Hermaphroditus, Apulian red-figure lekythos C4th B.C., Rhode Island School of Design Museum. HERMAPHRODITOS (Hermaphroditus) was the god of hermaphrodites and of effeminates. He was numbered amongst the winged love-gods known as Erotes. Hermaphroditos was a son of Hermes and Aphrodite, the gods of male and female sexuality. According to some he was once a handsome youth who attracted the love of a Naiad nymphe Salmakis (Salmacis).