I′tys, in Greek mythology, son of Procne and Tereus. After the birth of Itys, Tereus concealed Procne in the country, that he might marry her sister Philomela, whom he deceived by saying Procne was dead. At the same time he deprived Philomela of her tongue. She, however, soon found out the truth, and made it known to her sister by a few words which she wove into a peplus. Procne thereupon killed her own son, Itys, and served up the child’s flesh in a dish before Tereus. She then fled with her sister. When Tereus was about to overtake the fleeing sisters, the gods, in answer to their prayer, changed all three into birds: Tereus into a hoopoe or hawk, Philomela into a swallow and Procne into a nightingale, which from that time to this has never ceased to cry: “Itys, Itys.”
