Metamorphoses Notes | Book 9: Iphis and Ianthe

Crete might have been impressed with Byblis' transformation if they hadn't been so caught up in the change wrought in Iphis. Ligdus and his wife, Telethusa, were going to have a child. Ligdus thought that if the child was a girl, he and his wife could not afford to keep it because they were poor. Telethusa could not convince him otherwise. While she slept, Isis appeared in her dream and told Telethusa to keep the child.

Telethusa gave birth to a girl, but only she and the nurse knew the child's sex. Her husband named the baby Iphis, and the child was raised as a boy. Iphis was betrothed to Ianthe, a girl she loved, but Iphis was sad. She knew that a marriage between two girls would never work. Telethusa and her daughter prayed to Isis to help them, and the girl was turned into a boy. Iphis and Ianthe were married and their marriage was blessed by the gods.