Hermaphrodītus
（
Ἑρμαφρόδιτος). In Greek mythology, the son of Hermes and
Aphrodité, born on Mount Ida, and endowed with the beauty of both deities. When a
grown youth, he was bathing in the Carian fountain of Salmacis, and the nymph of the fountain,
whose love he rejected, prayed the gods that she might be indissolubly united with him. The
prayer was answered, and a being sprang into existence which united the qualities of male and
female. The fable probably arose from the inclination, prevalent in the Eastern religions,
towards confusing the attributes of both sexes. In Cyprus, for instance, a masculine
Aphroditus, clad in female attire, was worshipped by the side of the goddess
Aphrodité. Figures of hermaphrodites are common in art, one of the finest being the
Sleeping Hermaphrodite in the Museo delle Terme at Rome. Less modest representations are given
by Clarac (pl. 666 foll.). See Müller,
Archäol. der Kunst.
128 n. 2, 392 n. 2.
