Herm of Aphroditus at the Nationalmuseum in StockholmGreek terracotta figurine, late 4th century BC, National Museum of Magna GreciaBronze statuette, Roman imperial, 1st-3rd century AD, British Museum[1]
Aphroditus or Aphroditos (Greek: Ἀφρόδιτος, Aphróditos, [apʰróditos]) was a male Aphrodite originating from Amathus on the island of Cyprus and celebrated in Athens.
Aphroditus was portrayed as having a female shape and clothing like Aphrodite's but also a phallus, and hence, a male name.[2] This deity would have arrived in Athens from Cyprus in the 4th century BC. In the 5th century BC, however, there existed hermae of Aphroditus, or phallic statues with a female head.[3]
Aphroditus is the same as the later god Hermaphroditos, whose name derives from his being regarded as the son of Aphrodite and Hermes.[4][5] Hermaphroditos first appeared in the Characters of Theophrastus.[6] Photius also explained that Aphroditus was Hermaphroditos, and cited fragments from Attic comedies mentioning the divinity.[7]
One of the earliest surviving images from Athens is a fragment (late 4th century BC), found in the Athenian agora, of a clay mould for a terracotta figurine. The figurine would have stood about 30 cm high, represented in a style known as ἀνασυρόμενος (anasyromenos), a female lifting her dress to reveal male genitals,[8] a gesture that was believed to have apotropaic qualities, averting evil influences and bestowing good luck.[9]
This combination of the male and female in one divinity and being associated with the moon, both of which were considered to have fertilizing powers, was regarded as having an influence over the entire animal and vegetable creation.[10]
^"Bronze figure of a hermaphrodite". The British Museum Collections. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
^Bullough, Vern L.; Bullough, Bonnie (1993), Cross Dressing, Sex, and Gender (reprint ed.), University of Pennsylvania Press, p. 29, ISBN 9780812214314
^Baillière, Tindall (1947), "The International journal of psycho-analysis", International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 28, Published by Routledge for the Institute of Psycho-Analysis: 150, ISSN 0020-7578, OCLC 1640896 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)
^Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim; James Freake (1993), Three books of occult philosophy, Llewellyn Worldwide; p. 495 ISBN 0875428320
^Siculus, Diodorus. Library of History. pp. 4. 6. 5. Hermaphroditos, as he has been called, who was born of Hermes and Aphrodite and received a name which is a combination of those of both his parents.
^Theophrastus (2004), James Diggle (ed.), Theophrastus: Characters, Cambridge University Press, p. 366, ISBN 9780521839808
^Braund, David (2005), Scythians and Greeks: cultural interactions in Scythia, Athens and the early Roman empire (sixth century BC - first century AD), University of Exeter Press; p. 78 ISBN 085989746X
^Theophrastus; James Diggle (2004), Characters, Cambridge University Press; pp. 367-68
^Koloski-Ostrow, Ann Olga; Lyons, Claire L. (2000), Naked truths: women, sexuality, and gender in classical art and archaeology, Routledge; pp. 230-231 ISBN 0415217520
^Freese, John Henry (1911). "Aphrodite" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 166.
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