The Machlyes or Machlyans () were a legendary ancient

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

n tribe.

Ancient Sources

According to

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

, their young women held a ritual battle with sticks and stones annually with neighboring Auseans (). Those who died of their wounds were said to have lied about their virginity.

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

claimed they were hermaphrodites that had a male half and a female half, possibly inspired by the martial practices of the females.

Later Sources

French anthropologist Lucien Bertholon hypothesized that the

Maghrawa The Maghrawa or Meghrawa () were a large Berber tribal confederation in North Africa. They are the largest branch of the Zenata confederation. Their traditional territories around the time of Muslim expansion into the Maghreb in the 7th century ...

tribal confederation in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

were descendants of the Machlyes.

In fiction

In the book ''Sweet Shadows'' by Tera Lynn Childs, the machlyes Achilla saves Gretchen from the merdaemon in the abysses.

References

Ancient Libyans Tribes described primarily by Herodotus Androgynous and hermaphroditic deities Legendary tribes in classical historiography Ancient Tunisia {{legendary-creature-stub