Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

, Leucippus (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

: Λεύκιππος ''Leukippos,'' "white horse") was a maiden of

Phaestus Phaistos ( el, Φαιστός, ; Ancient Greek: , , Minoan: PA-I-TO?http://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/download/11991/4031&ved=2ahUKEwjor62y3bHoAhUEqYsKHZaZArAQFjASegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw1MwIv3ekgX-SxkJrbORipd ), also transliterated as Phaestos, ...

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

, who was raised as a boy by her mother, and eventually changed her sex to male by the will of the goddess

Leto In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Leto (; grc-gre, Λητώ , ''Lētṓ'', or , ''Lātṓ'' in Ancient Greek dialects#Provenance, Doric Greek) is a goddess and the mother of Apollo, the god of music, and Artemis ...

. Leucippus was born to Lamprus, the son of Pandion, and

Galatea Galatea is an ancient Greek name meaning "she who is milk-white". Galatea, Galathea or Gallathea may refer to: In mythology * Galatea (Greek myth), three different mythological figures In the arts * ''Aci, Galatea e Polifemo'', cantata by H ...

, daughter of Eurytius the son of Sparton.

Mythology

When Galatea was pregnant, Lamprus told her he would only accept the child if it was male, but Galatea gave birth to a daughter while Lamprus was away pasturing his cattle. Following the advice of seers, Galatea gave her daughter a masculine name, Leucippus, and told Lamprus that she had given birth to a son. Leucippus was raised as a boy, but as she reached the age of adolescence, it was becoming difficult to conceal her true sex, so Galatea went to the sanctuary of Leto and prayed that her daughter may be changed into a son, invoking a series of mythical examples of magical sex change, such as the story of

Caeneus In Greek mythology, Caeneus ( ; grc, Καινεύς, Kaineús) was a Lapith hero of Thessaly. Family According to Book XII of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'', he was originally a woman, Caenis (; grc, Καινίς, Kainís), daughter of Atrax. In ...

Teiresias In Greek mythology, Tiresias (; grc, Τειρεσίας, Teiresías) was a blind prophet of Apollo in Thebes, famous for clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph ...

, Hypermnestra (otherwise known as

Mnestra In Greek mythology, Mestra ( grc, Μήστρα, ''Mēstra'') was a daughter of Erysichthon of Thessaly. Antoninus Liberalis called Mestra as Hypermestra while Erysichthon as Aethon. Family Mestra was the mother of King Eurypylus of Cos by Po ...

) who sold herself as a woman and then changed into a man to return home, and

Siproites In Greek mythology, Siproites (; ; grc-gre, Σιπροίτης, Siproítēs) or Siproetes is the name of a Cretan hero, who saw the goddess Artemis naked while she was bathing and was then transformed into a woman, paralleling the story of the hu ...

who transformed into a woman to see

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

bathing. Leto took pity on Galatea and changed Leucippus' sex to male. In commemoration of this event, people of Phaestus surnamed Leto Phytia (from Greek φύω "to grow"), because she let Leucippus grow a penis, and established a feast in honor of Leto, which was called ''

Ecdysia Ecdysia (from Greek ἑκδύω "to undress") was a ritual involved sacred ceremonies and celebrations at Phaistos, Crete, which were held in honor of Leto Phytia, mother of Apollo and Artemis. The legend is about the story of Galatea, daughter of ...

'' (from Greek ἑκδύω "to undress"), because Leucippus got rid of woman's clothes after his transformation. It was a custom for women of Phaestus to lie next to the statue of Leucippus before their wedding.

Antoninus Liberalis Antoninus Liberalis ( el, Ἀντωνῖνος Λιβεράλις) was an Ancient Greek grammarian who probably flourished between AD 100 and 300. His only surviving work is the ''Metamorphoses'' (Μεταμορφώσεων Συναγωγή, ''Me ...

, ''Metamorphoses'', 17, with reference to Nicander The story of Leucippus is similar to that of

Iphis In Greek and Roman mythology, Iphis or Iphys ( , ; grc, Ἶφις ''Îphis'' , gen. Ἴφιδος ''Ī́phidos'') was a child of Telethusa and Ligdus in Crete, born female and raised male, who was later transformed by the goddess Isis into a man ...

the child of Ligdus and Telethusa.

Note

References

, ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis'' translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992)
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Metamorphoses into the opposite sex in Greek mythology LGBT themes in Greek mythology Transgender topics and mythology Cretan characters in Greek mythology {{Greek-myth-stub