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The worship ofAphroditus comes fromCyprus, a cult of amasculine orhermaphrodite form ofAphrodite. The divinity was introduced intoGreece and celebrated inAthens in a cross-dressingritual.
It is thought thatHesiod's myth, explaining the birth of Aphrodite, born whenCronus cut off the genitals ofUranus and threw it into the sea, originated from the cult of Aphroditus. A terracotta plaque from the 7th century BC found atPerachora in Greece, representing Aphroditus emerging from severed male genitals, suggests this, as there are two different myths of the creation of Aphrodite.
According toMacrobius, Aphroditus was represented in Cyprus with abeard andphallus, wearing female clothing and holding a scepter. At sacrifices to the god, worshipers cross-dressed, men wearing women's clothing and women dressed in men's clothing. The cult spread from Cyprus into southernAsia Minor, eventually reaching mainlandGreece around the late 5th century BC. In Athens, the iconography of the god took on theanasyromenos pose, a female figure lifting her dress to reveal an erect phallus, agesture that hadapotropaic qualities, much like the godPriapus. By theHellenistic period, the cult andvotives had spread throughout Asia Minor, Greece, andItaly.
Gradually over time the cult lost popularity, Aphroditus was also being calledHermaphroditus, which originally meant Aphroditus in the form of aherm or "a herm of Aphroditus". These were marble or bronze sculptures with a head or torso above a plain rectangular pillar, a symbol offertility. In laterGreek mythology, Hermaphroditus came to be known as the son ofHermes and Aphrodite.
