Aphroditus

Article summary

of Aphroditus at the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm , late 4th century BCE, National Museum of Magna Grecia tte, Roman imperial, 1st-3rd century CE, British Museum Aphroditus or Aphroditos ( , , ) was a version of the goddess Aphrodite originating from Amathus on the island of Cyprus and celebrated in Athens. He is the masculine version of Aphrodite. Aphroditus was portrayed as having a female shape and clothing like Aphrodite's but also a phallus, and hence, a male name. 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. Aphroditus is the same as the later god Hermaphroditus, whose name derives from those of his parents, Aphrodite and Hermes. Hermaphroditos first appeared in the Characters of Theophrastus. Photius also explained that Aphroditus was Hermaphroditos, and cited fragments from Attic comedies mentioning the divinity. 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 (anasyromenos), a female lifting her dress to reveal male genitals, a gesture that was believed to have apotropaic qualities, averting evil influences and bestowing good luck.…

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