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![](images/f0207.jpg)
"El banquete de Tereo" (The banquet of King Tereus), c. 1635 by
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) - El Prado Museum, Madrid,
Spain.
Note: This work was inspired by the poetic work "Metamorphoses"
by Ovid. King Tereus, married to Procne or Prokne
could not resist the charms of his sister in law Filomela or
Philomela. To keep Philomela quiet,Tereus tore her
tongue out (glossectomy). When his wife Procne discovered the
crime, she killed Itis or Itys, her son by Tereus and served
his flesh for a dinner hosted by Tereus. The Olympic Gods
transformed Prokne into a swallow, Philomela into a nightingale
(birds that remain silent except during spring) and Tereus into
a flesh eating hawk.
( Back to Illustrated Theme)
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