ultrafacts:

oh-dreammaker-heartbreaker:

confidence-in-confusion:

keelyisanobody:

I absolutely love this.

ACTUALLY. This myth gets more interesting. These original “double humans” were comprised of two parts—either both parts male, one part male and one female, or both female. This myth is used to explain why some people are homosexual and why some are straight. Yay Classics. I’M LEARNING SO MUCH IN COLLEGE GUYS

This gets better each time it scrolls through my dash.

In the beginning there were three parents: Sun, Moon, and Earth. Each produced an offspring, round and otherwise like itself. From sun was produced the man; from earth, the woman; from moon, the androgyne. (man+woman)

After he revealed his plan to his fellow Olympians, Zeus asked Apollo to join him in putting it into effect. The king of the gods cut the man-man, woman-woman, and man-woman creatures in half and Apollo made the necessary repairs. The face, previously facing out, Apollo turned inward. Then he gathered all the skin together (like a purse) with an opening in the middle as a reminder to mankind of his earlier state.

After the surgery, the half creatures ran around frantically looking for their other halves, seeking them out, embracing them, and trying to join together again. Unable to join, the creatures despaired and began to starve to death in their sorrow. Zeus, again mindful of his need for worship, decided something must be done to recharge the creatures’ spirits, so he instructed Apollo to create a means to rejoin temporarily. This Apollo did by turning the genitals to the belly side of the body.

Before, mankind had procreated by dropping seed on the ground. This new system created an interesting new means of producing offspring.

The creatures who had been double women before, naturally sought out women; those who had been androgynous, sought out members of the opposite gender; those who had been double men, sought out the company of men, and not simply for intercourse, but so they could become whole again by being rejoined with their soul mates.

Source