PHYLLIS, in fabulous history, was a daughter of Sithon, or, according to others, of Lycurgus, king of Thrace, by whom Demophoon, the son of Theseus, at his return from the Trojan war, was received and hospitably entertained. Phyllis became enamoured of him, and did not find him insensible to her passion. After some months of mutual tenderness and affection, Demophoon sailed for Athens, whither his domestic affairs recalled him. He promised faithfully to return before a month had expired; but either a dislike for Phyllis, or the irreparable situation of his affairs, obliged him to violate his engagement; and the queen,
growing desperate on account of his absence, hanged herself, or, according to others, threw herself from a precipice into the sea and perished. Her friends raised a tomb over her body, where there sprung up certain trees, the leaves of which at a particular season of the year suddenly became wet, as if shedding tears for the death of Phyllis. According to an old tradition mentioned by Servius, Phyllis was changed by the gods into an almond-tree. Some days after this metamorphosis, Demophoon revisited Thrace; and when he learned the fate of Phyllis, he ran and clasped the tree, which suddenly shot forth, and blossomed, as if still sensible of tenderness and love.