Mini Myth: When a Girl Loves a Girl, Ovid's Iphis & Ianthe
Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean
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The Importance of Having a Son in Ancient Greece
In ancient Crete, a man named Ligdus is hell-bent on having a son. He tells his wife he wishes for two things: that she won't be in too much pain and that she'll have a son. The woman has zero control over the sex of the baby. She begs him not to make this call, butLigdus does it anyway. They'll have to kill the child if she's a girl. And so while he hopes she doesn't have one, if she does, they're going to have to kill her. This is obviously bullshit, but such is life, in ancient Greece.
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