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 ...

, Polytechnus ( grc, Πολύτεχνος, Polutekhnos, he with many arts) is a carpenter from 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

Tereus In Greek mythology, Tereus (; Ancient Greek: Τηρεύς) was a Thracian king,Thucydides: ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' 2:29 the son of Ares and the naiad Bistonis. He was the brother of Dryas. Tereus was the husband of the Athenian prin ...

Mythology

Polytechnus was a carpenter, and at some point he was given a gift axe by

Hephaestus Hephaestus (; eight spellings; grc-gre, Ἥφαιστος, Hḗphaistos) is the Greek god of blacksmiths, metalworking, carpenters, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metallurgy, fire (compare, however, with Hestia), and volcanoes.Walter Burk ...

himself. He was married 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 ...

, 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 favor ...

Ephesus Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...

. The couple had a son named

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 ...

, and were happy until they boasted of being a more happy couple than even

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� ...

and

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; grc-gre, Ἥρα, Hḗrā; grc, Ἥρη, Hḗrē, label=none in Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she ...

. The divine royal couple, slighted, sent them the goddess Eris to bring strife and discord in their home. At the time, Polytechnus was completing standing board for a chariot and Aëdon a tapestry, so they made a wager that whoever finished first would need to find the other a slave. With Hera's help, Aëdon was victorious. Polytechnus was bitter about his wife's victory, so he went to Pandareus, and lied about Aëdon sending him to fetch her sister,

Chelidon Chelidon (fl. 74 BC) was a Roman courtesan, famed for her influence during the praetorship of Gaius Verres. She was a freedwoman and a successful professional high class courtesan. She was introduced to Gaius Verres by the courtesan Pippa and Ter ...

. Pandareus without suspecting a thing let Polytechnus take her with him, and he raped Chelidon, cut her hair short and gave her rugs to wear, terrorising her into silence. He then gave her to Aëdon as a slave. For a time all went according to his plan, until one day Aëdon heard Chelidon lamenting her woes, and recognised her sister. Aëdon then cut her son Itys down, and served him to Polytechnus while she and Chelidon ran to their father and explained what had happened. Polytechus ran after them, but was overwhelmed by Pandareus' slaves who captured him. He was tied up, his body smeared with honey and hurled into a sheepfold as flies flocked to him. Aëdon in pity and in memory of their old love, kept the flies off of him. Her parents and brother grew angry with her, and attempted to kill her. Zeus intervened and transformed all the people involved into birds. Polytechnus became a

woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. ...

References

Bibliography

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 ...

, ''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. . * {{Authority control Anatolian characters in Greek mythology Metamorphoses into birds in Greek mythology Mythological rapists Deeds of Zeus Deeds of Hera

Mythology

See also

References

Bibliography