Iphis

Family: Phæstian · Role: daughter of Ligdus and Telethusa; later transformed into a man · First appears: Fable 82

Life events

• Telethusa gives birth to a daughter, conceals her sex, and raises her as Iphis.(Fable82)
  • With: Telethusa
  • “When her pains increased, and her burden forced itself into the light, and a girl was born to the father unaware of it, the mother ordered it to be brought up, pretending it was a boy; and the thing gained belief, nor was any one but the nurse acquainted with the fact.”
• Ligdus promises Iphis in marriage to Ianthe.(Fable82 · 📍 Phæstus)
  • With: Ligdus Ianthe
  • “In the meantime the third year had {now} succeeded the tenth, when her father, O Iphis, promised to thee, in marriage, the yellow-haired Iänthe, who was a virgin the most commended among all the women of Phæstus, for the endowments of her beauty;”
• Isis transforms Iphis from a female into a male.(Fable82)
  • With: Isis Telethusa
  • “Iphis follows her, her companion as she goes, with longer strides than she had been wont; her fairness does not continue on her face; both her strength is increased, and her features are more stern; and shorter is the length of her scattered locks. There is more vigour, also, than she had {as} a female. {And} now thou art a male, who so lately wast a female.”
• Iphis, now a youth, marries Ianthe.(Fable82)
  • With: Ianthe
  • “The following morn has disclosed the wide world with the rays {of the Sun}; when Venus, and Juno, and Hymenæus, repair to the social fires[80]; and Iphis, {now} a youth, gains his {dear} Iänthe.”

Fable 82

• with Iphis (grandfather) (Iphis was named after the grandfather.) “The grandfather had been called Iphis. The mother rejoiced in that name because it was common {to both sexes}”
• engaged with Ianthe “In the meantime the third year had {now} succeeded the tenth, when her father, O Iphis, promised to thee, in marriage, the yellow-haired Iänthe”
• courtship with Ianthe “Love, in consequence, touches the inexperienced breasts of them both, and inflicts on each an equal wound”
• married with Ianthe “The following morn has disclosed the wide world with the rays {of the Sun}; when Venus, and Juno, and Hymenæus, repair to the social fires[80]; and Iphis, {now} a youth, gains his {dear} Iänthe.”
• with Isis (Isis transforms Iphis from a female into a male.) “Iphis follows her, her companion as she goes, with longer strides than she had been wont; her fairness does not continue on her face; both her strength is increased, and her features are more stern; and shorter is the length of her scattered locks. There is more vigour, also, than she had {as} a female. {And} now thou art a male, who so lately wast a female.”
• elder kin: Iphis (grandfather) “The father performed his vows, and gave {the child} the name of its grandfather. The grandfather had been called Iphis.”
• with Telestes (interaction) “what I {desire}, my father wishes, she herself wishes, and {so does} my destined father-in-law;”

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Extracted from the original text of The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Made with Rho MD.