InGreek mythology,Siproites (/sɪprˈɔɪtɪs/sip-ROY-teez;Ancient Greek:Σιπροίτης,romanized: Siproítēs), also romanized asSiproetes orSiproeta, is the name of a minorCretan hero, a hunter who saw the goddessArtemis naked while she was bathing and was then transformed into a woman as punishment, paralleling the story of the hunterActaeon. Siproites' very brief story only survives in the works ofAntoninus Liberalis; if any larger narrative concerning him existed, it has been lost.
The origin of Siproites' name is hard to pin down. Carnoy suggested a derivation from the wordσιπαλός meaning "ugly, coarse" but this etymology is rather unlikely. Höfer meanwhile proposed that the si- syllable is a dialectal form forθεός, "god". Carnoy taking this further alternatively suggested "he who advances towards the gods".[1]
The Cretan Siproites, while hunting, saw Artemis bathing naked;[2] in response to the offence, the virgin goddess turned him into a woman.[3][4] The myth is only narrated in a single line of a total of twelve words in the original Greek:
μεταβαλεῖν δὲ καὶ τὸν Κρῆτα Σιπροίτην,
ὅτι κυνηγετῶν λουομένην εἶδε τὴν Ἄρτεμιν.
The Cretan, Siproites, had also been turned into a woman
for having seen Artemis bathing when out hunting.
The full story of Siproites has been lost to time; the above passage is all that remains, asAntoninus Liberalis alone preserves the tale in a brief and obscure reference,[6][7] and that within the context of an altogether different myth in which a Cretan woman namedGalatea lists various occasions of gods changing the sex of mortals while begging the goddessLeto to change her daughterLeucippus into a boy, fearing her husbandLamprus's (who had been told that their child was a son) reaction should he find out the truth.[5][8]
This sex-change tale shares some similarities with the myth of the goddessAthena blinding a man namedTiresias for seeing her naked,[7] as well as the story of Actaeon, who saw Artemis naked and was transformed into a stag that was hunted down and devoured by his own hunting dogs;[9] it has been noted that in comparison to Actaeon, Artemis was rather lenient toward Siproites for what was the same offence.[10] The sex-reversal story brings its hero Siproites into line with several other male hunters and soldiers who were emasculated by a goddess, both literally and metaphorically, such asAttis andOrion.[11]
In Greek mythology female-to-male transformation is treated as a positive outcome and a solution to a problem, whereas the opposite situation where a man is transformed into a woman (which is the case for Siproites and Tiresias) is presented as a negative experience, synonymous with distress and punishment.[12]
Other people who had their sex changed by the gods include:
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