Iphis was a son of Alector and a desecendant of Megapenthes, the son of Proetus. He was king of Argos and from his were descendend Eteocles and Evadne the wife of Capaneus (Paus. ii. 18.&4,Apollod. iii. 7. § 1 ; Schol. ad Pind. Ol. vi. 46.) He advised Polyneices to induce Amphiaraus to take part in the expedition against Thebes, by giving the famous necklace to Eri-phyle. (Apollod. iii. 6. § 2.) As he lost his two children, he left his kingdom to Sthenelus, the son of Capaneus. (Paus. ii. 18. § 4; Eurip. Suppl. 1034, &c.)
As written in Homer's The Iliad, Iphis was also a name given to the mistress of Patroclus, Achilles' companion-in-arms.
According to Greek mythology and the Roman poet Ovid, who wrote about transformations in his Metamorphoses, Iphis (or Iphys) was the daughter of Telethusa and Lictus. Lictus has already threatened to kill his pregnant wife's child if it isn't a boy. Telethusa despairs, but is visited in the middle of the night by the Egyptian goddess Isis, attended by Anubis and Apis, who assures her that all will be well. When Telethusa gives birth to Iphis, she conceals her daughter's sex from her husband and raises her daughter as a boy. Iphis falls in love with another girl, Ianthe. Iphis is deeply in love and prays to Juno to allow her to marry her beloved. When nothing happens, her mother Telethusa brings her to the temple of Isis and prays to the goddess to help her daughter. Isis responds by transforming Iphis into a man. The male Iphis marries Ianthe and the two live happily (and heterosexually) ever after. Their marriage is presided over by Juno, Venus, and Hymen, the god of marriage. Ovid, Metamorphoses, IX, 789-937.
Ovid also introduces us to another character from Greek mythology, also named Iphis, a Cypriot shepherd who loved a woman named Anaxarete. Anaxarete scorned him and Iphis killed himself in despair. Because Anaxarete was still unmoved, Aphrodite changed her to stone. Iphis later fathered Evadne. Ovid, Metamorphoses, XIV, 802.
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Iphis was also one of the daughters of Thespius, by whom Heracles became the father of.Celeustanor. (Apollod. ii. 7. § 8.)
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Iphis was also a son of Sthenelus, and brother of Eurystheus, was one of the Argonauts who fell in the battle with Aeetes. (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. iv. 223; Val. Flacc. i. 441; Diod. iv. 48, with Wesselling's note.)
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Iphis was also the beloved of Patroclus, of the island of Scyros. (Hom. II. ix. 667; Philostr. Her. Her. 10. [p. 620]
Beside him
lay lovely Iphis, whom Achilles gave him
after capturing steep Scyros, Enyeus' city. Homer Iliad 9
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a daughter of Ligdus and Telethusa, of Phaestus in Crete. She was brought up as a boy, because, previous to her birth, her father had ordered the child to be killed, if it should be a girl. When Iphis had grown up, and was to be betrothed to lanthe, the difficulty thus arising was removed by the favour of Isis, who had before advised the mother to treat Iphis as a boy, and now metamorphosed her into a youth. (Ov. Met. ix. 665, &c.)
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