(Πολύτεχνος; Polýtechnos). In Antoninus Liberalis 11 (after Boeus, Ornithogonia) the husband of Aedon and father of Itys. In revenge for the violation of her sister Chelidonis by P., Aedon kills their son Itys and serves him for P. to eat. In the end all participants are turned into birds, P. into a woodpecker [1. 87-89]. This is probably the purest form of ancient bird tale, which ultimately found its canonical form with Tereus, Procne and Philomele (Ov. Met. 6,412-674) [2. 115-119].
Bibliography
1 M. Papathemopoulos (ed.), Antoninus Liberal…