Diophantus of Abae
Diophantus (Ancient Greek: Διόφαντος), born Herais (Ancient Greek: Ἡραΐς; fl. 2nd century BC), was an intersex person who lived in the second century BC and fought as a soldier with Alexander Balas. His life is known from the works of Diodorus Siculus.
Biography[edit]
Diophantus was born in the city of Abae, in Arabia, during the reign of Alexander Balas. Assigned female, his birthname was Herais. His father, who was also called Diophantus, was a Macedonian Greek, and he married an Arab woman from the region. The couple's first child, a baby boy also called Diophantus, died at a young age.[1] Diophantus Senior was perhaps a military settler in the region along with many other Macedonians.[2]
Diophantus was married to a man named Samias, who travelled abroad after they had been married for one year. Diophantus then fell ill with a fever and a tumour formed at the base of his abdomen.[3] Doctors suspected this was a tumour in the womb. The doctors tried to apply medication, but on the seventh day of the disease, the tumour ruptured, and male genitalia appeared.[4] Diophantus' mother and two servants witnessed this occurrence. The women dressed Diophantus in the typical feminine way, imagining that Diophantus had had homosexual relations with their husband.[5]
When Samias returned from his travels, Diophantus no longer wanted to be married.[6] Samias took Diophantus' father to court and the judges decided that the wife should return to the husband. Diophantus then removed his clothes, revealing themself as a man, protesting that the judges had forced one man to live with another.[7] Diophantus began to wear male clothes, and doctors concluded that his internal sexual characteristics had been hidden inside an egg-shaped compartment, through which there was a membrane through which excreta flowed.[8] Doctors performed cosmetic surgery, giving their genitalia a "decent shape".[9] It was after this operation that they took the name Diophantus.[10]
Diophantus then enlisted in the cavalry and fought in the forces of Alexander Balas.[10] It is likely that they belonged to the Guard due to the "permanent character of [their] military service in the cavalry during peacetime".[2] If their father was a military settler, their service would imply an inherited military service.[2]
Samias, who was still in love with them, and yet was ashamed that their marriage was defined as "unnatural", appointed Diophantus as his heir and killed himself.[11]
Diophantus' life also links to a prophecy that predicted Alexander Balas' death would come at the birthplace of the "two-formed" – meaning Abae, where Diophantus was born.[12]
Historiography[edit]
The life of Diophantus is known only from the Bibliotheca Historica of Diodorus Siculus, which was written in the century after Diophantus' death.[3][13] Rebecca Langlands notes that Diophantus' life is "presented as true, if hard to believe, like many paradoxica".[12] Diodorus Siculus did not believe in hermaphrodites, but did believe in gender transformations.[10]
Diophantus is not the only intersex person to be recognised in the ancient world, and Helen King compares their transition in particular to that of Phaethousa.[3] Jay Kyle Petersen compares their life to that of Callon of Epidaurus, who lived thirty years later and whose life is also described by Diodorus Siculus.[10]
According to Luc Brisson, Diophantus' life is one example of several tropes of hermaphroditism in antiquity: "'mixed marriages' producing dual-sexed offspring"; the disruption of family relations; confusion of gendered tasks.[14] For Shaun Tougher one of the important aspects of the timing of Diophantus' change is that it occurred after marriage.[15] Julia Doroszewska points out that their transition did not stop Diophantus from being active in society, and in fact could be read as a means of social advancement.[16] Doroszewska also interprets Diophantus' life as an example of a trope where a girl transitions to a hyper-masculine man.[16]
According to Stefanie van der Gracht, Diophantus' medical condition could be interpreted as pseudohermaphroditism, which can become apparent after the onset of puberty.[17] Van der Gracht suggests that the young Diophantus may have been married before the onset of puberty.[17]
References[edit]
- ^ Diodoro Sículo, Historical Library, Book XXXII, 10.2
- ^ a b c Bar-Kochva, Bezalel (1976). The Seleucid Army: Organization and Tactics in the Great Campaigns. Cambridge University Press. pp. 61–62. ISBN 978-0-521-20667-9.
- ^ a b c King, Helen (2015). Between male and female in ancient medicine. In: Boschung, Dietrich; Shapiro, Alan and Waschek, Frank eds. Bodies in Transition: Dissolving the Boundaries of Embodied Knowledge. Morphomata (23). Paderborn: Fink Verlag, pp. 249–264.
- ^ Diodoro Sículo, Historical Library, Book XXXII, 10.3
- ^ Diodoro Sículo, Historical Library, Book XXXII, 10.4
- ^ Diodoro Sículo, Historical Library, Book XXXII, 10.5
- ^ Diodoro Sículo, Historical Library, Book XXXII, 10.6
- ^ Diodoro Sículo, Historical Library, Book XXXII, 10.7
- ^ Diodoro Sículo, Historical Library, Book XXXII, 10.8
- ^ a b c d Petersen, Jay Kyle (2020-12-21). A Comprehensive Guide to Intersex. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. pp. 209–210. ISBN 978-1-78592-632-7.
- ^ Diodoro Sículo, Historical Library, Book XXXII, 10.9
- ^ a b Langlands, Rebecca (2002). "'Can You Tell What it is Yet?' Descriptions of Sex Change in Ancient Literature". Ramus. 31 (1–2): 91–110. doi:10.1017/S0048671X00001387. ISSN 0048-671X. S2CID 134711309.
- ^ Markantes, Georgios; Deligeoroglou, Efthimios; Armeni, Anastasia; Vasileiou, Vasiliki; Damoulari, Christina; Mandrapilia, Angelina; Kosmopoulou, Fotini; Keramisanou, Varvara; Georgakopoulou, Danai; Creatsas, George; Georgopoulos, Neoklis (2015-07-10). "Callo: The first known case of ambiguous genitalia to be surgically repaired in the history of Medicine, described by Diodorus Siculus". Hormones. 14 (3): 459–61. doi:10.14310/horm.2002.1608. PMID 26188239.
- ^ Brisson, Luc (2002-03-28). Sexual Ambivalence: Androgyny and Hermaphroditism in Graeco-Roman Antiquity. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22391-2.
- ^ Tougher, Shaun (2020-11-12). The Roman Castrati: Eunuchs in the Roman Empire. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-16404-8.
- ^ a b Doroszewska Julia. (2013). “...and She Became a Man” : Sexual Metamorphosis in Phlegon of Tralles’ Mirabilia." Prace Filologiczne. Literaturoznawstwo” (Nr 3, 2013, s. 223-241)
- ^ a b van der Gracht, Stefanie. "Setting aside the loom: Hermaphroditism in ancient medicine." (2009).