Encyclopedia > Itys

  Article Content

Itys

In Greek mythology, Itys was the son of Procne and Tereus. Tereus loved his wife's sister, Philomela. He raped her, cut her tongue out and held her captive so she could never tell anyone. Philomela wove a tapestry that told her story and gave it to Procne. In revenge, Procne killed her son by Tereus, Itys, and fed him to Tereus unknowingly. Tereus tried to kill the sisters but all three were changed into birds: Tereus was a hoopoe; Philomela was a swallow; Procne was a nightingale whose song is a song of mourning for her son Itys. The names "Philomela" and "Procne" are sometimes used in literature to refer to a nightingale, though only the latter is mythologically correct.

Ovid VI, 636



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Battle Creek, Michigan

... - Wikipedia <<Up     Contents Battle Creek, Michigan Battle Creek redirects here. There is also Battle Creek, Nebraska. Battle Creek is a ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 37.4 ms