I'm in the midst of streaming "Kaos," a British Netflix series that came out about a month ago. Nothing special about that, I admit, but one aspect of it caught my attention.

One of its heroes is trans. And this hero has his roots in ancient Greek mythology.

It's been years since I'd read Edith Hamilton's MYTHOLOGY book, or any book on Greek mythology for that matter. So, while I maintain an interest in it, I'm a bit vague on some of the myths themselves.

In "Kaos," one of the central figures is a mortal name Caeneus. It's not much of a spoiler to mention that he serves as a sort of guide in the Underworld run by Hades.

Well, it turns out that Caeneus was an assigned woman at birth name Caenis, who (according to the myth), had sex with Poseidon (Neptune for you Roman myth lovers). But Caenis didn't want to get pregnant, so to prevent it, Poseidon changed her into a cis man. She took the name Caeneus and became invulnerable and the strongest man in the world. The first trans superhero, if you will.

Even better--Caeneus is played by trans masc actor Misia Butler!

I haven't finished watching "Kaos" yet--I will tonight--so don't tell me how it ends if you've already seen it.

But I thought I'd share this with you. It's always a treat to see a trans person treated respectfully and in the heroes' role.

Yay for us!

--- Anni

P.S.: This following article contains more detail about "Kaos," Misia Butler and Caeneus, but it also has some SPOILERS in it. Read it with that in mind.​

https://theconversation.com/kaoss-caeneus-is-part-of-a-long-tradition-of-queer-and-trans-characters-in-retellings-of-ancient-myths-239269