Hermæa, a festival in Crete, when the masters waited upon the servants. It was also observed at Athens and Babylon. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 14.
Hermæum, a town of Arcadia.——A promontory at the east of Carthage, the most northern point of all Africa, now cape Bon. Livy, bk. 29, ch. 27.—Strabo, bk. 17.
Hermagŏras Æolĭdes, a famous rhetorician, who came to Rome in the age of Augustus.——A philosopher of Amphipolis.——A famous orator and philosopher.
Hermandica, a town of the Vaccæi in Spain. Livy, bk. 21, ch. 5.—Polybius, bk. 3.
Hermandūri, a people of Germany, called also Hermunduri.
Hermanni, a people of Germany.
Hermaphrŏdītus, a son of Venus and Mercury, educated on mount Ida by the Naiades. At the age of 15 he began to travel to gratify his curiosity. When he came to Caria, he bathed himself in a fountain, and Salmacis, the nymph who presided over it, became enamoured of him and attempted to seduce him. Hermaphroditus continued deaf to all entreaties and offers; and Salmacis, endeavouring to obtain by force what was denied by prayers, closely embraced him, and entreated the gods to make them two, but one body. Her prayers were heard, and Salmacis and Hermaphroditus, now two in one body, still preserved the characteristics of both their sexes. Hermaphroditus begged the gods that all who bathed in that fountain might become effeminate. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 4, li. 347.—Hyginus, fable 271.
Hermas, an ancient father of the church, in or near the age of the apostles.
Hermathēna, a statue which represented Mercury and Minerva in the same body. This statue was generally placed in schools where eloquence and philosophy were taught, because these two deities presided over the arts and sciences.
Hermēas, a tyrant of Mysia who revolted from Artaxerxes Ochus, B.C. 350.——A general of Antiochus, &c.