Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

, Timandra ( grc, Τιμάνδρα) is a widow woman who became the lover of

Aegypius ''Aegypius'' is a genus of Old World vultures found in the subfamily Gypinae. Of the three species in the genus, only the cinereous vulture is extant. The Cinerous vulture (Aegypius Monachus) is a creature that is hard to find as it is “a nea ...

Mythology

Her son

Neophron Neophron of Sicyon (Νεόφρων, -ονος) was one of the most prolific of the ancient Greek dramatists, to whom are accredited one hundred and twenty pieces, of which only a few fragments of his ''Medea'' remain. This, it is said, Euripides ...

disapproved of the affair, so he seduced Aegypius' own mother Bulis. He brought Bulis into his house, made sure his own mother was out, and then arranged for Aegypius and Bulis to sleep together, unsuspecting of the other's true identity. The moment they found out the trick, Aegypius prayed that he would vanish, and

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...

turned all four into birds. Timandre changed into an ''

aegithalos ''Aegithalos'' is a songbird genus in the family Aegithalidae. Taxonomy The genus ''Aegithalos'' was introduced in 1804 by the French naturalist Johann Hermann to accommodate a single species, the long-tailed tit. The genus name was a term used ...

'' (), Antoninus Liberalis
5
/ref> now the word for "long-tailed tit", but the Greek bird may have also been any of the

Paridae The tits, chickadees, and titmice constitute the Paridae, a large family of small passerine birds which occur mainly in the Northern Hemisphere and Africa. Most were formerly classified in the genus ''Parus''. Members of this family are common ...

References

Bibliography

* Antoninus Liberalis, ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis'' translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992)
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Metamorphoses into birds in Greek mythology Deeds of Zeus Women in Greek mythology {{Greek-myth-stub