Nyctimene

Nyctimene (/nɪktɪmæni/; Ancient Greek: Νυκτιμένη, Nuktiménē, meaning "she who stays up at night") is a figure from Greek and Roman mythology, known as a princess of Lesbos and the daughter of King Epopeus. Her tragic story centers around her being a victim of sexual violence, and her transformation into an owl by the goddess Athena, who took pity on her suffering. The owl would later become one of Athena’s most enduring symbols.

According to the Roman author Hyginus, Nyctimene was raped by her own father, Epopeus. Overcome with shame or guilt, she fled into the forest and avoided the daylight. Moved by compassion, Athena transformed her into a nocturnal owl—a creature that would come to symbolize the goddess herself.

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the story is told from the perspective of Corone (the crow), who laments that her favored position as Athena’s sacred bird has been taken by Nyctimene. Ovid's version frames Nyctimene’s transformation as a punishment for “violating her father’s bed” (patrium temerasse cubile), a phrase that leaves the nature of the act ambiguous—suggesting incest but without specifying whether it was rape, seduction, or mutual involvement.

Other ancient sources offer alternative accounts. The commentator Servius suggests that Nyctimene experienced deep shame after realizing she had unknowingly slept with her father, hinting at possible deception. Another scholiast attributes the assault not to her father but to a guest named Corymbus. An anonymous Greek writer known as a paradoxographer even names her father as Clymenus instead of Epopeus.

A related version of the tale appears in pseudo-Lactantius Placidus’s commentary on the Thebaid, where a character named Nyctaea seems to share elements of Nyctimene's myth.