Agdistis

Agdistis (Ancient Greek Ἄγδιστις) is a demonic hermaphrodite originally from the Phrygian myth of Attis.

According to Pausanias, Zeus dropped his seed on the earth in his sleep, from which the hermaphroditic Agdistis was born. But the gods, out of fear, cut off Agdistes' male sexual organ and buried it. From it grew an almond tree from whose fruit Nana a daughter of the river god Sangarios took. She put an almond in her bosom, where it immediately disappeared. Soon after, she realized that she was pregnant. After birth, the boy was abandoned, but did not perish, as a goat took care of him. The boy, Attis, was beautiful, so Agdistis fell in love with him. When Attis was to marry the daughter of the king of Pessinus, the jealous Agdistis appeared at the wedding and caused Attis and the bride's father to go mad, so that they emasculated themselves. Later, Agdistis repented of the act and obtained from Zeus that the body of Attis should never decompose. Pausanias also mentions a mountain Agdistis near Pessinus, under which Attis is said to be buried.

Arnobius, referring to a Timotheos, tells a largely similar story: In a mountain called Agdus near Pessinus, he says, Cybele was born from a rock, which Zeus tried in vain to attend. So it happened that Zeus' seed flowed onto a rock, giving rise to Agdistis, a terrible hermaphrodite who was eventually overcome by Dionysus. He turned the water of a spring from which Agdistis used to drink after the hunt into wine, so that Agdistis fell asleep intoxicated by it. Dionysus tied the manhood of Agdistis to a tree. When this/these then jumped up from sleep, he/they emasculated themselves. The blood of the torn limb became a pomegranate tree, the fruit of which, as above, impregnated Nana (mythology), a daughter of Sangario. The abandoned boy was found and raised with honey and "buck's milk" (lac hirquinum), for which reason the boy was called Attis, since the buck was called Attagus among the Phrygians.

When Attis grew up, Agdistis and Kybele quarreled over the possession of the beautiful youth, but he was to marry Ia, the daughter of King Midas of Pessinus. Because of Agdistis' appearance Attis went mad, emasculated himself and died under a spruce tree. From his limb, buried by Kybele, grew violets, with which the spruce was garlanded. Ia, the bride of Attis, also killed herself. From her blood grew violets, which were also buried by Kybele, and from which grew an almond tree. At the request of Agdistis, Zeus granted that the body of Attis should not decay, that his hair should always grow, and his little finger should always stir.