214 HORMONESG. 2006, ANDROUTSOS 5(3):214-217 Historical note Hermaphroditism in Greek and Roman antiquity George Androutsos Institute of History of Medicine, University Claude Bernard, Lyon, France ABSTRACT Since antiquity hermaphrodites have fascinated the mind and excited the imagination. In this paper, such subjects are discussed as legends about the nativity of Hermaphroditus, son of Hermes and Aphrodite, the social status of these bisexual beings, and their fate in Greek- Roman antiquity. Key words: Female pseudohermaphroditism, Hermaphroditism, Male pseudohermaphroditism. INTRODUCTION The cult of the dual being is also to be found amongst the numerous arcane sciences of the mys- Hermaphroditism is a state characterized by tical religions of Hindu peoples, before spreading the presence of both male and female sex organs. through Syria to Cyprus, and then into Greece. Here Recent developments in the understanding of the it degenerated and met the same fate as the hyste- pathogenetic mechanisms involved in defective sex- ro-phallic cults. During such times of decadence, ual differentiation and the social repercussions of hermaphroditism was looked upon as the embodi- the term hermaphrodite have created the need for ment of sexual excess, while for philosophers, it rep- new terminology. Hence, such disorders are today resented the twofold nature of the human being, designated as genetic defects in the differentiation considered as the original being.3 of the genital system.1 HERMAPHRODITES IN ANCIENT GREECE THE FORERUNNERS Greek mythology abounds in examples of such Beings that are simultaneously both male and dual beings. Even the gods themselves were often female have stirred the human imagination since hermaphrodites: Dyalos, the androgyne; Arse- ancient times. According to Christian theologists and nothelys, the man-woman; Gynnis, the effeminate; Jewish rabbis, Adam was the first hermaphrodite, a Adgistis, with two sexes; Tireasias who was succes- self-sufficient being, like his creator.2 After the ori- sively a man and a woman. To justify the existence ginal sin, Adam was divided into two imperfect sex- of hermaphrodites amongst humans, the storyteller es, incapable of reproducing on their own. Aesop wrote that Prometheus, after producing hu- Address correspondence and requests for reprints to: mans and spending the night drinking, came home George Androutsos, 1 Ipirou Str., 10433, Athens, Greece, inebriated and decided to define the gender of the Fax: +30-2108235710, e-mail: [email protected] human beings he had created, hermaphrodites be- Received 05-04-06, Revised 02-06-06, Accepted 15-06-06 ing the result.4 Hesiod5 states that Aphrodite and Hermaphroditism in Greek and Roman antiquity 215 Hermes united their efforts in order to provide a drogyn. The androgyns had both male and female dowry for Pandora, the first woman. sexual organs. They also had two bodies, one male and one female, and two converse faces on the same Hermaphroditus is first mentioned by Theo- head. The androgyns were aware of their physical phrastus.6 Hermaphroditus was the son of Aphro- perfection, the total independence that they en- dite and Hermes. According to the legend, the union joyedsince they were able to reproduce alone of these gods led to the birth of a son of exceptional and their invulnerability. This feeling of omnipo- beauty. At fifteen years of age, he went to Halicar- tence was not to the taste of Zeus who decided to nassus in Caria (Asia Minor). Whilst he was bath- separate them into two equal parts: one male and ing in the waters of a spring, the nymph Salmacis one female. The sex thereby became the gender re- saw him and fell madly in love [The first account of sulting from this separation. Since then the human the subject was given by the Latin poet Ennius.7 The body has been pierced in places as the cleft made by first Greek to mention it was Strabo,8 while Vitru- Zeus was repaired by Hermes and each half of the vius9 likewise mentioned the subject. However, Ovid, primitive androgyn is looking for his or her other as opposed to Strabo and Vitruvius, lent full cre- half. dence to the tale]. After trying in vain everything in her power to seduce him, she threw herself into the water, grasping the object of her desire, dragging HERMAPHRODITES IN ROMAN TIMES him down into the depths, and begging the gods to Ovid was the first to relate the story of Hermaph- unite them for ever. Her wish was granted, but the roditus and the only one to establish an explicit link being that resulted from their union, Hermaphro- between bisexuality and passive male homosexuali- ditus, was endowed with both sexes: he had a fe- ty. In his Metamorphoses,12 he mentions six sex chang- male body and a male sexual organ. es: men, Tiresias and Sithon, being turned into wom- In classical Greek times, Hermaphroditus no en; Iphis, a woman, who became a man; Maestra, longer represented the embodiment of a religious another woman, who became a man, as did Kainis symbol but rather the hero of a Homeric legend. becoming Kaineus. Hermaphroditus, or rather the The story begins when Hephaestus comes upon his being created by the fusing of Salmacis and Her- wife Aphrodite deceiving him with Ares, the god of maphroditus, was the only one bestowed with the war. Using an invisible net, he imprisons the couple two sexes simultaneously. Ovid also described the in the bed and calls upon all the gods of Olympus to increasingly male appearance of a young Greek girl bear witness to this intolerable offence. However, aged 13: You are a young man, although just re- to his consternation, he realizes that he has caused cently you were a woman, were you not? Accord- only general hilarity amongst the gods. Apollo then ing to the arguments, the masculinized Greek girl asks the god Hermes whether he would feel aver- was the victim of an excessive production of male sion at being in Ares shoes. When Hermes avows hormones. that he would not be saddened. Aphrodite, flattered Titus-Livy13 relates that when Italy recovered by Hermes words, offers herself up to her admirer from occupation by Carthage, monsters appeared, for a night of love. The fruit of the divine union be- including two androgynous children: ...all these tween Hermes and Aphrodite was Hermaphrodi- events appeared to be due to a freak of nature which tus. mixed genders. In particular, we were horrified by The idea of transformation goes very far back in the hermaphrodites. A list of sixteen accounts con- Greek literature. It was already present in the Iliad cerning hermaphrodites during the period between and in the Odyssey, and was perpetuated in the po- 209 and 92 B.C. was written by Titus-Livy. etry of the 5th and 4th centuries BC.10 Pliny the Elder14 also mentions some cases of sex In Platos Banquet,11 Aristophanes, discoursing changes: The accounts of women changing into men on the gender issue, states that the human race was are not just fables. ...In Casinum a girl turned into a originally of three genders: male, female and an- boy. Licinus Mucianus said that he personally knew 216 G. ANDROUTSOS a man called Arecson in Argos, who changed his toi (= victims of a violent death); it was believed name to Arescusa and even found herself a husband; at the time that they would come back to take their later on, he grew a beard with all the signs of virili- revenge or aoroi (= struck by premature death).20 ty, and took a wife. This author was witness to a So they preferred to expose them, offering them up similar adventure with a boy from Smyrna. I have to the will of the gods who could do with them as seen with my own eyes, in Africa, a citizen of Thys- they wished. This custom only died out during the drus change into a man on his wedding day. Pliny first centuries AD. also asserted that hermaphrodites were a distinct As far as eliminating the hermaphrodite was con- race living in a remote part of Africa. cerned, the list of the sixteen cases of hermaphro- Soranos of Ephesus,15 in his main work Womens ditism mentioned above is an extremely interesting diseases, documented several cases of gender ambi- document. On ten occasions the hermaphrodite is guity and observed that women with a masculine abandoned in the water (e.g. the sea); in another appearance do not have periods; he describes the case the hermaphrodite was sentenced to death. The possibility of a hypertrophic clitoris in such cases. Romans pitiless attitude to sexual ambiguity, see- ing it as a threatening omen, was not limited merely The legend concerning the Roman Emperor El- to new-born babies. Diodorus of Sicily21 reports a agabalus (218-222 AD), who is said to have offered woman who turned into a man. The senate once in- half the Roman Empire to the physician who could formed, the woman was burned at the stake. equip him with female genitalia, represents a famous instance of sex change.16 Hermaphrodites in Rome, at certain periods of time, were used as objects of pleasure. Generally speaking, these human beings with two sexes were SOCIAL STATUS AND THE FATE not able to find their place in any of the early soci- OF HERMAPHRODITES IN ANCIENT GREECE eties, since they represented a threatening gap with AND ROME regard to the norm, implying a clear biological dif- Most ancient people eliminated children with ferentiation between men and women, and thus a doubtful gender: for Greeks this was an expression differentiation in roles. Any form of uncertainty of their need to demonstrate the physical beauty of concerning a clear distinction between the sexes was their race, while among the Romans it was an inter- perceived as a threat.