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Tereus Confronted with the Head of his Son Itys, Rubens,
1636-38 ,195 x 267 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid
In Greek mythology, Tereus was a son of Ares and husband of Procne. He had one son: Itys. Tereus loved his wife's sister, Philomela. Telling Philomela that her sister had died, he seduced 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 by the Olympian Gods into birds: Tereus was a hoopoe; Procne was a nightingale whose song is a song of mourning for the loss of her son.; Philomela was a swallow commonly thought of as a voiceless bird.
The names "Procne" and "Philomela" are sometimes used in literature to refer to a nightingale, though only the latter is mythologically correct.
Hoopoe (Upupa epops)
Aristophanes' The Birds
The hoopoe also changes its colour and appearance, as Aeschylus has represented in the following lines:—
The Hoopoe, witness to his own distress,
Is clad by Zeus in variable dress:- Aristotle History of Animals, Book 9
The king of birds, transformed from Tereus, King of Thrace, twitters in the following style. "Epopopopopopopopopopoi! io! io! come, come, come, come, come. Tio, tio, tio, tio, tio, tio, tio! trioto, trioto, totobrix! Torotorotorotorolix! Ciccabau, ciccabau! Torotorotorotorotililix." Alfred Guy Kingan L'Estrange Ancient Greek Humour
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Bizya
Mythology Images
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org"
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