Hermaphroditus (Greek, Ἑρμαφρόδιτος, Hermaphroditos; also referred to as Ἑρμαφροδίτη, Hermaphrodite) was the child of Hermes and Aphrodite (the Roman equivalents were Mercury and Venus), who had combined male and female characteristics.

A restored marble statue of Hermaphroditus.
Head, lower right arm and legs now missing.

100-50 BC. Provenance unknown. Perhaps from
Aphrodisia (western Turkey). Height 58.5 cm,
width 38.0 cm, depth 20.0 cm.

Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam.
Inv. No. 11.1.

From the collection of G. Hirth who purchased
the sculpture in Venice. It may have been taken
there from a Venetian trading post in the eastern
Mediterranean and to have been part of the
Francesco Morosini collection, auctioned in 1884.

A marble statue of Hermaphroditus
from Pompeii. The figure was restored in
Antiquity, perhaps a number of times, and
has been given pointed ears like a Satyr.

Found in the sanctuary of the Temple of
Apollo, Pompeii, together with a marble
statue of Venus (Aphrodite) [2].

Marble statuette of Hermaphroditus
carrying the winged infant Eros in
the fold of her cloak with both hands.

Roman Imperial period, 1st century AD copy
of a Hellenistic prototype. Perhaps from the
sanctuary of Bacchus or the large imperial
villa at Tor Marancia, southeast of Rome,
during excavations by Luigi Bondi around
1817-1823, financed by Marianna di Savoia,
Duchess of Chablais. Greek marble.
Height 74.5 cm.

Heavily restored: the head and neck, right
shoulder and forearm with hand, and a
third of the fold of the cloak; both legs,
from below the middle of the shins, with
feet, plinth and support; the head, left
arm and legs of the infant. The right arm
of the infant is missing, and the restored
plaster head and penis have been
removed. There are traces of red colour
on the cloak.

The "Berliner Hermaphroditos" wearing
a mitra (μίτρα), a woman's headscarf.

Circa 120-140 AD. Thasian marble.
Height with base 172.3 cm, base 14 cm.

Altes Museum, Berlin. Inv. No. Sk 193.

Ceramic figurine of Hermaphroditus.

From the Yortanli Dam Salvage
excavation, near Pergamon.

Ceramic figurine of Hermaphroditus.

From the Yortanli Dam Salvage
excavation, near Pergamon.

Fragmentary marble statuette
of Hermaphrodite-Attis.

2nd century AD. Found in 1940
in the Sanctuary of Attis, Ostia.

Fragment of a ceramic statuette
of Hermaphrodite.

2nd century AD. Found in the
sanctuary of Athena in the city
of Kos, Dodecanese.

Head of a terracotta Hermaphroditus figurine.

Hellenistic period. Found in a ceramic
workshop of the ancient city of Korkyra
(Κόρκυρα), Corfu.

The naked, youthful figure of Hermaphroditus dances to the right, both arms raised, her upper torso bent back, and her head facing backwards to the left. A cloak (perhaps an animal skin) is draped over her right shoulder and around both arms at the elbow. The left end (to the viewer) swings upwards with her movement. The ecstatic dancing is similar to that of Maeands, female followers of Dionysus, and the staff she carries in her left hand may be a thyrsos (see Dionysus), although its top is now missing.

At the bottom right of the fragment of part of a small figure of a winged infant Eros, who also appears to be dancing, and holds what looks like an inverted torch in his raised left hand.

Fragment of a marble herm of
Hermaphroditus raising his/her
garment to reveal male genitals.

Hellenistic period. Found in 1899 in the
olive grove of Ilias Deliapostolis, in the
Kestel river valley, at the foot of the Pergamon acropolis. Height 124 cm.

Fragment of a marble statuette of
Hermaphroditus of a common type,
showing the deity raising his/her
garment to reveal male genitals.

Roman period, 2nd century AD.
Height 67 cm, width 32 cm, depth 22 cm.

Izmir Museum of History and Art.
Inv. No. 5921.

Marble herm of Hermaphroditus-Priapus
(also referred to as Priapus-Hermaphrodite).

Roman period, late 2nd - early 1st 1st century BC.
From the Theatre Quarter, Delos.

Detail of a trapezophoron
(table support) in the
form of Hermaphroditus.

1st century BC - 1st century AD.
Parian marble. Height 70 cm.

Fragmentary marble statuette of Hermaphroditus.

Roman Imperial period. Provenance unknown.

Statue groups depicting this subject are known from a number of examples and fragments in other museums, for example in Cherchell and Algiers, Algeria, Antakya, Turkey, Rome and Dresden (see photo below). Such representations of erotic entanglements are often referred to as symplegmata (plural of σύμπλεγμα, symplegma, braided, or entwined), meaning figures grappling or wrestling.

Hermaphroditus sits on a bench with an exposed erect penis, his garment lowered and resting on his thighs. The satyr with a wreath and dressed in red, stands behind him and grasps the god's raised left forearm with his left hand and raises his own right hand. To the right stands a maenad, wearing a wreath and a doeskin nebris, and holding in her right hand a kantharos (drinking cup), and in her left hand a thyrsos (an attribute of Dionysus) and a tamborine.

The tall construction behind the figures appears to be an altar, and the greenery and rocks to the left suggest a cave sanctuary in a rural setting.

The nude figure, partly covered by a cloth, perhaps a himation (cloak), is described as "caught changing position while asleep, thus revealing a dual nature with male and female sexual characteristics". It is thought that such statues were positioned in a room or space so that the viewer entering and seeing it for the first time from behind would assume the figure was female. Moving around to the other side the viewer would then be surprised, shocked, delighted, amused or titillated to see that it had not only breasts but also male genitals.

Apart from the erotic and comic aspects of such sculptures, little is known about the more serious or spiritual intentions of the makers or commissioners of such works, or when or where the first example was made. There appears to be no mention of sleeping Hermaphroditus in ancient literature. The concept may have evolved from depictions of other sleeping mythological figures such as Maenads and the sleeping Ariadne, which became more common and overtly erotic during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. [3]

One of several frescos, depicting domestic, rustic and mildly erotic scenes, found in private houses near the Via Nationale in Rome. In this painting a nude male figure wearing a garlanded helmet uncovers a sleeping woman. He does not appear to have horns, and the legs and feet are so crudely drawn that it is difficult to tell whether they are human or goat. The only other indication that he may be Pan is the lagobolon (a crook and hunting stick for throwing at hares) he carries.

Most of the frescos, mosaics and other decorations from Pompeii, Herculaneum and nearby sites are difficult to date accurately. However, in this case archaeologists believe that the house had been repaired, completely replastered and repainted following an earthquake before the fatal eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.

1. Hermaphroditus

See Victor Ljunggren Szepessy's thesis discussing the statue of Hermaphroditus from Pergamon:

2. Statues of Hermaphroditus and Venus from the Temple of Apollo, Pompeii

The marble statue of Venus. National Archaeological Museum, Naples. Inv. No. 6294.

The statues were found at the south side of the sanctuary courtyard of the Temple of Apollo, and they originally stood on pedestals found at the top of the steps of the portico surrounding the sanctuary, which is still standing. They are thought to "belong to the pre-Roman period", i.e. Greek. The pointed ears of the Hermaphroditus, led archaeologists to believe that it was connected with the cult of Bacchus (Dionysus), and catalogues of the Naples museum described the statue as "Bacchus Hermaphroditus".

See: Domenico Monaco, Complete hand book to the National Museum in Naples. English edition by Eustace Neville Rolfe (1845-1908). 4th Edition, No. 6352, page 58. William Clowes and Sons, London, 1886. At the Internet Archive.

"Other divinities besides Apollo were honored in this sanctuary, which in the earlier time was evidently the most important in the city; statues and altars for their worship were placed in the court. The pedestals of the statues still remain where they were originally placed, on the step in front of the stylobate of the colonnade; the statues themselves, with one exception, have been taken to Naples. There were in all six of them, grouped in three related pairs. In front of the third column at the left of the entrance, stood Venus, at the right was a hermaphrodite – both marble figures of about one half life size. They belong to the pre-Roman period and were originally of good workmanship, but even in antiquity they had been repeatedly restored and worked over. As a work of art, the hermaphrodite is the more important.

An altar stands before the statue of Venus. In pre-Roman times this may have been the only shrine in the city at which worship was offered to Herentas; for by that name the goddess of love was known in the native speech. Venus as goddess of the Roman colony, was represented in an altogether different guise, and must have had a special place of worship elsewhere.

Though the statues of Venus and of the hermaphrodite here form a pair, both artistically and in respect to arrangement, the latter belongs not to the cycle of Venus but to that of Bacchus; and in order to make this the more evident, the ears of a satyr were given to the figure. We may, perhaps, infer that the god of wine also was worshipped in this sanctuary."

3. Sleep in Greek and Roman art

For a discussion of sleep and sleepers depicted in Greek and Roman art see:

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