Hermaphroditus- Greek GodDeity

The Pool of Salmacis

Hermaphroditus was the child of Hermes and Aphrodite, named by joining his parents' names. Born on Mount Ida in Phrygia and raised by naiads in the mountain's caves, he had his mother's beauty and his father's features. At fifteen, restless and eager to see the world, he left the familiar mountains and traveled south through Lycia and Caria.

Near Halicarnassus he came upon a crystal-clear pool, the home of the naiad Salmacis. Unlike her sisters, Salmacis cared nothing for hunting with Artemis or running in the wild. She spent her days idling by her water, combing her hair and admiring her own reflection. When she saw the beautiful youth, she was consumed with desire. She approached him with flattery and propositions, but Hermaphroditus, innocent and embarrassed, refused her. Salmacis pretended to withdraw and hid among the bushes. When the youth, believing himself alone, undressed and waded into the pool, she plunged in after him and wrapped herself around his body. As he struggled to break free, she cried out to the gods to never be separated from him. The gods heard and fused the two bodies into one — neither fully male nor fully female, but a being of both sexes.

Shocked and distressed, Hermaphroditus called out to his parents and prayed that any man who bathed in the pool of Salmacis would likewise lose his full manhood and emerge changed. Hermes and Aphrodite granted the prayer, and the waters of Salmacis became infamous. Strabo records that the spring at Halicarnassus was reputed to make those who drank from it effeminate.

Cult and Art

Hermaphroditus received cult worship in Athens, where the figure was sometimes known as Aphroditos. Theophrastus includes worship of Hermaphroditus among the habits of his "Superstitious Man." In Hellenistic and Roman art, the "Sleeping Hermaphroditus" — a reclining figure with both male and female characteristics — was copied across the Roman world, and several marble versions survive.