Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Itys () is a minor mythological character, the son of Tereus, a king of

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

, by his Athenian wife Procne. Itys was murdered by his own mother and served to be consumed during dinner by his father, as part of a revenge plan against Tereus for assaulting and raping Philomela, Procne's sister. His immediate family were all transformed into birds afterwards, and in some versions Itys too joins them in the avian kingdom. Itys' story survives in several accounts, the most extensive and famous among them being

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...

''. His myth had been known since at least the sixth century BC.

Family

Itys was the son of Procne, a princess of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, and Tereus, a

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

king, thus nephew to Philomela. Through his father he was a grandson of the god of war

Ares Ares (; , ''Árēs'' ) is the List of Greek deities, Greek god of war god, war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for ...

Mythology

Itys was born and raised in Thrace. At some point his father Tereus raped Itys' maternal aunt Philomela while escorting her to Thrace on her visit to her sister Procne. Tereus cut Philomela's tongue so she could never be able to tell anyone her story, and abandoned her. Philomela however managed to weave a tapestry or robe with her story and sent it to her sister. In rage, Procne slew Itys, seeing him as but an image of his father, boiled him and served him as a meal to Tereus. After he finished his meal, the two sisters presented him with the disembodied head of Itys. Once he realised what had happened, Tereus hunted down the two sisters, who prayed to the gods. All three were transformed into birds. Depending on the myth's version, either Philomela or Procne is turned into either the silent

swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

or the singing nightingale which continued to mourn her slain son in her new life. "Itys" was also the name for the plaintive cry of the nightingale. Bauer - Tereus Philomela Procne

Pausanias on the other hand writes that Tereus was so remorseful for his actions against Philomela and Itys's fate at the hands of the women (the nature of which is not described in clear detail) that he killed himself. Eustathius's version of the story has the sisters reversed, so that Philomela married Tereus and became the mother of Itys. In some texts, Itys is called Itylus instead, another mythological bird who was killed by his mother Aëdon, who then transformed into a nightingale. In one variation of the myth, Procne is called Aëdon and his father Polytechnus. The fullest surviving account of Itys' tale comes to us via the Roman poet

and his narrative poem the ''

''; however, the myth itself is much older, and Ovid's telling was largely influenced by

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

's now lost tragedy '' Tereus''. Scholar Jenny Marsh theorized that Sophocles must had borrowed certain elements of the plot from

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

's drama ''

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; ; ) is the daughter of Aeëtes, King Aeëtes of Colchis. Medea is known in most stories as a sorceress, an accomplished "wiktionary:φαρμακεία, pharmakeía" (medicinal magic), and is often depicted as a high- ...

''. She argues that the element of the enraged wife killing her child in an act of revenge against her husband's actions was directly borrowed from Euripides and incorporated into his tragedy. If accurate, that would mean that the infanticide of Itys did not appear in the myth of Procne and Philomela until Sophocles. Tellingly, the chorus in ''Medea'' state that they know only of one woman sans

herself that killed her children ( Ino) without taking Procne into account. In some versions, Itys himself was transformed into a bird like the rest of his family, specifically a

pheasant Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera's native range is restricted to Eura ...

, to be admired for its fine plumage.Willi, Andreas (Basle)
“Itys”
in '' Brill’s New Pauly'', Antiquity volumes edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by Manfred Landfester, English Edition by Francis G. Gentry. Consulted online on 11 January 2023. This element is not present in Ovid and most authors, who instead have Itys unceremoniously killed and eaten.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Antoninus Liberalis, ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis'' translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992)
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* * * Maurus Servius Honoratus, ''In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii;'' recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* *

External links