# Polytechnus

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Greek mythological figure

In [Greek mythology](/source/Greek_mythology), **Polytechnus** ([Ancient Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek_language): Πολύτεχνος, [romanized](/source/Romanization_of_Ancient_Greek): *Polútekhnos*, [lit.](/source/Literal_translation) 'he of many arts') is a carpenter from [Colophon](/source/Colophon_(city)), a city on the western coast of [Asia Minor](/source/Asia_Minor). He is the husband of [Aëdon](/source/A%C3%ABdon) and brother-in-law of [Chelidon](/source/Chelidon_(sister_of_A%C3%ABdon)). Polytechnus serves as the doublet of [Tereus](/source/Tereus) in an Anatolian variant of the story of [Philomela](/source/Philomela) and [Procne](/source/Procne), the Athenian princesses who cut down a child in order to take revenge against his father for his crime of rape. Unlike the sisters, Polytechnus is not transformed into the same bird as his counterpart Tereus did, the hoopoe.

## Mythology

Polytechnus was a humble carpenter living in [Colophon](/source/Colophon_(city)), and at some point he was given a gift axe by [Hephaestus](/source/Hephaestus) himself, the god of craftsmanship. He was married to [Aëdon](/source/A%C3%ABdon), the daughter of [Pandareus](/source/Pandareus) of [Ephesus](/source/Ephesus). The couple had a son named [Itys](/source/Itys), and for a time they were happy until they boasted of being a more blessed couple than even [Zeus](/source/Zeus) and [Hera](/source/Hera). The divine royal couple, much offended by their hubris, sent them the goddess [Eris](/source/Eris_(mythology)) to bring strife and discord in their once peaceful home.[1]

At the time, Polytechnus was completing a 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 female 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](/source/Chelidon_(sister_of_A%C3%ABdon)). Pandareus without suspecting a thing let Polytechnus take her with him, and he then raped Chelidon, cut her hair short and gave her rugs to wear, terrorising her into silence under pain of death. He then gave her to Aëdon as her prize.[2]

For a time all went according to his plan with Polytechnus' wife none the wiser, until one day Aëdon overheard Chelidon bitterly lamenting her woes by some spring, and finally recognised her sister. Aëdon then cut their son Itys down, and served him to Polytechnus while she and Chelidon ran to their father and explained what had happened. Furious, Polytechus ran after them once he realised what had happened, but was overwhelmed by Pandareus' slaves who captured and immobilised him.[3]

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, seeing her actions as treachery, and attempted to kill her. Zeus intervened and transformed all the people involved into birds. Polytechnus became a *pelekan* bird because of the axe (*pelekus*) Hephaestus had once given him.[4]

## The identity of the bird

The bird mentioned in Antoninus Liberalis, the πελεκάν, is the ancient Greek word for [pelican](/source/Pelican), along with πελεκῖνος,[5] but this is not the only bird that can be identified with the one Polytechnus turned into.[6] Francis Celoria says that the bird of the Greek text is the πελεκᾶς,[7] a type of woodpecker,[8] and Forbes Irving also describes Polytechnus' new avian form as a land bird (which the pelican is not) as opposed to his in-laws who became water birds.[9]

## See also

- [mythology portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Mythology)
- [ancient Greece portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Ancient_Greece)

- [Alcyone and Ceyx](/source/Alcyone_and_Ceyx)

- [Child cannibalism](/source/Child_cannibalism)

- [Demophon of Elaeus](/source/Demophon_of_Elaeus)

- [Haemus](/source/Haemus) and [Rhodope](/source/Rhodope_(queen))

- [Thyestes](/source/Thyestes)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBell1991[httpsarchiveorgdetailswomenofclassical00bellpage6mode2upqpolytechnus_6]_1-0)** [Bell 1991](#CITEREFBell1991), p. [6](https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/6/mode/2up?q=polytechnus).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Schmitz, Leonhard (1867), ["Aedon"](https://web.archive.org/web/20131022005627/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0032.html), in Smith, William (ed.), *[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology](/source/Dictionary_of_Greek_and_Roman_Biography_and_Mythology)*, vol. 1, Boston, pp. 23–24, archived from [the original](http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0032.html) on 2013-10-22, retrieved 2007-10-17{{[citation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Citation)}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location_missing_publisher))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECeloria199270–72_3-0)** [Celoria 1992](#CITEREFCeloria1992), pp. 70–72.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Antoninus Liberalis](/source/Antoninus_Liberalis), [11](https://topostext.org/work/216#11). Francis Celoria prefers the 'woodpecker' interpretation of the text.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTELiddellScott1940s.v._[httpswwwperseustuftseduhoppertextdocPerseustext1999040057entrypelekan_πελεκάν]_5-0)** [Liddell & Scott 1940](#CITEREFLiddellScott1940), s.v. [πελεκάν](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=peleka/n).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHünemörder2006para._1_6-0)** [Hünemörder 2006](#CITEREFHünemörder2006), para. 1.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECeloria1992141_7-0)** [Celoria 1992](#CITEREFCeloria1992), p. 141.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTELiddellScott1940s.v._[httpswwwperseustuftseduhoppertextdocPerseus3Atext3A19990400573Aalphabeticletter3Dp3Aentrygroup3D813Aentry3Dpeleka3Ds_πελεκᾶς]_8-0)** [Liddell & Scott 1940](#CITEREFLiddellScott1940), s.v. [πελεκᾶς](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aalphabetic+letter%3D*p%3Aentry+group%3D81%3Aentry%3Dpeleka%3Ds).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEForbes_Irving1990101_9-0)** [Forbes Irving 1990](#CITEREFForbes_Irving1990), p. 101.

## Bibliography

- [Antoninus Liberalis](/source/Antoninus_Liberalis), *The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis* translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). [Online version at the Topos Text Project.](https://topostext.org/work/216)

- Bell, Robert E. (1991). [*Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary*](https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/). [ABC-Clio](/source/ABC-Clio). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780874365818](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780874365818).}

- Celoria, Francis (1992). *The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis: A Translation with a Commentary*. [Routledge](/source/Routledge). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-415-06896-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-415-06896-7).

- Forbes Irving, Paul M. C. (1990). [*Metamorphosis in Greek Myths*](https://books.google.com/books?id=URvXAAAAMAAJ). [Clarendon Press](/source/Clarendon_Press). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-814730-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-814730-9).

- Hünemörder, Christian (October 1, 2006). ["Pelican"](https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/NPOE/e912480.xml). In Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (eds.). *[Brill's New Pauly](/source/Brill's_New_Pauly)*. Translated by Christine F. Salazar. Hamburg: Brill Reference Online. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [1574-9347](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1574-9347).

- [Liddell, Henry George](/source/Henry_Liddell); [Scott, Robert](/source/Robert_Scott_(philologist)) (1940). *[A Greek-English Lexicon](/source/A_Greek-English_Lexicon), revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie*. Oxford: [Clarendon Press](/source/Clarendon_Press). [Online version at Perseus.tufts project.](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057)

v t e Metamorphoses in Greek mythology Animals Avian Acanthis Acanthus Aëdon Aegolius Aegypius Aëtos Aesacus Agrius and Oreius Agron Alcander Alcyone Alcyone and Ceyx Alcyonides Alectryon Anthus Antigone Argus Arne Sithonis Artemiche Ascalaphus Asteria Autonous Botres Bulis Byssa Caeneus Celeus Cerberus Chelidon Cinyras Clinis Combe Corone Ctesylla Cycnus I Cycnus II Cycnus III Cycnus IV Daedalion Diomedes' companions Abas Acmon Idas Lycus Nycteus Rhexenor Erinoma Erodius Eumelus Gerana Harmothoë Harpalyce Harpasus Harpe Hierax Hippodamia Hyperippe Hyria Ictinus Ino Itys Iynx Laius Lelante Lycius Megaletor Meleagrids Memnonides Meropis Merops Minyades Munichus Neophron Nisus Nyctaea Nyctimene Oenoe Oenotropae Ortygius Pandareus Pelia Perdix Periphas Peristera Picus Pierides Phene Philaeus Philomela Pleiades Polyphonte Polytechnus Procne Schoeneus Scylla Tereus Timandra Non-avian Abas Actaeon Arachne Arcas Arge Aristaeus Ascalabus Atalanta Cadmus Calchus Callisto Cephissus Cerambus Cercopes Chelone Circe Curetes Cynosura Galanthis Gale Harmonia Hecuba Helice Hippomenes Io Lycaon Lycian peasants Lyncus Megisto Melanion Melanippe Melian nymphs Melissa Minyades Myia Myrmex Naïs Nerites Ocyrhoe Odysseus Pentheus Phalanx Phineus Phoenice Pompilus Taygete Themisto Theophane Tiresias Titanis Tithonus Tyrrhenian pirates Aethalides Alcimedon Dictys Epopeus Melas Medon Opheltes Base appearance Achilles Antigone Charybdis Lamia Medusa Midas Mulberry fruit Phaon Scylla Sirens White raven Humanoids Arne Calliste Cymodoce Cephalus' wife Galatea Leleges Myrmidons Nephele Spartoi Weasel Inanimate objects Aconteus Aglaurus Alcmene Anaxarete Ariadne Arsinoe Aspalis Battus Britomartis Calydon Cercopes Cragaleus Daphnis Gorgo Iodame Laelaps Lethaea Lyco and Orphe Olenus Pallas Pandareus Phineus Polydectes Proetus Propoetides Pyrrhus Teumessian fox Wolf Landforms Achelous Acheron Acis Aea Alope Alpheus Arethusa I Arethusa II Asteria Atlas Aura Byblis Calliste Chione Cleite Comaetho Cyane Dirce Haemus Lichas Lilaeus Manto Marsyas Menippe and Metioche Niobe Perimele Pirene Pyramus and Thisbe Rhodope Rhodopis Sangas Selemnus Sybaris Opposite sex Caeneus Hermaphroditus Iphis Leucippus Salmacis Siproites Sithon Tiresias Plants Adonis Agdistis Ajax Amaracus Ambrosia Ampelus Anethus Attis Baucis and Philemon Calamus Carpus Carya Cissus Clytie Crocus Cyparissus Daphne Diopatra Dryope Elaea Elate Eteocleides Heliades Aegle Dioxippe Lampetia Merope Phaethusa Phoebe Hesperides Aegle Erytheia Hyacinthus Leuce Leucothoe Libanus Lotis Lycurgus Mecon Melos Messapians Milk Minthe Myrice Myrina Myrsine Narcissus Oechalides Philyra Phyllis Picolous Pitys Platanus Psalacantha Saliva Side Smilax Smyrna Spear Syceus Syrinx Voluntary Kobalos Mestra Periclymenus Other Cumaean Sibyl Echo Hyades Hylas Milk of Hera Pleiades False myths Acantha Amethyste Orchis Rhodanthe Metamorphoses

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Polytechnus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytechnus) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytechnus?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.