Philemon

An aged Phrygian and husband of Baucis. Once Zeus and Hermes, assuming the appearance of ordinary mortals, visited Phrygia, and no one was willing to receive the strangers, until the hospitable hut of Philemon and Baucis was opened to them, where the two gods were kindly treated. Zeus rewarded the good old couple by taking them with him to an eminence, while all the neighbouring district was visited with a sudden inundation. On that eminence Zeus ap­ pointed them the guardians of his temple, and granted to them to die both at the same moment, and then metamorphosed them into trees.

PHILEMON: a person whom Aristophanes attacks as not being of pure Athenian descent, but tainted with Phrygian blood. (Arist. Av. 763.)

[ See: Baucis and Philemon by Jonathan Swift - On the ever-lamented loss of the two Yew-trees ]

[ See: The Story of Baucis and Philemon ]