So in the myth of Iphis and Ianthe, Iphis's dad is like "if we have a daughter I'll kill her" so Iphis, secretly born female, is raised male, falls in love with the girl Ianthe, laments their misfortune and is turned male by Isis on their wedding day. Happy ending! …Ish? -R

This myth is very interesting through a modern lens because
-oh, cool, ancient representation
-but no matter WHAT it's representing, there are some Serious Problems

-R

Is Iphis a trans man magically granted his ideal body? Is Iphis a girl raised as a boy as an allegory for being a trans WOMAN with a really unhappy ending? Is Iphis a lesbian acculturated to self-loathing transformed to fit prevailing social norms? So many questions -R

Not helped by Ovid spending a full three paragraphs on Iphis lamenting how Horribly Unnatural And Wrong her love for Ianthe is. Feels like Sappho could stand to have a word with him -R

and then on the other end of the spectrum there's some really quality rep out there but it's usually framed like "these two were 'aikane' which means close friends, bosom buddies, gal pals, chums ʷᶦᵗʰ ˢᵉˣᵘᵃˡ ᵘⁿᵈᵉʳᵗᵒⁿᵉˢ" dang victorians always making my job harder -R

did y'all know Hawaii has a lesbian hula goddess whose dancer girlfriend got turned into a rock by Pele? it's fuckin true her name is Hi'iaka and I'm so mad I only learned this recently -R

the history of non-het relationships in Hawaii is so interesting right up until europeans arrive and make it Incredibly Tragic instead (TL;DR: "aikane" was a thing, everyone was chill with it, it wasn't even remarked on or secretive, and then EUROPE) -R

rant over but I'll never stop being mad at people burying history they disagree with -R