Gradually over time the cult lost popularity, Aphroditus was also being called Hermaphroditus, which originally meant Aphroditus in the form of a herm or "a herm of Aphroditus". These were marble or bronze sculptures with a head or torso above a plain rectangular pillar, a symbol of fertility. In later Greek mythology, Hermaphroditus came to be known as the son of Hermes and Aphrodite.