Pyramus and Thisbe
Pyramus and Thisbe were neighbours who fell in love but were forbidden to meet — their tragic miscommunication at a lion-bloodied mulberry tree became the model for Romeo and Juliet.
The Legend of Pyramus and Thisbe
Lovers in Babylon whose families forbade their union, Pyramus and Thisbe whispered through a crack in the wall between their houses. They planned to meet at Ninus's tomb beneath a mulberry tree. Thisbe arrived first but fled a lioness whose jaws dripped blood from a recent kill. She dropped her veil; the lioness tore it. Pyramus found the bloody veil, assumed Thisbe dead, and fell on his sword. Thisbe returned, found him dying, and killed herself. Their blood stained the mulberries dark. Aphrodite mourned, as she mourned Adonis. The tale prefigures tragic love from Helen and Paris to Orpheus and Eurydice.
Parents
Various (Babylonian setting)
Symbols
Fun Fact
Shakespeare used this story twice — seriously as the basis for Romeo and Juliet, and comically in the play-within-a-play in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Cephalus and Procris
🗡 heroLovers destroyed by jealousy
Cephalus and Procris were devoted spouses whose mutual jealousy — tested by Eos and by a magic gift — led to Procris's accidental death.
Phaedra
🗡 heroQueen consumed by forbidden love
Phaedra was the wife of Theseus who was cursed by Aphrodite to fall hopelessly in love with her stepson Hippolytus — her suicide and false accusation destroyed him.
Tereus and Philomela
🗡 herovengeance, transformation
The myth of a Thracian king who assaulted his sister-in-law and cut out her tongue, only for the sisters to exact gruesome revenge.
Patroclus
🗡 heroThe companion whose death transformed the Iliad
Achilles's closest companion whose death in borrowed armour broke the hero's withdrawal and sent him raging back to war.
Deianeira
🗡 herolove, destruction
The wife of Heracles whose love inadvertently killed the greatest hero in Greek mythology when she used the poisoned shirt of Nessus.
Iphis of Argos
🗡 heroUnrequited Love, Class, Suicide
Poor Argive youth who died of unrequited love for Anaxarete, who was then turned to stone.
Haemon
🗡 heroNone recorded
Son of Creon and fiancé of Antigone who died beside her in defiance of his father
Clytemnestra
🗡 heroQueen who murdered Agamemnon
Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon on his return from Troy, driven by rage over Iphigenia's sacrifice.
Penthesilea
🗡 heroAmazon queen who fought at Troy
Penthesilea was the Amazon queen who came to fight for Troy after Hector's death — killed by Achilles, who wept when he saw her beauty.
Aerope
🗡 heroAdultery, royalty
Queen of Mycenae whose adultery with Thyestes caused the devastating curse upon the House of Atreus
Atalanta
🗡 heroThe virgin huntress who outran every suitor
The swift-footed huntress who drew first blood against the Calydonian Boar and was only beaten in a footrace by divine trickery.
Hippomenes
🗡 heroNone recorded
Suitor who defeated Atalanta in a footrace using three golden apples from Aphrodite