Abstract

Like most passages in theMetamorphoses, the story of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus benefits greatly from a clear understanding of the traditions with which and against which it is working—such an understanding is not manifest in many recent discussions of the story. As a result, some scholars have been unable to recognize its humour, seeing instead only ‘ein interpretatorisches Problem’. In this paper I hope to clarify the background to this episode, and then examine the story in the light of this clarification. I close by focusing on some specific problems of interpretation raised by recent scholarship.