Procne in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Procne

6 passages from 4 ancient authors that tell of Procne, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Procne is a character in Greek mythology, the daughter of King Pandion of Athens. She was married to King Tereus of Thrace. Her sister Philomela decid... For the story in one place, read our article on Procne.

Apollodorus (1)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.14.1–8Cecrops, Athena and Poseidon, and the early kings of AthensCecrops, a son of the soil, is the first king of Attica, and in his reign Athena and Poseidon contend for the land and the gods award it to Athena. The section covers Cecrops's daughters, Cephalus, Cinyras and Adonis, the kings Cranaus, Amphictyon and Erichthonius (born from Hephaestus's seed), the gift of wine to Icarius and Erigone's death, and ends with Pandion and the story of Procne, Philomela and Tereus.

Ovid (2)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.542–674Procne's revengeTereus cuts out Philomela's tongue and keeps her shut in the hut, telling his wife that her sister is dead. Philomela weaves the story into a web and sends it to Procne, who, at the feast of Dionysus (Bacchus), frees her sister and brings her home. In her rage Procne kills her son Itys, and serves his flesh to Tereus at dinner, and then shows him the head. Tereus chases the two sisters with a sword, and the gods change all three into birds: Philomela into a nightingale, Procne into a swallow, and Tereus into a hoopoe.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.412–541Tereus and PhilomelaThe kings of Greece come to console Pelops, but Athens, beset by war, sends no one. Tereus, king of Thrace, who has helped Athens, is given the king's daughter Procne in an ill-omened marriage. Years later Procne asks to see her sister, and Tereus goes to Athens to fetch Philomela, and desires her. He takes her to a hut in the woods and rapes her, and she reproaches him bitterly and says that she will tell everyone what he has done.

Pausanias (2)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.5.1–5Athens: the Rotunda and the eponymous heroes of the tribesNear the Council House is the Rotunda, where the presidents sacrifice, and above it stand statues of the heroes who gave their names to the Athenian tribes, among them Hippothoon, Antiochus, Ajax, Leos, Erechtheus, Aegeus, Oeneus and Acamas. Pausanias distinguishes two kings called Cecrops and two called Pandion, and tells of Pandion’s exile at Megara and of Tereus, Procne and Philomela. He adds the later tribes named after Attalus, Ptolemy and the Emperor Hadrian, and mentions Hadrian’s benefactions.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.24.1–8Athens Acropolis: Zeus Polieus, the Parthenon and Phidias’ AthenaPausanias lists sculptures on the Acropolis showing Athena and Marsyas, Theseus and the bull, Phrixus, Hercules and the serpents, and Athena’s birth, and describes the ox sacrifice to Zeus Polieus. He then describes the Parthenon: the gable sculptures, Phidias’ ivory and gold Athena with her sphinx and griffin helmet, the Victory, shield, serpent and the birth of Pandora on the pedestal. He ends with the bronze Locust Apollo.

Nonnus of Panopolis (1)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 44.253–318Book 44: The Furies and Dionysos drive the Theban women to the mountainPersephone sends a Fury who sprinkles water of Styx and Cocytos over Agaue's rooms and buries the knife of Procne under a fir tree on Cithaeron, smearing it with Gorgon's blood. Dionysos, wearing a bull's head, enters the palace and drives the women mad. He calls to Autonoe with a false tale that her son Actaeon lives and is the lover of Artemis, urging her to run to the mountains.