This is a story of the Gods, so if you are a strong Christian

man, I realise that the concept of other Gods is much harder to

wrap your head around than a giant owl who rips apart human

infants, but this is the tale so take from it what you will.

Polyphonte was a woman who was transformed into a strix

and the following tale is how that came to be, found only in the

writings of Antonius Liberalis from around 2AD.

The daughter of Hipponous and Thrassa, Polyphonte was the

grandchild of Ares, the God of War and Tereine, the daughter

of Strymon the River God. She had, as you can see, an

extraordinary lineage.

Polyphonte was unfortunate enough to incur the wrath of

Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Procreation, when she

chose to run off to the mountains to be a companion of

Artemis, the Goddess of the Wild. For some reason, Aphrodite

took at personally as she felt that dear Polyphonte was failing

in her duty as a woman to be the bearer of children,

So, in punishment, Aphrodite decided to cause Polyphonte to

lose her mind to madness, and lust after a bear. This led

Polyphonte to have, shall we say, marital relationships with the

bear who she was madly in love with. This behaviour

infuriated the Goddess Artemis who also turned on poor

Polyphonte and made the animals turn on her and chase her

back to her father’s home.

In time, Polyphonte discovered she was pregnant and

delivered two children, who were human yet had bear-like

tendencies. They were named Agrius and Oreius and, thanks

to the fact their father was an actual bear, they grew up to be

men of extreme strength.

Agrius and Oreius did not honour the Gods, nor did they

honor mankind. They were wild men who would attack people

as they traveled, killing them and then eating them.

As you can imagine, these feral children of Polyphonte fell

afoul of the God Zeus, who decided that they must be punished

and sent Hermes, the Greek Messenger God, protector of

travelers and thieves alike, to deal with the brothers.

Hermes was about to carry out his sentence on the brothers,

when their great-grandfather Ares stepped in. Ares knew that

the twins had the nature of monsters, but they were created

due to the vengeful nature of the Goddess Aphrodite. Ares

convinced Hermes to spare this grand-daughter and her sons,

and together they transformed Polyphonte, Agrius and Oreius,

and a female servant into birds.

Polyphonte became a Strix, who no longer ate or drank but

cried in sorrow every night. Her cries and heartbreak sounded

out the coming of war and ill times for mankind. Polyphonte’s

two sons fared no better. Agrius was turned into a vulture, a

bird who was despised by human-kind for his carrion-eating

ways. Oreius was transformed into an eagle and regarded as

an ill omen for mankind.

The female servant prayed to be spared this fate and Ares and

Hermes took pity on her, transforming her into a woodpecker,

which is a good omen if seen before a hunt. She was cleared of

her involvement in the actions of the bear twins.

Polyphonte - Grand Daughter of Ares, God of Courage and War.