Itylus

In Greek mythology, Itylus, or Itylos, was the son of Aedon, daughter of Pandareus of Ephesus and wife of King Zethus of Thebes. Envious of Niobe, the wife of her husband's brother Amphion, who had six sons and six daughters, she formed the plan of killing the eldest of Niobe's sons, but by mistake slew her own son Itylus. Zeus relieved her grief by changing her into a nightingale, whose melancholy tunes are represented by the poet as Aëdon's lamentations about her child. The mythic theme was an ancient one, for Homer's listeners were expected to know the allusion, when Penelope reveals to the still- disguised Odysseus her anguish of a night: