Aphroditus
Aphroditus was a version of Aphrodite originating from Amathus on the island of Cyprus and celebrated in Athens, portrayed as the masculine version of Aphrodite. This deity was depicted as having a female shape and clothing like Aphrodite's but also a phallus, and hence a male name. Aphroditus combined male and female in one divinity and was associated with the moon, both of which were considered to have fertilizing powers, and was regarded as having an influence over the entire animal and vegetable creation.
↻ synthesized from 2 sources
When
- First attested
- 700 BCE
- Attested period
- -700 – 0
- Historical notes
- Arrived in Athens from Cyprus in the 4th century BC; hermae existed in the 5th century BC; surviving clay mould fragment from late 4th century BC found in Athenian agora.
Relationships
- syncretized with
- Hermaphroditos
- aspect of
- Aphrodite
- co occurs with
- Hermaphroditus, Hermes
Mentioned by
Sources
Source passages
“Philochorus, in his Atthis, identifies this god with the Moon and says that at their sacrifices men and women exchanged clothing...the image or the impersonator of the god was accompanied by a large train of followers in which girls mingled with men”
#18337 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
“Here, according to Macrobius (Saturnalia, iii. 8), there was a bearded statue of a male Aphrodite, called Aphroditus by Aristophanes. Philochorus in his Atthis (ap. Macrobius loc. cit.) further identified this divinity, at whose sacrifices men and women exchanged garments, with the Moon”
#20647 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001