e know nothing, and the vague statements of
Servius and Macrobius may be neglected as being without significance for
the figure in question.

+416+. The name Hermaphroditos is said to occur for the first time in
the fourth or third century B.C.[762] This would indicate a gradual
formulation of the idea, the result being the combination of two divine
forms into a single form. Aphrodite would naturally be chosen for the
female side, and the ithyphallic Hermes is appropriate for the male
side--possibly the Hermes pillar with Aphrodite bust was the earliest
form.[763] The representations of Hermaphrodites show a male body with
female bust; the name Aphroditos would rather suggest a female body with
male additions. Other Greek bisexual figures are forms of Priapos and
Eros.

An historical connection between the Greek and the Phrygian forms is
possible, but is not proved. In India the bisexual form of Civa, which
seems to be late,[764] connects itself with the licentious character of
his rites. Its historical origin is uncertain.

+417+. It does not appear that the cult of the Greek androgynous deities
entered seriously into the religious life of the people. In late
philosophic circles they were treated merely as symbols of the creative
power of nature, and thus lost their character as persons.

+418+. The starting-point for the development of the hermaphrodite
figure may perhaps be found in two facts, the interchange or change of
sexual characters[765] and the combination of two deities to express a
broader idea than either of them represents. The assumption of female
dress and sexual habits by males, and of male dress and habits by
females, has prevailed over a great part of the world.[766] The
embodiment of this fact in a composite divine form would be not
unnatural at a time when there was a disposition to give expression, in
the person of gods, to all human experiences. Such definite embodiment
is, however, rare in religious history, probably, as is suggested above,
because it involves a large generalization and a more or less distinct
symbolism. The first movement in this direction may have been naively
sensuous; later, as is remarked above, the symbolic conception became
predominant.

+419+. The association of certain _animals_ with certain phallic deities
(as the bull with Dionysos, the goat with Pan, the ass with Priapos) is
a part of the general connection between gods and animals, the grounds
of which are in