Tethys333
Active member
Hello everyone, today I'm here to tell you about one of the myths that struck me most in the history of Ancient Greece: the myth of Hermaphrodite from Plato's Symposium.
I repeat, it is a myth, so don't take everything I'm about to tell you literally.
The speaker is Aristophanes, a Greek playwright, who narrates his point of view on eros.
In his opinion, a long time ago there were three genders: man, woman, and hermaphrodite or androgyne, that is, a being with both male and female characteristics.
At that time, all human beings had two faces facing in opposite directions and one head, four arms, four hands, four legs, and two sexual organs, and they were round.
One day, these beings became so arrogant that they even wanted to surpass the gods themselves, and Zeus punished them.
“Finally, Zeus had an idea and said, ‘I think I have found a way for humans to continue to exist, but once they become weaker, they will give up their insolence. Now I will cut them in two, one by one, and thus they will become weaker and, at the same time, by doubling their number, they will become more useful to us.’” - Plato, Symposium
The beings were divided in half to weaken them, and from that day on, each half has been searching for its complementary other half.
Zeus realized, however, that this species was unable to reproduce and was dying out, so he asked Apollo to remodel them so that their reproductive organs would be moved forward and they could produce children, on the condition that a small scar be left on the front to remember the event (the navel).
“So the desire and search for wholeness is called love” - Plato, Symposium.
Since there were three sexes, there are now two types of love: homosexual relationships (if the two partners were originally part of a completely male or completely female human being) and heterosexual relationships (if the two were part of an androgynous being).
" If a male had met a male, they would soon have reached satiety in their relationship, calmed down, and returned to their occupations, thus providing for the needs of their existence. And so, evidently, since those distant times, the desire for love for one another has been innate in us humans, to reform the unity of our ancient nature, making two beings into one: thus the nature of man can be healed. Therefore, each of us is a fraction of the original complete human being. For each person, there is another who is complementary to them, because that single being was cut in two, like sole fish. That is why everyone is constantly searching for their complementary part. This being the case, all those males who derive from that composite of the sexes we have called hermaphrodite fall in love with women, and among them are most adulterers; in the same way, women who fall in love with men and adulteresses come from this species; but women who derive from the complete female sex, well, they are not interested in men at all: their inclination leads them rather towards other women, and it is from this species that lesbians derive. Finally, males who come from a man of only male sex seek males. From a young age, since they are a fraction of the primitive male, they fall in love with men and take pleasure in being with them, in their arms. These are the best among children and boys, because they are more virile by nature. Some say, of course, that they are shameless, but this is false. It is not a lack of modesty at all: no, it is their ardor, their virility, their courage that drives them to seek out their peers. And here is proof: once they grow up, boys of this type are the only ones who show themselves to be true men and take an interest in politics." - Plato, Symposium
It is said that many halves have not yet found their complement, and although they have joined with other souls, those souls had nothing to do with their soul mate.
I really hope you enjoyed this story, Plato deserves it.
Hail Zeus!
I repeat, it is a myth, so don't take everything I'm about to tell you literally.
The speaker is Aristophanes, a Greek playwright, who narrates his point of view on eros.
In his opinion, a long time ago there were three genders: man, woman, and hermaphrodite or androgyne, that is, a being with both male and female characteristics.
At that time, all human beings had two faces facing in opposite directions and one head, four arms, four hands, four legs, and two sexual organs, and they were round.
One day, these beings became so arrogant that they even wanted to surpass the gods themselves, and Zeus punished them.
“Finally, Zeus had an idea and said, ‘I think I have found a way for humans to continue to exist, but once they become weaker, they will give up their insolence. Now I will cut them in two, one by one, and thus they will become weaker and, at the same time, by doubling their number, they will become more useful to us.’” - Plato, Symposium
The beings were divided in half to weaken them, and from that day on, each half has been searching for its complementary other half.
Zeus realized, however, that this species was unable to reproduce and was dying out, so he asked Apollo to remodel them so that their reproductive organs would be moved forward and they could produce children, on the condition that a small scar be left on the front to remember the event (the navel).
“So the desire and search for wholeness is called love” - Plato, Symposium.
Since there were three sexes, there are now two types of love: homosexual relationships (if the two partners were originally part of a completely male or completely female human being) and heterosexual relationships (if the two were part of an androgynous being).
" If a male had met a male, they would soon have reached satiety in their relationship, calmed down, and returned to their occupations, thus providing for the needs of their existence. And so, evidently, since those distant times, the desire for love for one another has been innate in us humans, to reform the unity of our ancient nature, making two beings into one: thus the nature of man can be healed. Therefore, each of us is a fraction of the original complete human being. For each person, there is another who is complementary to them, because that single being was cut in two, like sole fish. That is why everyone is constantly searching for their complementary part. This being the case, all those males who derive from that composite of the sexes we have called hermaphrodite fall in love with women, and among them are most adulterers; in the same way, women who fall in love with men and adulteresses come from this species; but women who derive from the complete female sex, well, they are not interested in men at all: their inclination leads them rather towards other women, and it is from this species that lesbians derive. Finally, males who come from a man of only male sex seek males. From a young age, since they are a fraction of the primitive male, they fall in love with men and take pleasure in being with them, in their arms. These are the best among children and boys, because they are more virile by nature. Some say, of course, that they are shameless, but this is false. It is not a lack of modesty at all: no, it is their ardor, their virility, their courage that drives them to seek out their peers. And here is proof: once they grow up, boys of this type are the only ones who show themselves to be true men and take an interest in politics." - Plato, Symposium
It is said that many halves have not yet found their complement, and although they have joined with other souls, those souls had nothing to do with their soul mate.
I really hope you enjoyed this story, Plato deserves it.
Hail Zeus!
