# Philomela — Metamorphoses character guide

> Philomela in Metamorphoses by Ovid.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Procne

**First appearance:** 0062-peasants-of-lycia-transformed-to-frogs

## Snapshot

An Athenian princess whose voice is taken from her by violence, and who finds a way to speak anyway — through thread, through rage, through feathers.

## Who they are

Philomela is the sister of Procne, sent by her father to visit Procne's husband Tereus in Thrace, a journey that becomes the worst thing that happens to her. Stripped of her tongue so she cannot accuse him, she weaves her testimony into a tapestry and sends it to her sister, turning cloth into the only language left to her. Her story is the darkest in the Metamorphoses, and Ovid tells it without flinching, because what follows — the sisters' revenge and their flight into birds — depends on the reader believing her.

## Relationships

### [Tereus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters/tereus)

_rivalry_

Tereus rapes Philomela and cuts out her tongue, making her his victim and enemy.

### [Tereus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters/tereus)

_rivalry_

Tereus rapes Philomela and cuts out her tongue, making her his victim and enemy.

### [Tereus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters/tereus)

_rivalry_

Tereus rapes Philomela and cuts out her tongue, making her his victim and enemy.

## In the story

### [Book VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/book-vi)

The victim of Tereus's rape and mutilation; she weaves her story into a tapestry to communicate with her sister.

### [Book VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/book-vi)

Philomela's sister and Tereus's wife; she takes brutal revenge by killing her son Itys and serving him to Tereus.

### [Story of Tereus, Procne, and Philomela](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/story-of-tereus-procne-and-philomela)

Sister of Procne, raped by Tereus, later helps serve Itys to him.

### [Story of Tereus, Procne, and Philomela](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/story-of-tereus-procne-and-philomela)

Wife of Tereus, kills her son Itys and serves him to her husband.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters/philomela
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters