Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

, Chelidon ( grc, Χελιδών, Khelidon, swallow) is a minor figure, a noblewoman from either the city of

Miletus Miletus (; gr, Μῑ́λητος, Mī́lētos; Hittite transcription ''Millawanda'' or ''Milawata'' (exonyms); la, Mīlētus; tr, Milet) was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in a ...

or Colophon in an

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

n variant of the story of

Philomela Philomela () or Philomel (; grc-gre, , ; ) is a minor figure in Greek mythology who is frequently invoked as a direct and figurative symbol in literary and artistic works in the Western canon. Family Philomela was the younger of two daugh ...

Family

Chelidon was the daughter of

Pandareus In Greek mythology, Pandareus () was the son of Merops and a nymph. His residence was given as either EphesusAntoninus Liberalis11as cited in Boeus' ''Ornithogonia'' or Miletus.Pausanias, 10.30.2 Mythology Pandareus was said to have been favored ...

and his wife, and thus sister to

Aëdon Aëdon ( grc, Ἀηδών, Aēdṓn, nightingale) was in Greek mythology, the daughter of Pandareus of Ephesus. According to Homer, she was the wife of Zethus, and the mother of Itylus.Homer, ''Odyssey'19.517/ref> Aëdon features in two differe ...

, Cleodora (or Cleothera), Merope (according to Pausanias, the last two were called Cameiro and

Clytia In Greek mythology, the name Clytie (Ancient Greek: Κλυτίη, Ionic) or Clytia (, Attic and other dialects) may refer to: *Clytie (Oceanid), known for her unrequited love for Helios. Out of jealousy, Clytie arranged the death of Leucotho ...

) and an unnamed brother.

Mythology

After her sister Aëdon won a bet against her husband

Polytechnus In Greek mythology, Polytechnus ( grc, Πολύτεχνος, Polutekhnos, he with many arts) is a carpenter from Colophon, in an Anatolian variant of the story of Tereus. Mythology Polytechnus was a carpenter, and at some point he was given a ...

, Polytechnus was forced to find his wife a slave. He went to Pandareus, claiming that Aëdon wanted to see her sister. Chelidon left with Polytechnus, but he forced himself on her, cut her hair short, and dressed her up as a slave, terrorizing her against telling anyone what had happened. He then gave her to Aëdon as a slave. Aëdon did not suspect anything until one day she overheard Chelidon lamenting her cruel fate. The two sisters then killed

Itys In Greek mythology, Itys ( grc, Ἴτυς, Itus) is a minor mythological character, the son of Tereus, a king of Thrace, by his Athenian wife Procne. Itys was murdered by his own mother and served to be consumed during dinner by his father, as p ...

, Aëdon and Polytechnus's son, and fed him to his father while they ran back to their own. Polytechnus hunted them down, but Pandareus protected his daughters and had Polytechnus tied up, smeared with honey and left to the mercy of flocks of flies. But Aëdon, feeling sorry for her husband, kept the flies off of him. Pandareus, his wife and the unnamed son attacked her, so

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D� ...

decided to turn them all into birds. Chelidon became a swallow.

Antoninus Liberalis Antoninus Liberalis ( el, Ἀντωνῖνος Λιβεράλις) was an Ancient Greek grammarian who probably flourished between AD 100 and 300. His only surviving work is the ''Metamorphoses'' (Μεταμορφώσεων Συναγωγή, ''Me ...

, ''Metamorphoses '
11
/ref>

References

Bibliography

, ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis'' translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992)
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Bell, Robert E., ''Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary''. ABC-Clio. 1991. . * *

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

, ''The Odyssey'' with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
* Homer. ''The Odyssey,'' Book XIX, in ''The Iliad & The Odyssey''. Trans. Samuel Butler. pp. 676–7. *

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC *Pausanias of Sicily, physician of th ...

, ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library

Anatolian characters in Greek mythology Metamorphoses into birds in Greek mythology Deeds of Zeus Mythological rape victims {{Greek-myth-stub

Family

Mythology

See also

References

Bibliography