Nuremberg chronicles - Strange People - Androgyn II (XIIv)

The Machlyes ( grc, Μάχλυες) were a legendary ancient

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

n tribe.

Ancient sources

According to

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

, their young women held a ritual battle with sticks and stones annually with neighboring Auseans ( grc, Αὐσέες). Those who died of their wounds were said to have lied about their virginity.

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

claimed they were hermaphrodites that had a male half and a female half, possibly inspired by the martial practices of the females.

In fiction

In the book ''Sweet Shadows'' by Tera Lynn Childs, the machlyes Achilla saves Gretchen from the merdaemon in the abysses.

References

Ancient Libya Tribes described primarily by Herodotus Legendary Greek people Androgynous and hermaphroditic deities Legendary tribes in Greco-Roman historiography {{legendary-creature-stub