In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Ianthe is a Cretan maiden of Phaistos, daughter of Telestes, betrothed to Iphis. She loves her intended with equal passion, believing Iphis a youth, until Isis transforms Iphis into a man and the marriage proceeds. Distinct from the Oceanid Ianthe (ianthe-oceanid).
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Iphis" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Bride of Iphis
Ligdus of Phaistos, thinking his child a son, betroths Iphis to Ianthe, praised above the women of Crete for beauty. The two have shared teachers and fall deeply in love; Ianthe waits confidently for a husband, while Iphis — raised as a boy but born a girl — despairs of a union she believes nature forbids.
On the eve of the wedding Telethusa and Iphis pray to Isis; the goddess answers by changing Iphis into a man. The next day Juno, Hymenaeus, and Venus preside as Iphis and Ianthe marry.
II.Homonym and reception
The story is the principal Graeco-Roman myth of female same-sex desire before the metamorphosis resolves it into a conventional marriage. A separate Ianthe is one of the Oceanids in Hesiod's catalogue.
The atlas id ianthe-crete is Ovid's Cretan bride; ianthe-oceanid holds the nymph.