Philomela
heroAthenian princess whose tongue was cut out by her rapist Tereus, who wove her story into a tapestry to reveal the crime.
The Myth
She told her story without words — weaving the truth into fabric when her rapist cut out her tongue. Philomela was raped by Tereus, king of Thrace and husband of her sister Procne. To silence her, Tereus cut out her tongue and imprisoned her. But Philomela wove a tapestry depicting the crime and sent it to Procne. The sisters took revenge by killing Itys, Tereus and Procne's son, and feeding him to his father. When Tereus discovered the truth and pursued them with an axe, the gods transformed all three into birds — Philomela became a nightingale, Procne a swallow, and Tereus a hoopoe. The nightingale's song is her eternal lament.
Parents
Symbols
Fun Fact
T.S. Eliot references Philomela in The Waste Land: the nightingale singing in the desert.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
Tereus and Philomela
heroThe myth of a Thracian king who assaulted his sister-in-law and cut out her tongue, only for the...
Tereus
heroTereus was a Thracian king who married Procne, then assaulted her sister Philomela and cut out her...
Itys
heroYoung son of Tereus and Procne murdered by his own mother and served as food to his father in...
Pandion
heroKing of Athens who married off his daughters Procne and Philomela, both of whom suffered terribly...
Procne
heroAthenian princess married to Tereus who killed her own son Itys to avenge her sister Philomela's...
Tereus (King)
heroThracian king who raped Philomela, cut out her tongue, and was transformed into a hoopoe bird.
Pan
godThe goat-legged god of wilderness, shepherds, and rustic music. Pan's sudden appearance caused...
Pan (God)
godPan was the goat-legged god of the wild, shepherds, and mountain meadows whose sudden appearance...
Thrace
placeThrace was the vast, wild region north of Greece — homeland of Ares, Orpheus, the Maenads, and the...
Arachne
heroA mortal weaver so skilled she challenged Athena to a weaving contest. When Arachne's tapestry...
Penelope
heroThe wife of Odysseus who waited twenty years for his return, fending off 108 suitors through clever...
Achilles
heroThe greatest warrior in the Greek army at Troy, nearly invulnerable thanks to being dipped in the...