In Greek mythology, Hermaphroditus was a child of Aphrodite and Hermes. He was born a remarkably handsome boy but was transformed into a hermaphrodite, or person having both male and female genitals.

Hermaphroditus was raised by Phrygian nymphs. One of the local nymphs, Salmacis, who lived in a lake, fell in love with him; Hermaphroditus rejected her. He undressed himself by the lake, and jumped into the water to go swimming. Salmacis embraced him and he struggled while she prayed that they would never be separated. The gods granted her this and their bodies fused. Hermaphroditus begged that the lake would take the virility from anyone who bathed in it; this was also granted.

Ovid Metamorphoses IV, 288