Hermaphroditus

In Greek mythology, Hermaphroditus was a child of Aphrodite and Hermes. He was born a remarkably handsome boy but was transformed into a hermaphrodite (or more properly an intersex person), by the nymph Salmacis. His only attestation is in Book IV of Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Story

Hermaphroditus was raised by nymphs on Mount Ida, a sacred mountain in Phrygia. At the age of fifteen, he grew bored of his surrounds and traveled the cities of Lycia and Caria. It was in the woods of Caria that he encountered Salmacis the Naiad in her pool. She is overcome by lust for the boy, and tries to seduce him, but is rejected. When he thinks she has gone, Hermaphroditus undresses and enters the waters of the empty pool. Salmacis springs out from behind a tree and jumps into the pool, wrapping herself around the boy: forcibly kissing him and touching his breasts. While he struggles, she calls out to the gods in prayer that they should never part. Her wish is granted, and their bodies blend into one intersexual form. Hermaphroditus, in his grief, makes his own prayer: cursing the pool so that any other who bathes within it shall be transformed as well.de:Hermaphroditos fr:Hermaphrodite it:Ermafrodito he:הרמפרודיטוס pl:Hermafrodyta pt:Hermafrodito

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