Diodorus was a Greek historian who lived about the time of Julius Caesar. He was born in Sicily under Roman Rule. He tells us that he visited both Rome and Alexandria in Egypt. He attempted to write a Universal History covering EVERYTHING from creation until his own day in the whole inhabited world. Only portions survive, but most read are his accounts of Alexander the Great for whom he is one of our most important sources. This passage below only survives because it was copied out for an anthology by the scribes of Constantine Porphyrogenitus.
This translation has been adapted and updated from the Loeb.
From Book 32, chapter 10
1 Alexander [Balas, a Seleucid King], defeated in battle [c. 145 BCE], fled with five hundred of his men to Abae in Arabia [location unknown, but likely some where on the Afrin river which crosses the Turkish/Syrian border in the heart of Kurdistan], to take refuge with Diocles, a local ruler, in whose care he had earlier placed his infant son, Antiochus [VI Dionysus] . Thereupon Heliades and Casius, two officers who were with Alexander, entered into secret negotiations for their own safety and voluntarily offered to assassinate Alexander. When Demetrius [II Nicator] consented to their terms, they became, not merely traitors to their king, but his murderers. Thus was Alexander put to death by his friends.
2 It would be a mistake to omit the strange occurrence that took place before the death of this Alexander, even though it is a thing so marvelous that it will not, perhaps, be credited. A short while before the time of our present narrative, as King Alexander was consulting an oracle in Cilicia (where there is said to be a sanctuary of Apollo Sarpedonius), the god, we are told, replied to him that he should beware of the place that bore the “two-formed one.” At the time the oracle seemed enigmatic, but later, after the king’s death, its sense was learnt through the following causes.
There was dwelling at Abae in Arabia a certain man named Diophantus, a Macedonian by descent [likely from a veteran of Alexander’s army turned colonist]. He married an Arabian woman of that region and begot a son, named for himself, and a daughter called Heraïs. Now the son he saw dead before his prime, but when the daughter was of an age to be married he gave her a dowry and bestowed her upon a man named Samiades.
3 He, after living in wedlock with his wife for the space of a year, went off on a long journey. Heraïs, it is said, fell ill of a strange and altogether incredible infirmity. A severe tumor appeared at the base of her abdomen, and as the region became more and more swollen and high fevers supervened her physicians suspected that an ulceration had taken place at the mouth of the uterus. They applied such remedies as they thought would reduce the inflammation, but notwithstanding, on the seventh day, the surface of the tumor burst, and projecting from her groin there appeared a male genital organ with testicles attached. Now when the rupture occurred, with its sequel, neither her physician nor any other visitors were present, but only her mother and two little enslaved girls.
4 Astonished at this extraordinary event they tended Heraïs as best they could, and said nothing of what had occurred. She, on recovering from her illness, wore feminine attire and continued to conduct herself as a homebody and as one subject to her husband. It was assumed, however, by those who were privy to the strange secret that she was an hermaphrodite, and as to her past life with her husband, since natural intercourse (τῆς κατὰ φύσιν ἐπιπλοκῆς) did not fit their theory, it was supposed that that she habitually had male intercourse (δοκεῖν αὐτὴν ταῖς ἀρρενικαῖς συμπεριφοραῖς καθωμιλῆσθαι).
5 Now while her condition was still undisclosed, Samiades returned and, as was fitting, Heraïs, for very shame, could not bear to appear in his presence, he, they say, grew angry. As he continually pressed the point and claimed his wife, her father meanwhile denying his plea but feeling too embarrassed to disclose the reason, their disagreement soon grew into a quarrel. As a result Samiades brought suit for his own wife against her father, for Fortune did in real life what she commonly does in plays and made the strange alteration lead to an accusation. After the judges took their seats and all the arguments had been presented, the person in dispute appeared before the tribunal, and the jurors debated whether the husband should have jurisdiction over his wife or the father over his daughter.
6 When, however, the court found that it was the wife’s duty to attend upon her husband, she at last revealed the truth. Screwing up her courage she unloosed the dress that disguised her, displayed her masculinity to them all, and burst out in bitter protest lest anyone should require a man to cohabit with a man.
7 All present were overcome with astonishment, and exclaimed with surprise at this marvel. Heraïs, now that her shame had been publicly disclosed, exchanged her woman’s apparel for the garb of a young man; and the physicians, on being shown the evidence, concluded that her male organ had been concealed in an egg-shaped portion of the female organ, and that since a membrane had abnormally encased the organ, an aperture had formed through which excretions were discharged. In consequence they found it necessary to scarify the perforated area and induce scarification: having thus brought the male organ into decent shape, they gained credit for applying such treatment as the case allowed.
8 Heraïs, changing her name to Diophantus, was enrolled in the cavalry, and after fighting in the king’s forces accompanied him in his withdrawal to Abae. Thus it was that the oracle, which previously had not been understood, now became clear when the king was assassinated at Abae, the birthplace of the “two-formed one.”
9 As for Samiades, they say that he, a thrall still to his love and its old associations, but constrained by shame for his unnatural marriage (τοῦ παρὰ φύσιν γάμου) , designated Diophantus in his will as heir to his property, and made his departure from life. Thus she who was born a woman took on man’s courage and renown, while the man proved to be less strong-minded than a woman.
Chapter 11
1 A change of sex under similar conditions occurred thirty years later in the city of Epidaurus [famous for its healing sanctuary]. There was an Epidaurian Callo, orphaned of both parents, who was supposed to be a girl. Now the orifice with which women are provided had in her case no opening, but beside the so‑called “comb” [or perhaps “fan” (κτένα)] she had from birth a perforation through which she excreted the liquid residues. On reaching maturity she became the wife of a fellow citizen. For two years she lived with him, and since she was incapable of intercourse as a woman, was obliged to submit to unnatural embraces (τὴν δὲ παρὰ φύσιν ὁμιλίαν ὑπομένειν ἀναγκαζομένη).
2 Later a tumor appeared on her genitals and because it gave rise to great pain a number of physicians were called in. None of the others would take the responsibility of treating her, but a certain potion-maker (φαρμακοπώλης), who offered to cure her, cut into the swollen area, whereupon a man’s privates were protruded, namely testicles and a [penis] shaft without an opening. While all the others stood amazed at the extraordinary event, the potion-maker took steps to remedy the remaining deficiencies.
3 First of all, cutting into the glans he made a passage into the urethra, and inserting a silver catheter drew off the liquid residues. Then, by scarifying the perforated area, he brought the parts together. After achieving a cure in this manner he demanded double fees, saying that he had received a female invalid and made her into a healthy young man.
4 Callo laid aside her loom-shuttles and all other instruments of woman’s work, and taking in their stead the garb and status of a man changed her name (by adding a single letter, N, at the end) to Callon. It is stated by some that before changing to man’s form she had been a priestess of Demeter, and that because she had witnessed things not to be seen by men she was brought to trial for impiety.
Chapter 12
1 Likewise in Naples and a good many other places sudden changes of this sort are said to have occurred. Not that the male and female natures have been united to form a truly dual-sexed type (εἰς δίμορφον τύπον δημιουργηθείσης), for that is impossible, but that the nature of these bodies have falsely given this impression, to the consternation and mystification of humans. And this is the reason why we have considered these shifts of sex worthy of record, not for the entertainment, but for the improvement of our readers. For many men, thinking such things to be portents, fall into superstition, and not merely isolated individuals, but even nations and cities.
Content Notice: Violence towards Intersex Person
2 At the outset of the Marsian War [or Social War, when Rome’s Italian allies rebelled], at any rate, there was, so it is reported, an Italian living not far from Rome who had married an man-woman (ἀνδρόγυνον = androgynon!) similar to those described above; he laid information before the Senate, which in an excess of superstitious terror and in obedience to the Etruscan diviners ordered [him] burned alive. Thus did one whose nature was like ours and who was not, in reality, a monster (τέρας), meet an inappropriate demise through misunderstanding (ἀγνοίᾳ) of his sickness (τῆς νόσου). Shortly afterwards there was another such case at Athens, and again through misunderstanding (ἄγνοιαν) of the condition (τοῦ πάθους) the person was burned alive.
3 Both the male and the female have each their own sexual attributes, simple and distinct, but there is also in each case an adjunct that creates a false impression and deceives the casual observer: the female, in her parts, has an appendage that resembles the male organ, and the male, conversely, has one similar in appearance to that of the female. This same consideration holds for all living creatures, and while it is true that monsters (τεράτων) of every kind are frequently born, they do not develop and are incapable of reaching full maturity. Let this much then be said by way of remedy to superstitious fears.
Gender & Sexuality 
