procne

Procne is a figure in Greek mythology, a princess of Athens and the daughter of King Pandion II. She is the sister of Philomela and the wife of Tereus, king of Thrace. Procne and Tereus have a son named Itys. Her name is most closely associated with a notorious myth of vengeance, transformation, and the turning of sorrow into song.

According to the best-known versions, Tereus rapes Philomela and then mutilates her to silence her. Philomela communicates the crime to Procne by weaving a message into her tapestry. In revenge, Procne kills her own son Itys and serves him to Tereus as a meal. When Tereus discovers the deception, the three are brought to the gods, who transform them into birds: Procne becomes the nightingale, Philomela the swallow (in some traditions a different bird). In some tellings, Tereus is transformed into a hoopoe. The exact birds vary across sources, but the core idea is metamorphosis as punishment and escape.

The tale is most famously preserved in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, with earlier Greek tragedy and mythography providing variations. It has served as a persistent mythic pattern—exploring themes of violence, silencing, female agency, and the transformation of grief into song. The figures of Procne and Philomela have also been interpreted in later literature and art as symbols of lament and the enduring voice that emerges from oppression, often linked to the nightingale’s and swallow’s symbolic associations.