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02/04/12(Sat)17:42 No.60913249>>60913097
Ovid's
account relates that Hermaphroditus was nursed by naiads in the caves
of Mount Ida, a sacred mountain in Phrygia (present day Turkey). At the
age of fifteen, he grew bored with his surroundings and traveled to the
cities of Lycia and Caria. It was in the woods of Caria, near
Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum, Turkey) that he encountered the nymph,
Salmacis, in her pool. She was overcome by lust for the boy, who was
very handsome but still young, and tried to seduce him, but was
rejected. When he thought her to be gone, Hermaphroditus undressed and
entered the waters of the empty pool. Salmacis sprang out from behind a
tree and jumped into the pool. She wrapped herself around the boy,
forcibly kissing him and touching his breast. While he struggled, she
called out to the gods that they should never part. Her wish was
granted, and their bodies blended into one form, "a creature of both
sexes". Hermaphroditus prayed to Hermes and Aphrodite that anyone else
who bathed in the pool would be similarly transformed, and his wish was
granted. |
