Tereus and Philomela
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.
The Legend of Tereus and Philomela
Tereus, king of Thrace, married Procne, daughter of King Pandion of Athens. Years later, Procne begged Tereus to bring her sister Philomela from Athens for a visit. Tereus agreed but upon seeing Philomela, was consumed with desire. He assaulted her and cut out her tongue to prevent her revealing the crime, imprisoning her in a remote cabin. But Philomela wove a tapestry depicting the assault and had it delivered to Procne. The sisters reunited and devised terrible vengeance: Procne killed her own son Itys, whom she had borne to Tereus, and served his flesh to the unknowing father. When Tereus discovered the truth, he pursued both sisters with an axe. The gods intervened by transforming all three into birds — Philomela into a nightingale (whose song sounds like ceaseless mourning), Procne into a swallow, and Tereus into a hoopoe, forever pursuing them.
Parents
Pandion (father of the sisters)
Children
Itys (killed)
Symbols
Fun Fact
The nightingale's song has been associated with sorrow in Western poetry for 2,500 years because of Philomela — Keats, Shelley, T.S. Eliot, and hundreds of others reference the myth. But the most powerful detail is the tapestry: with her tongue cut out, Philomela used textile art to communicate the truth. She is the patron figure of every person who finds alternative ways to speak when their voice is silenced — the first artist who turned trauma into testimony.
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
🗡 heroKing who was transformed into a hoopoe
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.
Procne
🗡 herovengeance
Athenian princess married to Tereus who killed her own son Itys to avenge her sister Philomela's rape.
Philomela
🗡 herotransformation
Athenian princess whose tongue was cut out by her rapist Tereus, who wove her story into a tapestry to reveal the crime.
Tereus
🗡 herocrime
Thracian king who raped Philomela, cut out her tongue, and was transformed into a hoopoe bird.
Pandion
🗡 herokingship
King of Athens who married off his daughters Procne and Philomela, both of whom suffered terribly at the hands of Tereus.
Aerope
🗡 heroAdultery, royalty
Queen of Mycenae whose adultery with Thyestes caused the devastating curse upon the House of Atreus
Harpalyce
🗡 heroFemale Warrior, Revenge, Transformation
Thracian princess raised as a warrior who was transformed into a bird after a cycle of horrific revenge.
Atreus
🗡 herovengeance
King of Mycenae who murdered his nephews and fed them to his brother Thyestes, establishing the bloodiest family curse in myth.
Alcmaeon
🗡 herovengeance
Son of Amphiaraus who killed his own mother Eriphyle on his father's orders and was driven mad by the Erinyes.
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.
Acastus
🗡 herovengeance
King of Iolcus and Argonaut who tried to murder Peleus through treachery on Mount Pelion — a tale of false accusation and sacred hospitality violated.
Aegyptus
🗡 heroNone recorded
A mythological king with fifty sons who demanded marriage to the fifty daughters of his brother Danaus, precipitating one of the most infamous mass killings in Greek mythology