Saturday, September 14, 2019

A Transgender Man: Caeneus, Hyginus Fabulae XIV

Caeneus, Elati filius Magnesius...hunc nonnulli feminam fuisse dicunt, cui petenti Neptunum propter connubium optatum dedisse ut in iuvenilem speciem conversus nullo ictu interfici posset.

--Hyginus Fabulae XIV

Caeneus: Some say that he was once a woman, whom Neptune granted as a courtship gift the transformation into a young man (iuvenem) and [flesh] impervious to weapons.

HYGINUS
MAP:
Name: Gaius Julius Hyginus
Date: 64 BCE – 17 CE
Works: Fabulae*
               De Astronomica

REGION 1 / 4*
Region 1: Peninsular Italy; Region 2: Western Europe; Region 3: Western Coast of Africa; Region 4: Egypt and Eastern Mediterranean; Region 5: Greece and the Balkans

BIO:
Timeline:
Hyginus was a freedman of the Roman emperor Augustus who was in charge of the Imperial library on the Palatine Hill in Rome. His work, the Fabulae, are a sourcebook for Greek and Roman myths. Although there is quite a bit of overlap between his writings and his contemporary and friend Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Hyginus’ works are much more succinct.
GOLDEN AGE ROME

Early Roman Lit: through 2nd c BCE: Republican Rome: through 1st c. BCE; Golden Age: 70 BCE to 18 CE; Silver Age: 18 CE to 150 CE; Age of Conflict: 150 CE - 410 CE; Byzantine and Late Latin: after 410 CE


* There is evidence that Hyginus was originally from Alexandria, Egypt (Suetonius, de Gramm. 20)