Procne
heroAthenian princess married to Tereus who killed her own son Itys to avenge her sister Philomela's rape.
The Myth
She fed her husband his own son for dinner — the most horrifying revenge feast in Greek myth after Thyestes. When Procne learned from Philomela's woven tapestry that Tereus had raped her sister and cut out her tongue, she killed her son Itys, cooked him, and served him to Tereus. The sisters revealed the truth by showing Tereus the boy's head. The gods transformed Procne into a swallow — a bird that nests near humans but cannot truly sing, only chatter. Ovid's telling in the Metamorphoses is one of the most disturbing passages in classical literature. Sophocles wrote a lost tragedy, Tereus, about this myth.
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Fun Fact
The Romans reversed which sister became which bird — in their version, Procne is the nightingale.
Explore Further
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...
Philomela
heroAthenian princess whose tongue was cut out by her rapist Tereus, who wove her story into a tapestry...
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...
Thyestes
heroBrother of Atreus who seduced his sister-in-law and was tricked into eating his own children at the...
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...
Lycaon
heroLycaon was the king of Arcadia who tested Zeus by serving him human flesh at a banquet — and was...
Polyxena
heroTrojan princess sacrificed on Achilles's tomb after the fall of Troy to appease his ghost.
Absyrtus
heroSon of King Aeetes of Colchis, murdered and dismembered by his sister Medea to slow their father's...