|
The story of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus is narrated by Ovid in the fourth book of his Metamorphoses. Aphrodite and Hermes had a son, Hermaphroditus, together. He grew up to become an incredibly beautiful and masculine man. One day while he was in the woods, a nymph named Salmacis saw him and became so infatuated with him that she grabbed hold of him and refused to let go. She made a prayer to the gods to make them never part, and it happened! A hermaphrodite! A man with breasts, or alternative a woman with a penis. Either way it was the Greek way of explaining why one out of every fifty people was a hermaphrodite. Hermaphroditus later became friends with Dionysius and the two gods are considered to be the patron gods of all hermaphrodites.
Many artists like to portray Hermaphroditus as a woman raising up her skirts/robes to reveil a penis. Others like to portray the actual scene in which Salmacis sees and tackles Hermaphroditus, in a narrative format. The most famous however is a sleeping Hermaphroditus.
|
