The Virgin, the Bear, the Upside-Down Strix: An Interpretation of Antoninus Liberalis 21

Antoninus Liberalis tells us at Metamorphoses 21 about the misadventures of Poliphonte, who, having rejected Aphrodite in favor of Artemis and a virginal life in the wild, was cursed with becoming, first, the lover of a bear and, then, a nocturnal, ill-omened strix, which is curiously described as “upside-down.” This essay reconstructs the myth’s cultural meaning by exploring the relationship between its two central themes—sexual union between a maiden and a bear, and the metamorphosis of a woman into a strix. The interpretation focuses on the symbolic mechanisms underlying traditional Greek and Roman beliefs about both bears and striges, and examines how they (as well as other, related superstitions about witches) can clarify the ancient significance of girls’ transitions into women.