Tereus and Philomela
heroThe 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 Myth
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:
Explore Further
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.
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...
Athens
placeAthens was the city sacred to Athena, birthplace of democracy, philosophy, drama, and Western...
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...
Achilles
heroThe greatest warrior in the Greek army at Troy, nearly invulnerable thanks to being dipped in the...
Actaeon
heroActaeon was a master hunter who accidentally saw Artemis bathing naked — she transformed him into a...