Metamorphoses: Book 9: Iphis Summary & Analysis

After Byblis’s transformation, a similar transformation occurs in Crete. A humble yet respectable man and his wife are expecting a baby. The man approaches his wife and tells her that he only wants a boy; if she gives birth to a girl, she must kill the baby. The man and wife weep. The wife tries to change her husband’s mind, but he is resolute.

When she nears her due date, the woman dreams that Isis—the goddess of Help—is standing beside her bed, flanked by her sacred companions. Isis tells the woman that she will raise her baby no matter what gender it is. When the woman awakes, she prays that her dream will come true. The woman gives birth to a baby girl. She conceals the baby’s gender from everyone, including her husband. The man names his supposed son Iphis, and the baby is raised as a boy.

Thirteen years later, Iphis’s father arranges for Iphis to marry a girl named Ianthe. Ianthe looks forward happily to her wedding night when she will go to bed with her husband Iphis, but Iphis frets because she knows she can’t perform a husband’s duty. She reflects that animals never mate with the same gender. Even Pasiphae, who had mated with a bull, had mated with a male bull. She wonders if Daedalus could change her into a boy, the way he disguised the bull, so that Pasiphae could have sex with it. She realizes that nothing is preventing her from marrying Ianthe except nature itself. She wants Ianthe to be her wife but knows that they’ll never truly be bonded.

Iphis’s mother is as distraught as Iphis. She delays the wedding as long as she can, pretending to be ill. When she can’t delay any longer, she and Iphis go to Isis’s altar. Iphis’s mother begs the goddess for help. When she finishes her prayer, the altar trembles. As they leave the altar, Iphis feels herself become stronger and more vigorous. Iphis is transformed into a boy, and he and his mother bring gifts to Isis’s temple in thanks. Iphis than marries Ianthe.