Kaos’s Caeneus is part of a long tradition of queer and trans characters in retellings of ancient myths

(This article contains spoilers for series one of Kaos)

The Greek myths have been retold and reconfigured many times – the Netflix series Kaos is just the latest in this millennia-long tradition.

Its creator, Charlie Covell, places the Greek gods and a selection of human mythological figures in a present day version of Crete. In this world, the divine and mortal beings interact closely with each other – most often with the humans coming off worse – just as they did in the ancient Greek accounts.

Covell identifies as non-binary and has stated that one of the reasons they are interested in Greek myths is because the myths themselves are queer.

Queer people – those who aren’t what we’d now call heterosexual or cisgender – were certainly a popular topic of discussion for the ancients. In Metamorphoses, for example, the ancient author Ovid discusses several such characters.

It is refreshing, in 2024, to see queer characters as leading protagonists in a television series like Kaos. The most notable is Caeneus, brilliantly played by trans actor Misia Butler.

In Kaos, Caeneus is a trans man who has died and is struggling in the gloomy underworld of Hades. He is strong, but gentle – and destined to become a hero.

The most detailed ancient account of the story of Caeneus can be found in Book 12 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Ovid was a Roman author who (just like Covell) retold a centuries-old Greek myth for his contemporary audience.

The most striking difference between Ovid’s Caeneus and Covell’s character are their origin stories. Ovid tells us that Caenis (or Kainos, which means “new” or fresh in Greek) was a beautiful woman. While walking along a deserted beach she was raped by Neptune (Poseidon for the ancient Greeks).

Ovid recounts that after the trauma of the rape, Poseidon granted Caenis’ wish to become male. Ovid then vividly tells us of the moment of transformation: “She spoke her last words in a deeper tone … a man’s voice.” Once this happens, Caenis becomes Caeneus and Ovid uses masculine pronouns in the text when referring to them from there on out.

Ovid tells us that Caeneus became a famous warrior, in epic style, and died in a battle with centaurs. Centaurs are used as a metaphor for barbarous behaviour and disorder in ancient Greek culture and it is significant that Caeneus is taunted by the centaurs about his female origins.

After a fierce defence, Caeneus is eventually overcome by a group of centaurs and brutally killed. I think the taunting of Caeneus about his origins can be interpreted as an ancient example of intolerance and that Ovid is signifying that the goading and “deadnaming” (a modern word for using the name a person had pre-transition) of Caeneus by the centaurs is cruel, wrong and uncivilised.

By contrast, Covell’s Caeneus is born an Amazon (a matriarchal tribe of female-only warriors) and is murdered by them after he transitions. This is an edgy re-imagining for a trans male character. The ancient Amazons are iconic mythological figures and considered inspirational by many women.

The Amazons were very much outsiders in the Greek world. Warrior women who did not conform, they were considered a threat to patriarchy that needed to be subjugated to maintain order. Greek literature and material culture is full of Amazons being brutally killed by Greek male heroes, such as Achilles and Herakles.

It is insightful to look at other major reimaginings of Amazons, such as the comic-book character Wonder Woman. Her creator, the psychologist William Moulton Marston,  said in 1943 that Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should be running the world. The feminist Gloria Steinem put Wonder Woman on the cover of the first edition of her magazine Ms in 1972 with the slogan: “Wonder Woman for President.”

Covell’s depiction of the Amazons in Kaos may be challenging to some feminists. However, I do not think it should be interpreted as an attack on the inspirational nature of the Amazons for women, but rather as a demonstration that any homogenous and intransigent society (patriarchal or matriarchal) that does not accept and respect all humans, irrespective of their gender identity, diversity or race, is an unjust society.

Ovid’s queer characters

Ovid’s Caeneus wished to become a male after being raped. They had no agency to do this and relied on the will of their divine rapist (Poseidon) to achieve the transformation. However, Misia Butler’s character in Kaos identifies as male and has the agency to transform their own body. This is an empowering retelling of the myth for a 21st-century audience.

Throughout Metamorphoses, Ovid suggests that gender is something that can be changed. As well as Caeneus, Ovid’s writing features several other characters whose genders are divinely transformed.

In Book 9 readers are introduced to another character who could be read as trans – Iphis. Iphis, we are told, was born female, but reared as a boy by their mother.

She wanted to prevent their father from euthanising a female child because he couldn’t afford a dowry. Iphis identifies as a man and is betrothed to be married to the girl Ianthe, but it’s clear that (as Caeneus‘ mother tells him in Kaos) “the form doesn’t fit the content”.

Iphis realises that he will not be able to consummate his marriage within Roman hetero-normative social structures in the way that Ianthe is expecting. In desperation, he and his supportive mother pray to the Egyptian goddess Isis who physically transforms his body to male.

These stories reflect Ovid’s own society and suggest that gender and sex have some real-life mutability. What is certain is that Ovid, just like Covell, had no issues discussing and recounting these mythological life biographies of queer people, and that LGBT+ people have been present in all societies, throughout time.

Suzanne O'Neill, Adjunct Assistant Professor in Department of Classics, Trinity College Dublin