Graduate Conference on Mythology
8-9 July 1997
Reading University
Respectfully submitted by
Janice Siegel
Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA
jsiegel@nimbus.ocis.temple.edu
The Guilt-Bearer: Procne in Classical Poetry and Iconography
The myth of Procne, Philomela and Tereus is well-known in classical mythology.
But in researching this myth, I have found a curious thing: although all parties concerned
are guilty of heinous crimes (Tereus rapes and mutilates his sister-in-law, and Procne
and Philomela murder and cook up his child), the poetic and dramatic emphasis of
classical literary works has highlighted the guilt of the women. Although all
mythographers agree that Tereus was a barbarian and acted wrongly, the greater shock
is the behavior of the women. Even in references to the women in their transformed
states (as nightingale and swallow), poets find an opportunity to place blame:
bloodstained plumage stands as eternal sign of bloodguilt. Poetic allusions to Tereus in
either human or hoopoe form are remarkably sympathetic.
Modern treatment of this myth reveals a shift in attitude of the poets, a shift
which increasingly highlights the victimization of the women. One of the key reasons for
this is that when the myth made the transition from the Greek tradition to the Roman, a
Roman mythographer mistakenly reversed the metamorphoses of the women, making
Philomela the nightingale instead of the swallow. Her metamorphosis was thus
perceived as compensation for her brutal treatment at the hands of Tereus, and it
became easier to sympathize with her plight. Although it is the nefarious actions of
Procne that characterize poetic and dramatic references to this myth in antiquity,
Philomela's mournful song of loss as the metamorphosed nightingale is the centerpiece
of an entire corpus of literature beginning in the middle ages and extending to our own
time.
The visual narratives of this myth in art and iconography in both ancient and
modern representations reflect the same shift in sympathy and focus. The child-killing
scene is the subject of most Procne-inspired vase paintings and sculptures of antiquity,
just as it is the subject of most poetic allusions to the myth. The imminent death of Itys is
an appropriate place for emphasis, for it is the crux of the play: it bridges the crimes and
punishment of Tereus, although he is missing from the picture. Later, Tereus' crimes
become important as well, and the shift in sympathy becomes more apparent as the
ages pass: Rubens' Feast of Tereus (1636) portrays the feast itself, a scene notably
absent from vases in antiquity, while the modern age presents Tereus as the villain of
the play (Picasso's Rape of Philomela, for example). This presentation will include slides
of all artwork.