ABSTRACT
In the Metamorphoses, Ovid tells the almost forgotten legend of the child of Hermes and Aphrodite. She was the love-princess from the sea. He became the god of dreams who led the way into the future. Their son was Hermaphroditus. Whilst bathing in the waters of Caria, he was seen by the nymph of the fountain of Salmacis, who instantly fell in love, and desired him. She asked the gods that the two of them might be made one body – in which all that was male and all that was female was then united.
