Italiote and Siceliote Red Figure Vase (late 5th and 4th Centuries B.C.E.)

Diodorus of Sicily wrote regarding the god Hermaphroditus, "There are some who declare that the coming into being of creatures of a kind such as these are marvels, and being born rarely they announce the future, sometimes for evil and sometimes for good." ****

So what is this marvelous and beautiful creature come to reveal to the lady? It seems to be good revelation. There are many symbols here to give a hint. The wheat chaff at right of the lady symbolises the Elusinian mysteries, similar to the mysteries of Cybele, all emanating from the Great Mother who is over all.

The angel with the power to rise to the heavens holds the tympanum in he/r left hand and the tamborine in he/r other hand. The music from the tamborine and drum, also present, is used to bring the worshipper into divine frenzy. The lady holds a patera, another ritual platter open, even as she is holding herself open to what mysteries will be revealed.

****quoted in Will Roscoe's "Priests of the Goddess: Gender Transgression in Ancient Religion", an article he did for the University of Chicago's History of Religion

Return to What Lies Beyond, Part Three