Hermaphrodite

This cameo depicts a hermaphrodite, a sensual being who is both male and female. Here, the hermaphrodite is decidedly feminine. Seated on a cylindrical object , she opens her garment, and by doing so, her bisexuality is revealed: she has breasts and a penis. According to the version of the legend prevalent in the Roman era, the first hermaphrodite was the Hermaphroditus, who, as his name implies, was the son of the messenger-god Hermes and the love-goddess Aphrodite. Hermaphroditus's ill-fated encounter with the nymph Salmacis, who observed him bathing in her spring, led to his transformation into a dual-gender being, and prompted him to wish that all men who bathed in that spring should suffer a similar fate. The gold ring into which this cameo is set is modern.