The New Jersey Classical League

Graduate Conference on Mythology

8-9 July 1997

ReadingUniversity

Respectfully submitted by

Janice Siegel

TempleUniversity

Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaUSA

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.