Itys
heroYoung son of Tereus and Procne murdered by his own mother and served as food to his father in revenge for Philomela's rape.
The Myth
His mother killed him, cooked him, and fed him to his father — and he was maybe five years old. Itys had no part in his father Tereus's crimes against Philomela. But when Procne learned the truth from Philomela's woven tapestry, she looked at Itys and saw only Tereus's face. She killed the boy, butchered him, and served him at dinner. The scene directly parallels the feast of Thyestes and the sacrifice of Pelops. In all three myths, a child becomes food — the ultimate violation of family and hospitality. When transformed, Itys became a goldfinch (or a sandpiper), his plaintive call interpreted as a permanent cry for his mother. He is the innocent destroyed by a cycle of violence he did not create.
Symbols
Explore Further
Philomela
heroAthenian princess whose tongue was cut out by her rapist Tereus, who wove her story into a tapestry...
Procne
heroAthenian princess married to Tereus who killed her own son Itys to avenge her sister Philomela's...
Tereus
heroTereus was a Thracian king who married Procne, then assaulted her sister Philomela and cut out her...
Tereus (King)
heroThracian king who raped Philomela, cut out her tongue, and was transformed into a hoopoe bird.
Tereus and Philomela
heroThe myth of a Thracian king who assaulted his sister-in-law and cut out her tongue, only for the...
Pelops
heroPelops was the prince served as food to the gods by his father Tantalus, restored to life with an...
Pelops (King)
heroSon of Tantalus, restored to life by the gods with an ivory shoulder, who won his bride by cheating...
Thyestes
heroBrother of Atreus who seduced his sister-in-law and was tricked into eating his own children at the...
Atreus
heroKing of Mycenae who murdered his nephews and fed them to his brother Thyestes, establishing the...
Absyrtus
heroSon of King Aeetes of Colchis, murdered and dismembered by his sister Medea to slow their father's...
Acastus
heroKing of Iolcus and Argonaut who later tried to murder Peleus by stranding him unarmed on Mount...
Achilles
heroThe greatest warrior in the Greek army at Troy, nearly invulnerable thanks to being dipped in the...