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Baucis and Philemon

Baucis and Philemon, an old couple from the land of Phrygia*, showed hospitality toward the gods and were rewarded. According to Greek myth, the gods Zeus* and Hermes* assumed human form and visited earth disguised as poor travelers. When they reached Phrygia, they looked for shelter but were turned away by everyone except Philemon and his wife, Baucis.

The old couple gladly shared their small amount of food and wine with the strangers. Baucis and Philemon realized that their guests were gods after noticing that the wine jug never ran out and that their poor wine was replaced by wine of the finest quality. Zeus and Hermes led the couple to a hill above Phrygia and sent a flood to destroy the land to punish the people who had turned them away. Only the old couple's house remained undamaged. Zeus made the house a temple to the gods and awarded Baucis and Philemon two wishes: to serve as priest and priestess of the temple and, when the time came, to die together. Many years later, when the moment of their deaths came, Baucis and Philemon were transformed into trees with intertwined branches.

See also GREEK MYTHOLOGY; HERMES; ZEUS.