Talk:Philomela

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[edit] Possible inaccuracies

I read this in another site of internet. "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." But the article says another thing. Who are right? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.154.113.193 (talk • contribs) 13:51, 5 September 2004 (UTC)

Hi. I've always read/been told that Procne turns into a swallow, and Philomela into a nightingale. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.123.66.169 (talk • contribs) 13:20, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Philomela became the nightingale

From Encyclopedia Mythica [1]: "Before the chase could end, all three were turned into birds--Tereus into a hoopoe, Procne into a swallow, and Philomela into a nightingale. (Hence the nightingale is often called a "Philomel" in poetry.)"

This is consistent with what the Wikipedia article says: "The names 'Procne' and 'Philomela' are sometimes used in literature to refer to a nightingale, though only the latter is mythologically correct. Philomela can also be poetically abbreviated to 'Philomel.' "

See also the comment at the bottom of the Nightingale page [2] at the web site "The Birds of Shakespeare."

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 206.148.33.33 (talk • contribs) 22:38, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

I'd agree. Philomela became the nightingale (according to Brewsters Dictionary of Phrase and Fable) and Procne became the swallow. (SallyQ)

[edit] Merger of Tereus, etc. with Philomela

I suggest that Tereus, etc., article be merged with Philomela. AFAIK, Tereus himself is only notable for raping Philomela; he is otherwise unnotable, and giving him a separate article just results in repetition -- of course, calling the article Philomela makes the assumption that Philomela is the central character in the myth, and Procne, Tereus and Itlus secondary -- an assumption I myself share, and an assumption which can be supported by the literature, but which nonetheless others may disagree with -- and thus, maybe the title should be something like Philomela, Procne, Tereus and Itlus? For none of these deserve separate articles.

The useless repetition of separate articles also also results in incorrect statements being added. For example, the statement in Tereus that Philomela as the nightingale is mythologically incorrect. The truth of the matter, which the article Philomela correctly refers to, is that the mythological sources are inconsistent as to who becomes which bird, although without doubt the identification of Philomela with the nightingale has been the most productive in Western literature. However, if we had just merged the articles together, the incorrectness of the statement in Tereus would have been plainer, and it would likely have not survived so long. --SJK 03:13, 22 October 2006 (UTC)