Daphne who becomes a laurel tree. The consequence of fleeing sexual violence is another type of force on the body, the loss of the human form — women who survive sexual violence become pregnant, and when gods are the rapists, produce a hero child.