Tereus
Tereus was a Thracian king who married Procne, then assaulted her sister Philomela and cut out her tongue — the sisters' revenge and transformation is one of mythology's darkest tales.
The Legend of Tereus
A Thracian king and son of Ares, Tereus married Procne, daughter of the Athenian king Pandion, and fathered Itys. He then assaulted Procne's sister Philomela and cut out her tongue to silence her. But Philomela wove the truth into a tapestry — echoing Arachne's skill before Athena — and sent it to Procne. The sisters took savage revenge: they killed Itys and served him to Tereus. When Tereus discovered the truth and pursued them, Zeus (or the gods collectively) transformed all three into birds. The tale links Athens, Thrace, and the theme of divine transformation that runs from Io to Daphne.
Parents
Ares
Symbols
Fun Fact
Keats, Eliot, and Shakespeare all reference Philomela — the tongueless woman who found another way to speak became a symbol for art overcoming oppression.
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
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.
Tereus
🗡 herocrime
Thracian king who raped Philomela, cut out her tongue, and was transformed into a hoopoe bird.
Philomela
🗡 herotransformation
Athenian princess whose tongue was cut out by her rapist Tereus, who wove her story into a tapestry to reveal the crime.
Harpalyce
🗡 heroFemale Warrior, Revenge, Transformation
Thracian princess raised as a warrior who was transformed into a bird after a cycle of horrific revenge.
Procne
🗡 herovengeance
Athenian princess married to Tereus who killed her own son Itys to avenge her sister Philomela's rape.
Ceyx and Alcyone
🗡 herotransformation
King and queen who loved each other so deeply the gods transformed them into kingfisher birds to be together after death.
Aerope
🗡 heroAdultery, royalty
Queen of Mycenae whose adultery with Thyestes caused the devastating curse upon the House of Atreus
Alcyone
🗡 heroLove, transformation, birds
Queen of Trachis who was transformed into a kingfisher bird alongside her devoted husband Ceyx
Myrrha
🗡 herotransgression, transformation
A princess cursed by Aphrodite to desire her own father, whose tears of shame became myrrh resin after the gods transformed her into a tree.
Pandion
🗡 herokingship
King of Athens who married off his daughters Procne and Philomela, both of whom suffered terribly at the hands of Tereus.
Caeneus
🗡 herotransformation
Born as the woman Caenis, raped by Poseidon, who granted her wish to become an invulnerable man.
Amphitryon
🗡 heroidentity, deception
The husband of Alcmene whom Zeus impersonated to conceive Heracles, creating mythology's most famous case of divine identity theft.