--Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses XVII
Galatea, the Spartan daughter of Eurytius, married Lamprus, the son of Cretan King Pandion. Lamprus was from a famous, but poor family.
When Galatea became pregnant, Lamprus wanted a boy, and ordered her to expose the infant if she gave birth to a girl.
While Lamprus was out tending his flocks, Galatea gave birth to the girl. Swollen with milk and sleep deprived, Galatea thought about how empty their home was when Lamprus was away, and pitied the infant. She deceived Lamprus and said she gave birth to a boy. She raised the girl with the name Leucippus, as if the girl were a son.
When the girl went through puberty and became astoundingly beautiful, Galatea could no longer hide what she had done and fled to the temple of Latona [mother of Diana and Apollo].
She laid out her case to the goddess with ceaseless prayers, praying that her daughter be transformed into a man and using the following precedents:
- Caenis, the daughter of Atrax, was changed into a man by the will of Neptune.
- Tiresias, too, went from man to woman by slaying a pair of snakes mating by the side of the road; he then returned to being a man by slaying another snake.
- Hypermestra sold herself as a woman to earn money for her father, and changed back into a man to bring the proceeds back to their father Aethon.
- Siproetis, a Cretan lad, accidentally saw Minerva bathing while he was hunting and was transformed into a woman.
ANTONINUS LIBERALIS
|
MAP:
|
Name: Antoninus Liberalis
Date: 2nd – 3rd
c. CE
Works: Metamorphoses*
|
REGION UNKNOWN
|
BIO:
|
Timeline:
|
Little is known about the life
of the Greek author Antoninus Liberalis. His work, Metamorphoses, is
similar to the works of Hyginus in that they provide brief summaries of Greek
and Roman myths.
|
ROMAN GREECE
|