Iphis and Ianthe

In the Phaestos region of Crete, lived a couple named Ligdus and Telethusa.
Telethusa was pregnant and near to her time. As the birth of their child approached, Ligdus told
Telethusa that he wished for her two things: first, that the birth cause her no pain, and second,
that the child be a boy. For if the child wasn’t a boy, he commanded Telethusa to put her to
death. (Girls were too much trouble and weak, you see.) Then they both wept.
Crying herself to sleep, Telethusa dreamed. She dreamed of Isis. Accompanied by
the entire Egyptian retinue, the Goddess came and spoke to Telethusa:
“O, you who belong to Me, forget your heavy cares and do not obey your husband.
When Lucina [Roman Goddess of Childbirth] has eased the birth, whatever sex the child has, do
not hesitate to raise it. I am the Goddess, Who, when prevailed upon, brings help and strength:
you will have no cause to complain, that the Divinity you worshipped lacks gratitude.”
The child, of course, was a girl. Obeying the Goddess, Telethusa kept the baby
and raised her as a boy. Her father even named her after his grandfather, Iphis. As Iphis was a
name appropriate for either boy or girl, the mother secretly rejoiced. As Iphis grew, her features
were such that she would have been considered beautiful whether a boy or a girl.
Time passed and Iphis’ father betrothed Iphis to the lovely Ianthe. The two met
when quite young and were taught by the same teachers. From very early on, Iphis and Ianthe
loved each other. For her part, Ianthe anticipated marriage to her beautiful Iphis. Iphis, on the
other hand, as Ovid puts it, “loved one whom she despaired of being able to have, and this itself
increased her passion, a girl on fire for a girl.”
Iphis wept, railed, and lamented her love for another girl. Iphis does not
understand. She calls her passion monstrous and extreme and wants to wish it away—sort of.
But eventually, Iphis pulls herself together and gives herself a good talking to. After all, she has
almost everything she wants. Both her parents and Ianthe’s are happy with the match, Ianthe
herself is happy with the match, and certainly Iphis is happy with the match (though she is afraid
of the revelation of the wedding night). So she stops complaining and prays for the wedding to
come. Her mother Telethusa, on the other hand, feared what would happen when the two girls
were wed. So she kept putting off the ceremony with a whole series of excuses. Yet finally, the
wedding could be delayed no more. In desperation, Telethusa takes Iphis to the Temple of Isis.
She throws herself upon the Goddess altar, crying and praying to Isis for help—for, after all, it
was by the word of the Goddess Herself that Iphis lives!
Suddenly, the altar of the Goddess begins to shake. The temple doors tremble.
The horns on the headdress of the statue of Isis shine like the moon and the rattling of sistra is
heard throughout the temple. Heartened, mother and daughter take their leave of the Goddess.
But as Telethusa turns to look at her daughter, she sees that Iphis now has a tanned, less
ladylike, complexion, shorter hair, sharper features, and a longer, more masculine stride.
Behold! Iphis is transformed into a boy.
In gratitude to Isis, mother and now, son, place a votive tablet in her temple. And
the next day, Iphis and Ianthe wed…and, we presume, lived happily ever after.
Write the story in vernacular and create your own ending of the story in 300 words on the
first box. On the second box, write all the words in the story Iphis and Ianthe.