Hermaphroditus and Salmacis

Hermaphroditus (Ἑρμαφρόδιτος) was the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. Hermaphroditus grew to be the most beautiful youth in the world at that time. The naiads (nymphs) had brought up Hermaphroditus at Mount Ida in Lycia.

One day, he left his home and arrived at the spring near Halicarnassus, in Caria. The spring was named after a nymph named Salmacis. This nymph fell madly in love with Hermaphroditus, but failed to seduce him. However, when he was bathing in her spring, Salmacis leaped upon the frightened youth and clung to him, with arms and legs around his handsome body. Salmacis kissed the boy, who tried to fight her off.

Then, Salmacis prayed to the gods, so that they may never be separated from one another. The gods answered her prayer by merging and fusing their bodies together.

To Hermaphroditus' horror, his body now had a woman's breasts and female genitals, as well as his own male genitals. Hermaphroditus was upset at this transformation when he emerged from the spring. He prayed to his father and his mother that any man or boy who bathes in this pool would suffer the same fate and transformation as he did: becoming half man, half woman.

This is where the name of hermaphrodite comes from, where a person has the genitals of two sexes. This is a very rare condition for human beings, and I have not heard of a case of someone being a hermaphrodite. It is more commonly found in plants and invertebrate animals (such as worms or snails).