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HERMANN, KARL FRIEDRICH (1804–1855)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 367 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HERMANN, KARL See also:FRIEDRICH (1804–1855) , See also:German classical See also:scholar and See also:antiquary, was See also:born on the 4th of See also:August '804, at See also:Frankfort-on-See also:Main. Having studied at the See also:universities of See also:Heidelberg and See also:Leipzig, he went for a tour in See also:Italy, on his return from which he lectured as Privatdozeni in Heidelberg. In 1832 he was called to See also:Marburg as See also:professor ordinarius of classicaledited the See also:text of See also:Juvenal and See also:Persius (1854) and See also:Lucian's De conscribenda historia (1828). A collection of Abhandlungen and Beitrage appeared in '849. See M. Lechner, Zur Erinnerung an K. F. Hermann (1864), and See also:article by C. See also:Halm in Allgenzeine deutsche Biographic, xii. (188o). HERMAPHRODITUS, in See also:Greek See also:mythology, a being, partly male, partly See also:female, originally worshipped as a divinity. The conception undoubtedly had its origin in the See also:East, where deities of a similar dual nature frequently occur.

The See also:

oldest traces of the cult in Greek countries are found in See also:Cyprus. Here, according to See also:Macrobius (Saturnalia, iii. 8) there was a bearded statue of a male See also:aphrodite, called Aphroditos by See also:Aristophanes (probably in his Nic/3os, a similar variant). Philgchorus in his See also:Atthis (ap. Macrobius loc. cit.) further identified this divinity, at whose sacrifices men and See also:women exchanged garments, with the See also:moon. This See also:double See also:sex also attributed to See also:Dionysus and See also:Priapus—the See also:union in one being of the two principles of See also:generation and conception—denotes extensive fertilizing and productive See also:powers. This See also:Cyprian Aphrodite is the same as the later Hermaphroditos, which simply means Aphroditos in the See also:form of a herm (see See also:HERMAE), and first occurs in the Characteres (16) of See also:Theophrastus. After its introduction at See also:Athens (probably in the 5th See also:century B.c.), the importance of this being seems to have declined. It appears no longer as the See also:object of a See also:special cult, but limited to the See also:homage of certain sects, expressed by superstitious See also:rites of obscure significance. The still later form of the See also:legend, a product of the Hellenistic See also:period, is due to a mistaken See also:etymology of the name. In accordance with this, Hermaphroditus is the son of See also:Hermes and Aphrodite, of whom the nymph of the See also:fountain of Salmacis in See also:Caria became enamoured while he was bathing. When her overtures were rejected, she embraced him and entreated the gods that she might be for ever See also:united with him.

The result was the formation of a being, See also:

half See also:man, half woman. This See also:story is told by See also:Ovid (Metam. iv. 285) to explain the peculiarly enervating qualities of the See also:water of the fountain. See also:Strabo (xiv. p. 656) attributes its See also:bad reputation to the See also:attempt of the inhabitants of the See also:country to find some excuse for the demoralization caused by their own luxurious and effeminate habits of See also:life. There was a famous statue of Hermaphroditus by Polycles of Athens, probably the younger of the two statuaries of that name. In later Greek See also:art he was a favourite subject. See articles in Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnaire See also:des antiquites, and See also:Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie; and for art, A. Baumeister, Denkmdler des klassischen Altertums (1884-'888).

End of Article: HERMANN, KARL FRIEDRICH (1804–1855)

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