FICTION READING - PROKNE - the story of Prokne and Philomela shows how Greek mythology used the culture of textiles in its storytelling (plus shows the role of dangerous women...)

PROKNE AND PHILOMELA

Prokne was the daughter of Pandion, the king of Athens, and was married to Tereus, the king of Thrace. Like Medea, she killed her own son to take vengeance on her husband ...


Prokne and Tereus had a son, Itys. Nevertheless, as the years passed, Prokne grew lonely, so she asked Tereus to go to Athens and fetch her sister, Philomela, to visit her. He did so, but as soon as he saw Philomela's beauty, he was inflamed with lust and planned to make her his own. With no idea of what lay in store for her, she pleaded with her father to be allowed to visit her dear sister, and Pandion agreed.


They set off, and on the journey Tereus raped her. When they arrived in Thrace he imprisoned her, then to stop her telling of what he had done, he cut out her tongue. Leaving her well guarded, he went home to his wife and told her that her sister was dead. Prokne was deeply grieved. Yet tongueless though Philomela might be, this did not stop her from telling her story: like all women she was skilled in the art of weaving, and now she wove a tapestry (fabric again) telling what she had suffered. When at last it was complete, she sent it by a friendly servant to her sister.


Prokne deciphered the harrowing tale and went at once to fetch Philomela, smuggling her back into the palace. Then she set her mind on revenge. She killed her little son Itys - presumably her aim, as with Medea, was to leave her husband to suffer for the rest of his life with no son and no hope, rather than give him a quick death. Then the sisters cut up the little boy's body and cooked his flesh. Prokne served it to Tereus, and he ate, and afterwards, replete, he asked her where Itys was. She told him. At once he leapt up to attack his son's murderers, but at this moment the gods intervened and turned all three of them into birds.


Tereus became a hoopoe (a royal, crested bird), continually uttering the question he had asked his wife just before his metamorphosis, 'Pou?, Pou?' ('Where?, Where?'). Philomela, having no tongue, became a swallow, who merely twitters inarticulately. Prokne was turned into a nightingale, forever singing her son's name in mourning, 'Itu!, Itu!'. (March, 2009, pp.457-9).

REFERENCE


March, J. (2009 [2008] ) The Penguin book of classical myths. London: Penguin.