Other early references to androgyny include astronomy, where androgyn was a name given to planets that were sometimes warm and sometimes cold. This is one of the earlier written references to androgyny - and the only case in classical greek texts that female homosexuality (lesbianism) is ever mentioned. If they did, he would cleave them in two again to hop around on one leg. Zeus then decided to cut them in half and had Apollo repair the resulting cut surfaces, leaving the navel as a reminder to not defy the gods again. These sphere people tried to take over the gods and failed. This last pairing represented the androgynous couple. There were three sexes: the male-male people who descended from the sun, the female-female people who descended from the earth, and the male-female people who came from the moon. People used to be spherical creatures, with two bodies attached back to back who cartwheeled around. Androgyny and homosexuality are seen in Plato's Symposium in a myth that, according to Plato, Aristophanes tells the audience, possibly with a comic intention. The ancient Greek myth of Hermaphroditus and Salmacis, two divinities who fused into a single immortal – provided a frame of reference used in Western culture for centuries. In one mention, Rabbi Meir describes the androgynos as "a creation of its own type, which the sages could not decide whether is male or female". The 2nd century CE Mishnah, a foundational text of Rabbinic Judaism, mentions the term androgynos 32 times. : 158–163 In one Akkadian hymn, Ishtar is described as transforming men into women. Gwendolyn Leick, an anthropologist known for her writings on Mesopotamia, has compared these individuals to the contemporary Indian hijra. Several Akkadian proverbs seem to suggest that they may have also engaged in sexual activity with men. In later Mesopotamian cultures, kurgarrū and assinnu were servants of the goddess Ishtar (Inanna's East Semitic equivalent), who dressed in female clothing and performed war dances in Ishtar's temples. : 285 Gala took female names, spoke in the eme-sal dialect, which was traditionally reserved for women, and appear to have engaged in sexual acts with men. : 157–158 A set of priests known as gala worked in Inanna's temples, where they performed elegies and lamentations. In ancient Sumer, androgynous and intersex men were heavily involved in the cult of Inanna. See also: Sexuality in ancient Rome § Hermaphroditism and androgynyĪndrogyny is attested from earliest history and across world cultures.