In Greek mythology, Leucippus is notable for a magical gender transformation

In Greek mythology, Leucippus (Ancient Greek: Λεύκιππος Leukippos, “white horse”) was a young man of Phaestus, Crete. Leucippus was born to Lamprus, the son of Pandion, and Galatea, daughter of Eurytius the son of Sparton. He is notable for having underwent a magical gender transformation by the will of the goddess Leto. Due to his transition from female to male, Leucippus can be considered a transgender male figure in Greek mythology.

His story was included in the Metamorphoses by Antoninus Liberalis.

Mythology

Leucippus was born in Phaestus, Crete. When his mother Galatea was pregnant, her husband Lamprus told her he would only accept a male child. Galatea gave birth while Lamprus was away pasturing his cattle, and the infant was female. Following the advice of seers, Galatea gave her child a masculine name, Leucippus, and told her husband that she had given birth to a son.

• Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy; California, University of (1981). Orion: The Myth of the Hunter and the Huntress. University of California Press. pp. 50–55. ISBN 978-0-520-09632-5.

Leucippus was raised as a boy, but upon approaching puberty, it became necessary to conceal his female sex from Lamprus, presumably to avoid drawing his ire. Galatea went to the sanctuary of Leto and prayed that Leucippus could become biologically male.

• Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy; California, University of (1981). Orion: The Myth of the Hunter and the Huntress. University of California Press. pp. 50–55. ISBN 978-0-520-09632-5.

Leto took pity on Galatea and granted the prayer, and Leucippus became male.

• Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy; California, University of (1981). Orion: The Myth of the Hunter and the Huntress. University of California Press. pp. 50–55. ISBN 978-0-520-09632-5.

In commemoration of this event, the people of Phaestus surnamed Leto Phytia (from Greek φύω “to grow”). They established a rite of passage feast in honor of Leto, which was called Ecdysia (from Greek ἑκδύω “to undress”). It was named for Leucippus who was able to remove his “maidenly” peplos after his transformation. The festival became an annual initiation ritual, focused on the transition of boys to men as they joined the youth corps, agela. The “young [men] were required to put on women’s clothes and swear an oath of citizenship,” after which “herds of youth [would] strip off their peploi publicly,” reenacting Leucippus’s transformation.

• McCrary, Susan Niehoff (1987). El Último Godo and the Dynamics of Urdrama. Scripta Humanistica. ISBN 978-0-916379-36-0.
• CARR, Thomas Swinburne (1846). A Manual of Classical Mythology, or a Companion to the Greek and Latin poets … With a copious lexicon-index. Simpkin, Marshall & Company.
• Numismatic Chronicle, and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society. Royal Numismatic Society. 1841.
• Boehringer, Sandra (2021-09-06). Female Homosexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-39616-4.
• Leitao, David D. (1995). “The Perils of Leukippos: Initiatory Transvestism and Male Gender Ideology in the Ekdusia at Phaistos”. Classical Antiquity. 14 (1): 130–163. doi:10.2307/25000144. ISSN 0278-6656. JSTOR 25000144.
• Hermathena. University of Dublin. 2003.
• Phoenix. University of Toronto Press. 1997.

It became a custom for brides and bridal couples of Phaestus to lie beside an image or statue of Leucippus before weddings.

• Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses, 17, with reference to Nicander
• Heslin, P. J.; Heslin, Peter Joseph (2005-08-11). The Transvestite Achilles: Gender and Genre in Statius’ Achilleid. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85145-9.
• Celoria, Francis (2018-10-24). The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis: A Translation with a Commentary. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-79948-1.
• Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy; California, University of (1981). Orion: The Myth of the Hunter and the Huntress. University of California Press. pp. 50–55. ISBN 978-0-520-09632-5.

Other Notes

In Greek mythology, Leucippus (Ancient Greek: Λεύκιππος Leukippos, “white horse”) was a name attributed to multiple characters:

• Leucippus (son of Perieres), a Messenian prince and father of the Phoebe, Hilaera and Arsinoe.
  •  Apollodorus, 3.10.3
• Leucippus of Crete, son of Lamprus and Galatea, who was born female and was magically transformed into a man by the goddess Leto.
  • Antoninus Liberalis, 17 as cited in Nicander’s Metamorphoses
  • R.F. Willetts (1963). Cretan Cults and Festivals, 175.
  • This page
• Leucippus (son of Thurimachus), the son of Thurimachus and king of Sicyon.
  • Pausanias, 2.5.5
• Leucippus, the Thespian son of Heracles and Eurytele, daughter of King Thespius of Thespiae. Leucippus and his 49 half-brothers were born of Thespius’ daughters who were impregnated by Heracles in one night, for a week or in the course of 50 days while hunting for the Cithaeronian lion. Later on, the hero sent a message to Thespius to keep seven of these sons and send three of them in Thebes while the remaining forty, joined by Iolaus, were dispatched to the island of Sardinia to found a colony.
  • Apollodorus, 2.7.8
  • Apollodorus, 2.4.10
  • Pausanias, 9.27.6–7; Gregorius Nazianzenus, Orat. IV, Contra Julianum I (Migne S. Gr. 35.661)
  • Athenaeus, 13.4 with Herodorus as the authority; Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.3, f.n. 51
  • Apollodorus, 2.4.10; Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.3; Tzetzes, Chiliades 2.224
  • Apollodorus, 2.4.9–10
  • Apollodorus, 2.7.6
• Leucippus, a Calydonian hunter, son of Hippocoon.
  • Hyginus, Fabulae 173
• Leucippus, a Pisatian prince as son of King Oenomaus. He was a companion of Daphne, whom he was in love with and tried to approach in the disguise of a fellow nymph of hers. Because of Apollo‘s jealousy, his disguise was revealed by the nymphs, who killed him instantly upon discovery. This Leucippus might be the one referred to having a wife and a rival Apollo in love.
  • Pausanias, 8.20.2
  • Parthenius, 15
  • Homeric Hymns to Apollo 3.212
• Leucippus, the son of Poemander who was killed accidentally by his father.
  • Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae 37

• Leucippus, the son of Xanthius who consorted with his own sister and with Leucophrye.
  • Parthenius, 5
• Leucippus, a Lesbian prince and one of the sons of King Macareus, and the leader of a colony at Rhodes
  • Diodorus Siculus, 5.81
• Leucippus, son of Naxos, the eponym of Naxos, and king of the island. His son was Smerdius.
  • Diodorus Siculus, 5.51
• Leucippus, a Cyrenean prince as son of King Eurypylus of Cyrene and Sterope, daughter of Helios. He was the brother of Lycaon.
  • Tzetzes on Lycophron, 886
  • Scholia on Pindar, Pythian Ode 4.57

See also

• Iphis of Crete, child of Ligdus and Telethusa, magically transformed into a man by the goddess Isis
  • Menoni, Burton (2016-01-24). Kings of Greek Mythology. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1-329-85427-7.
• Caeneus, transformed into an invincible man by Poseidon, later defeated by Centaurs
• Teiresias, who had clairvoyance and was being transformed into a woman for seven years
• Mnestra, who Poseidon gave the ability to change shape at will
• Siproites of Crete who transformed into a woman to see Artemis bathing

References

1. Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy; California, University of (1981). Orion: The Myth of the Hunter and the Huntress. University of California Press. pp. 50–55. ISBN 978-0-520-09632-5.
2. McCrary, Susan Niehoff (1987). El Último Godo and the Dynamics of Urdrama. Scripta Humanistica. ISBN 978-0-916379-36-0.
3. CARR, Thomas Swinburne (1846). A Manual of Classical Mythology, or a Companion to the Greek and Latin poets … With a copious lexicon-index. Simpkin, Marshall & Company.
4. Numismatic Chronicle, and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society. Royal Numismatic Society. 1841.
5. Boehringer, Sandra (2021-09-06). Female Homosexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-39616-4.
6. Leitao, David D. (1995). “The Perils of Leukippos: Initiatory Transvestism and Male Gender Ideology in the Ekdusia at Phaistos”. Classical Antiquity. 14 (1): 130–163. doi:10.2307/25000144. ISSN 0278-6656. JSTOR 25000144.
7. Hermathena. University of Dublin. 2003.
8. Phoenix. University of Toronto Press. 1997.
9. Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses, 17, with reference to Nicander
10. Heslin, P. J.; Heslin, Peter Joseph (2005-08-11). The Transvestite Achilles: Gender and Genre in Statius’ Achilleid. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85145-9.
11. Celoria, Francis (2018-10-24). The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis: A Translation with a Commentary. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-79948-1.
12. Menoni, Burton (2016-01-24). Kings of Greek Mythology. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1-329-85427-7.
13. Apollodorus, 3.10.3
14. Antoninus Liberalis, 17 as cited in Nicander’s Metamorphoses
15. R.F. Willetts (1963). Cretan Cults and Festivals, 175.
16. Pausanias, 2.5.5
17. Apollodorus, 2.7.8
18. Apollodorus, 2.4.10
19. Pausanias, 9.27.6–7; Gregorius Nazianzenus, Orat. IV, Contra Julianum I (Migne S. Gr. 35.661)
20. Athenaeus, 13.4 with Herodorus as the authority; Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.3, f.n. 51
21. Apollodorus, 2.4.10; Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.3; Tzetzes, Chiliades 2.224
22. Apollodorus, 2.4.9–10
23. Apollodorus, 2.7.6
24. Hyginus, Fabulae 173
25. Pausanias, 8.20.2
26. Parthenius, 15
27. Homeric Hymns to Apollo 3.212
28. Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae 37
29. Parthenius, 5
30. Diodorus Siculus, 5.81
31. Diodorus Siculus, 5.51
32. Tzetzes on Lycophron, 886
33. Scholia on Pindar, Pythian Ode 4.57

References

• Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Athenaeus of Naucratis, The Deipnosophists or Banquet of the Learned. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1854. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Athenaeus of Naucratis, Deipnosophistae. Kaibel. In Aedibus B.G. Teubneri. Lipsiae. 1887. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer’s Web Site
• Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, Moralia with an English Translation by Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Parthenius, Love Romances translated by Sir Stephen Gaselee (1882-1943), S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 69. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1916. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Parthenius, Erotici Scriptores Graeci, Vol. 1. Rudolf Hercher. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1858. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Tzetzes, John, Book of Histories, Book II-IV translated by Gary Berkowitz from the original Greek of T. Kiessling’s edition of 1826. Online version at theoi.com

Metamorphoses in Greek mythology

Categories: 

• Metamorphoses into the opposite sex in Greek mythology
• LGBT themes in Greek mythology
• Transgender topics and mythology
• Cretan characters in Greek mythology
• Greek mythology stubs