aracter and cult of the Babylonian Ishtar, the Phoenician
Ashtart, and the Carthaginian Tanit (=Ashtart) is against the
supposition of bisexuality. Ishtar, originally a deity of fertility,
became, through social growth, a patron of war and statecraft; but there
is no indication that an attempt was ever made to combine these two
characters in one figure.

+413+. The Phrygian figure Agdistis, represented in the myths as
androgynous[756] (the myths being based on cults), is connected with the
worship of the Great Mother, Kybele (the embodiment of the female
productive power of nature), with whom is associated Attis (the
embodiment of the male power).[757] The myths identify Agdistis on the
one hand with Kybele, on the other hand with Attis--he represents in his
own person the combination of the two generative powers. But it is
doubtful whether this was his significance in the actual worship, in
which he hardly appears; he was probably a divine figure of the same
character as Kybele and Attis, worked up by myth-makers and woven into
the larger myth. His self-castration reflects the practice of the
priests and other worshipers of Kybele.[758] Thus culturally he is of
little or no importance.

+414+. There is no evidence that this Phrygian figure was derived from
Semitic sources. A certain similarity between Phrygian and Syrian cults
of gods and goddesses of fertility is obvious, and the social relations
between Asia Minor, Syria, and Cyprus make borrowing in either direction
conceivable. But cults of such deities might grow up independently in
different regions,[759] and the supposition that the Phrygian worship
was native to Asia Minor is favored by the great elaboration of its
ceremonies and by their barbarous character. This character suggests
that the worship may have originated with savage peoples who preceded
the Aryans in the country.[760]

+415+. The most definite androgynous figure is the Greek Hermaphroditos.
It was only in Greece that such a compound name arose, and that the
composite form became established in art. It is not certain when the
Greek form was fixed. If the statement that Aristophanes used the term
"Aphroditos"[761] (or "Aphroditon") is to be relied on, it must be
concluded that the conception existed in Greece prior to the fifth
century, probably in that case as a popular usage that was unorganized
and unimportant, since it is not referred to in the existing literature.
But of this Aristophanes w