Ancient & modern – 13 March 2004

The Gender Recognition Bill plodding its way through the House of Commons does not deal with hermaphrodites. Bad mistake. Hermaphroditus was the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. Ovid tells how the nymph Salmacis fell madly in love with him when she saw him strip and dive into a pool. She did the same, wound herself round him and, as he struggled to free himself, prayed that the gods would ensure that they were never parted. Her prayer was granted, and their two bodies were fused into one, so that they seemed ‘both male and female, and neither, at the same time’.

In his Natural History, the elder Pliny (ad 23–79) acknowledges the existence of hermaphrodites (people ‘with both sexes combined’), records at least one notable sculpture, and adds that, whereas they were once looked on as terrifying portents (and drowned at sea), they were now treated rather as pets or entertainments (the Romans derived considerable pleasure from laughing at prodigies of nature). The Greeks, on the other hand, turned Hermaphroditus into a deity, and a late 4th century bc mould for a terracotta figurine of the god, found in Athens, suggests he was a popular figure. One can see why bisexual ancient Greek males might have been interested in them — they offered the best of both worlds, after all. Plato, however, tells us that to call a man a ‘hermaphrodite’ was something of an insult. Hardly surprising.

While ancient doctors were fascinated by the idea of a person whose sexuality was ambiguous, Roman lawyers with their passion for exceptions found their legal status a problem. The reason was that males and females had different legal capacities, e.g. only the male could legitimise an heir or witness the opening of a will.