Editing Hermaphroditus (section)

==Cult and worship==
{{Main|Aphroditus}}
[[File:IAM 363T - Hermaphroditus statue.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Hermaphroditus statue from [[Pergamon|Pergamum]], Hellenistic, 3rd century BC ([[Istanbul]])]]
The oldest traces of the cult in Greek countries are found in [[Cyprus]]. Here, according to [[Macrobius]] (''[[Macrobius#Saturnalia|Saturnalia]]'', iii. 8), there was a bearded statue of a male Aphrodite, called [[Aphroditus]] by [[Aristophanes]]. [[Philochorus]] in his ''[[Atthis (Philochorus)|Atthis]]'' (ap. Macrobius ''loc. cit.'') further identified this divinity, at whose [[sacrifice]]s men and women [[transvestism|exchanged garments]], with the [[List of lunar deities|Moon]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911 |wstitle=Hermaphroditus |volume=13 |page=367 |inline=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa|author-link=Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa|title=Three Books of Occult Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5YjXnoAaYowC&pg=PA495|year=1993|publisher=Llewellyn Worldwide|isbn=978-0-87542-832-1|page=495}}</ref> A terracotta plaque from the 7th century BC depicting Aphroditos, which was found in [[Perachora]], suggests it was an [[archaic Greece|archaic Greek]] cult.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ustinova|first=Yulia|author-link=Yulia Ustinova|title=The Supreme Gods of the Bosporan Kingdom: Celestial Aphrodite and the Most High God|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ARyeneZne9gC&pg=PA106|year=1999|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-11231-6|page=106}}</ref>

The deification and the origins of the cult of Hermaphroditus beings stem from Eastern religions, where the hermaphrodite nature expressed the idea of a primitive being that united both sexes. This double sex also attributed to [[Dionysus]] and [[Priapus]]&nbsp;– the union in one being of the two principles of generation and conception&nbsp;– denotes extensive [[list of fertility deities|fertilizing and productive]] powers.<ref name=EB1911/><ref>[http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/Forms/fLemmaBody.aspx?lemmaid=8130#chapter_2 Encyclopaedia of the Hellenistic World, Asia Minor: Hermaphroditus&nbsp;– Cult]</ref>

This Cyprian Aphrodite is the same as the later Hermaphroditos, which simply means Aphroditos in the form of a [[herma]], and first occurs in the ''[[Theophrastus#Characters|Characters]]'' (16) of [[Theophrastus]].<ref>[http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/Forms/fLemmaBody.aspx?lemmaid=8130#chapter_1 Encyclopaedia of the Hellenistic World, Asia Minor: Hermaphroditus&nbsp;– Literary sources]</ref> After its introduction at [[Athens]] (probably in the 5th century BC), the importance of this deity seems to have declined. It appears no longer as the object of a special cult, but limited to the homage of certain sects, expressed by superstitious rites of obscure significance.<ref name=EB1911/>

We find in [[Alciphron]] that there was at Athens a [[ancient Greek temple|temple]] of Hermaphroditus. The passage proposes that he might be considered as the deity who presided over married people; the strict union between husband and wife being aptly represented by a deity, who was male and female inseparably blended together.<ref>{{cite book |author=Alciphron |date=1896 |title=Alciphron : literally and completely translated from the Greek, with introduction and notes |url=https://archive.org/stream/alciphronliteral00alcirich#page/283/mode/2up |publisher=Athens : Privately printed for the Athenian Society |page=142}}</ref>{{Clarify|date=March 2023|reason=Is this a quote from something? If so, we need to say that in order to avoid plagiarism. If not, it needs to be edited because it's not in an encyclopædic style.}}

In the ''[[Greek Anthology]]'', at the chapter in which describe the statues in the [[Baths of Zeuxippus]], it also mentions and describes a statue of Hermaphroditus.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg7000.tlg001.perseus-grc1:2.1 Greek Anthology, 2.1]</ref>