Philomela

Family: Athens · Role: daughter of Pandion · First appears: Fable 59

Philomela, daughter of Pandion of Athens, is abducted by Tereus, who imprisons and sexually assaults her in a concealed forest dwelling: “there he shuts her up, pale and trembling, and dreading everything”. He cuts out her tongue to prevent her from revealing his crime, then falsely tells Progne that she has died, and Progne believes him.

In the following fable, Philomela joins Progne in murdering Itys and dismembering his body. When Progne reveals that Tereus has eaten him, Philomela emerges with her hair disordered and throws Itys’s bloody head into Tereus’s face; Tereus follows the daughters of Pandion with a drawn sword. While fleeing him, Philomela is transformed into a nightingale.