SLHS: Statue Of Hermaphroditus
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Youth at the Stream From The Poem ‘Metamorphoses’
According to the nearby plaque..
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“The Roman poet, Ovid (43BC-17AD), told the Greek myth about Hermaphroditus and Salmacis in his poem, Metamorphoses. An extract from this tale was once visible on the base of the statue:
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Playful and wanton to the stream he trips,
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And dips his foot.
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Hermaphroditus was the handsome son of the gods Aphrodite and Hermes. A nymph, Salmacis, discovering him by a stream, tried to seduce him. When he rejected her, she hid and waited until he removed his clothes and entered the water.
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Salmacis then entwined herself around him calling on the gods to join them for ever. Her wish was granted and their bodies blended into one intersex form. Hermaphroditus asked his parents to curse the water so that anyone who entered it would be similarly transformed into a being with both male and female organs.
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The statue entitled Youth at the Stream was sculpted by J.H. Foley in 1844 and executed in bronze by J. Hadfield in 1851. It was cast for the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in the same year and donated to the Bancroft Gardens by Mr Alfred Bullard in 1932.”
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Theatres ●
(Better photo coming)
Last update: 31/10/2024
Created: 31/10/2024
At head of Canal Basin