Hermes
So-called "Logios Hermes" (Hermes,Orator). Marble, Roman copy from the late 1st century CE - early 2nd century CE after a Greek original of the 5th century BCE.
Messenger of the gods God of commerce, thieves, travelers, sports, athletes, and border crossings, fish, guide to the Underworld
Symbol	Caduceus, Talaria, Tortoise, Lyre, Rooster, Snake
Consort	Merope, Aphrodite, Dryope, Peitho
Parents	Zeus and Maia
Children	Pan, Hermaphroditus, Tyche, Abderus, Autolycus, and Angelia
Roman equivalent	Mercury

Hermes ( /ˈhɜrmiːz/; Greek : Ἑρμῆς) An Olympian god in Greek religion and mythology, Hermes was the son of Zeus and the Pleiade, Maia, a daughter of the Titan, Atlas. The second youngest of the Olympian gods, he was born before Dionysus.

His symbols include the rooster and the tortoise, his purse or pouch, winged sandals, winged cap, and held in his left hand, the herald's staff, the Greek kerykeion or Latin caduceus.^[1]

Hermes was the herald, or messenger, of the gods to humans, sharing this role with Iris. A patron of boundaries and the travelers who cross them, he was the protector of shepherds and cowherds, thieves,^[2] orators and wit, literature and poets, athletics and sports, weights and measures, invention, and of commerce in general.^[3]

In the Roman adaptation of the Greek pantheon (see interpretatio romana), Hermes was identified with the Roman god Mercury, who, though inherited from the Etruscans, developed many similar characteristics, such as being the patron of commerce.^{[citation needed]}

Etymology[link]

The earliest form of the name Hermes is the Mycenaean Greek e-ma-a₂ , written in Linear B syllabic script.^[4] Most scholars derive "Hermes" from Greek herma ^[5] (a stone, roadside shrine or boundary marker), dedicated to Hermes as a god of travelers and boundaries; the etymology of herma itself is unknown. "Hermes" may be related to Greek hermeneus ("the interpreter"), reflecting Hermes' function as divine messenger.^[6][7][8] Plato offers a Socratic folk-etymology for Hermes' name, deriving it from the divine messenger's reliance on eirein (the power of speech).^[8] Scholarly speculation that "Hermes" derives from a more primitive form meaning "one cairn" is disputed.^[7] The word "hermeneutics", the study and theory of interpretation, is derived from hermeneus. In Greek a lucky find was a hermaion.

Cult and mythology[link]

Hermes with his mother Maia. Detail of the side B of an Attic red-figure belly-amphora, ca. 500 BC.

The origin of Hermes as a deity is uncertain.^{[citation needed]} Some consider him a native god that was worshiped since the Neolithic era,^{[citation needed]} while others suggests that he was an Asian import, perhaps via Cyprus or Cilicia well before the beginning of written records in Greece.^{[citation needed]} What is certain is that his cult was established in Greece in remote regions, likely making him a god of nature, farmers and shepherds. It is also possible that since the beginning he has been a deity with shamanic attributes linked to divination, reconciliation, magic, sacrifices, and initiation and contact with other planes of existence, a role of mediator between the worlds of the visible and invisible.^[9]

Among the functions most commonly linked to him in Greek literature are messenger of the gods, and god of language, speech, metaphors, prudence and circumspection, as well as intrigues and covert reasons, fraud and perjury, wit and ambiguity. Thus he was a patron of speakers, heralds, ambassadors and diplomats, messengers and thieves. He was believed to have invented fire, the lyre, the syrinx, the alphabet, numbers, astronomy, a special form of music, the fighting arts and the gym, the cultivation of olive trees, weights and measures, and various other things.

Due to his constant mobility, he was considered the god of commerce and social intercourse, the wealth brought in business, especially sudden or unexpected enrichment, travel, roads and crossroads, borders and boundary conditions or transient, the changes from the threshold, agreements and contracts, friendship, hospitality, sexual intercourse, games, data, the draw, good luck, the sacrifices and the sacrificial animals, flocks and shepherds and the fertility of land and cattle. In addition to serving as messenger to Zeus, Hermes carried the souls of the dead to Hades, and directed the dreams sent by Zeus to mortals.^[10][11][12]

The Homeric hymn to Hermes invokes him as the one "of many shifts (polytropos), blandly cunning, a robber, a cattle driver, a bringer of dreams, a watcher by night, a thief at the gates, one who was soon to show forth wonderful deeds among the deathless gods."^[13]

As the god of roads he protected travelers that sacrificed to him or crossed his path, and punished those who refused to aid those that lost their way; numerous statues of him were erected on roads, doors and gates.^[14] Hermes also served as a psychopomp, or an escort for the dead to help them find their way to the Underworld, and in this capacity was the only god besides Hades, Persephone, Hecate, and Thanatos who could enter and leave the Underworld without hindrance.^{[citation needed]}

Hermes, as an inventor of fire,^[15] is a parallel of the Titan, Prometheus. In addition to the lyre, Hermes was believed to have invented many types of racing and the sports of wrestling and boxing, and therefore was a patron of athletes.^[16]

According to prominent folklorist Yeleazar Meletinsky, Hermes is a deified trickster.^[17]

Early Greek sources[link]

Kriophoros Hermes (which takes the lamb), late-Roman copy of Greek original from the fifth century BC. Barracco Museum, Rome

The first descriptions of the myth of Hermes date from the Archaic period of Ancient Greece. One of the most important myths appears in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, dating to the seventh or sixth centuries BC and deals with his birth and early exploits. The hymn opens with a salutation to the god, calling him the lord of Mount Kyllini and Arcadia, the flocks of sheep, and messenger of the gods. It also names him as the son of Zeus, the result of his adulterous love with Maia, a nymph daughter of Atlas and Pleione.

Living in a cave, hidden from human eyes and particularly the notoriously stormy and jealous Hera, Zeus' wife and sister, Maia gave birth to "this ingenious child, this clever deception planner, tracker and capturer of cattle, a shepherd of dreams, this citizen of the night lurking in doorways." The infant Hermes was precocious. His first day he invented the lyre. By nightfall, he had rustled the immortal cattle of Apollo. For the first sacrifice, the taboos surrounding the sacred kine of Apollo had to be transgressed, and the trickster god of boundaries was the one to do it. Hermes drove the cattle back to Greece and hid them, walking them backwards so that their tracks seemed to be going in the wrong direction.

When Apollo accused Hermes, Maia said that it could not be him because he was with her the whole night. However, Zeus entered the argument and said that Hermes did steal the cattle and they should be returned. While arguing with Apollo, Hermes began to play his lyre. The instrument enchanted Apollo and he agreed to let Hermes keep the cattle in exchange for the lyre. In return, Hermes asked for Apollo's shepherd's crook to make it a fair trade.^{[citation needed]}

Homer and Hesiod portrayed Hermes as the author of skilled or deceptive acts, and also as a benefactor of mortals. In the Iliad he was called "the bringer of good luck," "guide and guardian" and "excellent in all the tricks." He was a divine ally of the Greeks against the Trojans. However, he did protect Priam when he went to the Greek camp to retrieve the body of his son Hector. When Priam got it, Hermes took them back to Troy.^[18]

He also rescued Ares from a brazen vessel where he had been imprisoned by Otus and Ephialtes. In the Odyssey he helped his great-grand son, the protagonist, Odysseus, informing him about the fate of his companions, who were turned into animals by the power of Circe, and instructed him to protect himself by chewing a magic herb; he also told Calipso Zeus' order for her to free the same hero from her island to continue his journey back home. When Odysseus killed the suitors of his wife, Hermes lead their souls to Hades.^[19] In The Works and Days, when Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create Pandora to disgrace humanity by punishing the act of Prometheus giving fire to man, every god gave her a gift, and Hermes’ gift was lies and seductive words, and a dubious character. Then he was instructed to take her as wife to Epimetheus.^[20]

Many other myths feature Hermes. Aeschylus wrote that Hermes helped Orestes kill Clytemnestra under a false identity and other stratagems,^[2] and also said that he was the god of searches, and those who seek things lost or stolen.^[21] Sophocles wrote that Odysseus invoked him when he needed to convince Philoctetes to join the Trojan War on the side of the Greeks, and Euripides did appear to help in spy Dolon Greek navy.^[2]

Aesop, who allegedly received his literary talents from Hermes, featured him in several of his fables, as ruler of the gate of prophetic dreams, as the god of athletes, of edible roots, and of hospitality. He also said that Hermes had assigned each person his share of intelligence.^[22] Pindar and Aristophanes also document his recent association with the gym, which did not exist at the time of Homer.^[23]

Hellenistic Greek sources[link]

Several writers of the Hellenistic period expanded the list of Hermes’ achievements. Callimachus said he disguised himself as a cyclops to scare the Oceanides and was disobedient to his mother.^[24] One of the Orphic Hymns Khthonios is dedicated to Hermes, indicating that he was also a god of the underworld. Aeschylus had called him by this epithet several times.^[25] Another is the Orphic Hymn to Hermes, where his association with the athletic games held in tone is mystic.^[26]

Phlegon of Tralles said he was invoked to ward off ghosts,^[27] and Pseudo-Apollodorus reported several events involving Hermes. He participated in the Gigantomachy in defense of Olympus; was given the task of bringing baby Dionysus to be cared for by Ino and Athamas and later by nymphs of Asia, followed Hera, Athena and Aphrodite in a beauty contest; favored the young Hercules by giving him a sword when he finished his education and lent his sandals to Perseus.^[28] The Thracian princes identified him with their god Zalmoxis, considering his ancestor.^[29]

Throughout the Hellenistic period, Hermes acquired a particularly important status as an image of Logos and interpreter of the divine will, and went from being a mere expressive character to acting creatively, taking on roles of demiurge, a change which is mainly attributed to the Stoics, Gnostics and Neoplatonists. Apparently, this time began the merger of Hermes with the Egyptian god Thoth, who flourished as the figure of Hermes Trismegistus.^{[citation needed]}

Epithets of Hermes[link]

Kriophoros[link]

Hermes Kriophoros, Hermes, lamb-bearer appears both early and later. His ram connection appears in the earliest Mycenaean Linear B inscription bearing his name. Pausanias reports the lamb-carrying rites still being performed at the Boeotian city of Tanagra in the late 2nd century CE.^{[citation needed]}

Argeiphontes[link]

Hermes' epithet Argeiphontes, ΑργειΦοντης ^[30](the Argos-killer ^[31]) (Latin Argicida), or Argus-slayer,^[32][33] recalls his slaying of the hundred eyed giant Argus Panoptes, who was watching over the heifer-nymph Io in the sanctuary of Queen Hera herself in Argos. Hermes placed a charm on Argus's eyes with the caduceus to cause the giant to sleep, after this he slew the giant.^[5] Argus' eyes were then put into the tail of the peacock, symbol of the goddess Hera.

Logios[link]

Hermes o Logios as the name (and the god as the emblem) of a Greek literary magazine of the 18th and 19th c. which had a major role in Modern Greek Enlightenment.

The epithet of Logios represents him as the god of eloquence, in the act of orating. Together with Athena, he was the standard divine representation of speech and eloquence in classical Greece. The Homeric Hymn to Hermes (probably 6th century BCE) describes the guilty infant Hermes making a successful speech from the cradle to defend himself against the charge of cattle theft.

In the 5th century BCE Proclus' commentary on Plato's Republic describes Hermes as the god of persuasion. Other Neoplatonists viewed Hermes Logios more mystically as origin of a "Hermaic chain" of light and radiance emanating from the divine intellect (nous). This epithet also produced a sculptural type.^{[citation needed]}

Other[link]

Other epithets included:

• Agoraeus, of the agora ^[34]
• Acacesius, of Acacus^{[citation needed]}
• Charidotes, giver of charm^{[citation needed]}
• Cyllenius, born on Mount Kyllini
• Diactoros, the messenger,^[35] is in fact only seen in this role, for Zeus, from within the pages of the Odyssey (Brown 1990).^[2]

... Oh mighty messenger of the gods of the upper and lower worlds ... - Aeschylus ^[36]

He is mentioned explicitly as such, at least in sources of classical writings, of Euripides Electra and Iphigenia in Aulis ^[37] and in Epictetus Discourses. ^[38] According to Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine (1849) the chief office of the God was as messenger.^[30]

• Dolios, the schemer^{[citation needed]}
• Enagonios, lord of contests^{[citation needed]}
• Enodios, on the road^{[citation needed]}
• Epimelios, guardian of flocks^[32]
• Eriounios, luck bringer^{[citation needed]}
• Hodios patron of travelers and wayfarers^[32]
• Oneiropompus, conductor of dreams^[32]
• Polygius^{[citation needed]}
• Psychopompos, conveyor of souls^[35]
• Trismegistus, later in Hermeticism

Worship and cult[link]

Archaic Greek herm, presumably of Hermes, unusual in that the penis has survived.

One of the oldest places of worship for Hermes was Mount Cilene in Arcadia, where the myth says that he was born. Tradition says that his first temple was built by Lycaon. From there the cult would have been taken to Athens, and them radiate to the whole of Greece, according to Smith, and his temples and statues became extremely numerous.^[10] Lucian of Samosata said he saw the temples of Hermes everywhere.^[39]

In many places, his temple was consecrated in conjunction with Aphrodite, as in Attica, Arcadia, Crete, Samos and in Magna Graecia. Several ex-votos found in his temples revealed his role as initiator of young adulthood, among them soldiers and hunters, since war and certain forms of hunting were seen as ceremonial initiatory ordeals. This function of Hermes explains why some images in temples and other vessels show him as a teenager. As a patron of the gym and fighting, Hermes had statues in gyms and he was also worshiped in the sanctuary of the Twelve Gods in Olympia, where Greeks celebrated the Olympic Games. His statue was held there on an altar dedicated to him and Apollo together.^[40]

Hermes’ feast was the special Hermaea was celebrated with sacrifices to the god and with athletics and gymnastics, possibly having been established in the sixth century BC, but no documentation on the festival before the fourth century BC survives. However, Plato said that Socrates attended a Hermaea. Of all the festivals involving Greek games, these were the most like initiations because participation in them was restricted to young boys and excluded adults.^[41] Having an initiatory character, the winners of Hermaea returned to their villages as heroes and adults who had acquired honor. The Hermaea of Pellene became particularly busy, attracting competitors from distant regions. His prize was a thick mantle.^{[citation needed]}

Symbols of Hermes were the palm tree, turtle, rooster, goat, the number four, several kinds of fish, incense. Sacrifices involved honey, cakes, pigs, goats, and lambs. In the sanctuary of Hermes Promakhos in Tanagra is a strawberry tree under which it was believed he had created,^[42] and in the hills Phene ran three sources that were sacred to him, because he believed that there had been bathed at birth. A statue of Hermes guarded the entrance to the temple of Apollo at Thebes, and there were some at Tanagra in which he appeared with a lamb (Kriophoros), because a legend said that he departed from the plague of the city carrying a lamb around the walls.

Homer said the latest libations of a banquet were dedicated to Hermes, and Pausanias, who in his time had their statues in all gyms, following an ancient custom which was now being copied by the barbarians. In many cities there was a statue of him in the marketplaces. One form of worship was oracular, as established in the Pharaoh. In the market town once stood a statue of Hermes Agoraios, of which he had a heart carved in stone, with two oil lamps fastened with leather straps.^{[citation needed]}

Hermai/Herms[link]

In Ancient Greece, Hermes was a phallic god of boundaries. His name, in the form herma, was applied to a wayside marker pile of stones; each traveller added a stone to the pile. In the 6th century BCE, Hipparchos, the son of Pisistratus, replaced the cairns that marked the midway point between each village deme at the central agora of Athens with a square or rectangular pillar of stone or bronze topped by a bust of Hermes with a beard. An erect phallus rose from the base. In the more primitive Mount Kyllini or Cyllenian herms, the standing stone or wooden pillar was simply a carved phallus. In Athens, herms were placed outside houses for good luck. "That a monument of this kind could be transformed into an Olympian god is astounding," Walter Burkert remarked.^[43]

In 415 BCE, when the Athenian fleet was about to set sail for Syracuse during the Peloponnesian War, all of the Athenian hermai were vandalized one night. The Athenians at the time believed it was the work of saboteurs, either from Syracuse or from the anti-war faction within Athens itself. Socrates' pupil Alcibiades was suspected of involvement, and Socrates indirectly paid for the impiety with his life.^[44]

From these origins, hermai moved into the repertory of Classical architecture.^{[citation needed]}

Hermes' offspring[link]

Pan[link]

The satyr-like Greek god of nature, shepherds and flocks, Pan, could possibly be the son of Hermes through the nymph Dryope.^[45] In the Homeric Hymn to Pan, Pan's mother fled in fright from her newborn son's goat-like appearance.^{[citation needed]}

Hermaphroditus[link]

Hermaphroditus was an immortal son of Hermes through Aphrodite. The love-struck nymph Salmacis importuned him and was rebuffed. Undeterred, she embraced him passionately in her pool, the gods granted her wish that they should never be separated, merging them together into an androgynous being.

Priapus[link]

Depending on the sources consulted, the god Priapus could be understood as a son of Hermes.^[46]

Tyche[link]

The goddess of prosperity, Tyche (Greek, Τύχη) or Fortuna, was sometimes said to be the daughter of Hermes and Aphrodite.^{[citation needed]}

Abderus[link]

Abderus was devoured by the Mares of Diomedes. He had gone to the Mares with his friend Heracles.^{[citation needed]}

Autolycus[link]

Autolycus, the Prince of Thieves, was a son of Hermes and Chione (mortal) and grandfather of Odysseus.^[47][48]

Extended list of Hermes' lovers and children[link]

Genealogy of the Olympians in Greek mythology[link]

Art and iconography[link]

Archaic bearded Hermes from a herm, early 5th century BC.

Hermes Fastening his Sandal, early Imperial Roman marble copy of a Lysippan bronze (Louvre Museum)

The image of Hermes evolved and varied according to Greek art and culture. During Archaic Greece he was usually depicted as a mature man, bearded, dressed as a traveler, herald, or pastor. During Classical and Hellenistic Greece he is usually depicted young and nude, with athleticism, as befits the god of speech and of the gymnastics, or a robe, a formula is set predominantly through the centuries. When represented as Logios (speaker), his attitude is consistent with the attribute. Phidias left a statue of a famous Hermes Logios and Praxiteles another, also well known, showing him with Dionysus baby arms. At all times, however, through the Hellenistic periods, Roman, and throughout Western history into the present day, several of his characteristic objects are present as identification, but not always all together.^[10][61]

Among these objects is a wide-brimmed hat, the Petasos, widely used by rural people of antiquity to protect themselves from the sun, and that in later times was adorned with a pair of small wings, sometimes the hat is not present, but may then have wings rising from the hair. Another object is the Porta a stick, called rhabdomyolysis (stick) or skeptron (scepter), which is referred to as a magic wand. Some early sources say that this was the bat he received from Apollo, but others question the merits of this claim. It seems that there may have been two canes, with time in a cast, one of a shepherd's staff, as stated in the Homeric Hymn, and the other a magic wand, according to some authors. His bat also came to be called kerykeion, the caduceus, in later times. Early depictions of the staff it show it as a baton stick topped by a golden way that resembled the number eight, though sometimes with its top truncated and open. Later the staff had two intertwined snakes and sometimes it was crowned with a pair of wings and a ball, but the old form remained in use even when Hermes was associated with Mercury by the Romans.^[10][62]

Hyginus explained the presence of snakes, saying that Hermes was traveling in Arcadia when he saw two snakes intertwined in battle. He put the caduceus between them and parted, and so said his staff would bring peace.^[63] The caduceus, historically, there appeared with Hermes, and is documented among the Babylonians from about 3,500 BC. The two snakes coiled around a stick was a symbol of the god Ningishzida, which served as a mediator between humans and the mother goddess Ishtar or the supreme Ningirsu. In Greece itself the other gods have been depicted holding a caduceus, but it was mainly associated with Hermes. It was said to have the power to make people fall asleep or wake up, and also made peace between litigants, and is a visible sign of his authority, being used as a sceptre.^[10]

He was represented in doorways, possibly as an amulet of good fortune, or as a symbol of purification. The caduceus is not to be confused with the Rod of Asclepius, the patron of medicine and son of Apollo, which bears only one snake. The rod of Asclepius was adopted by most Western doctors as a badge of their profession, but in several medical organizations of the United States, the caduceus took its place since the eighteenth century, although this use is declining. After the Renaissance the caduceus also appeared in the heraldic crests of several, and currently is a symbol of commerce.^[10]

His sandals, called pédila by the Greeks and talaria by the Romans were made of palm and myrtle branches, but were described as beautiful, golden and immortal, made a sublime art, able to take the roads with the speed of wind. Originally they had no wings, but late in the artistic representations, they are depicted. In certain images, the wings spring directly from the ankles. He has also been depicted with a purse or a bag in his hands, and wearing a robe or cloak, which had the power to confer invisibility. His weapon was a sword of gold, which killed Argos; lent to Perseus to kill Medusa.^[10]

Hermes in popular culture[link]

See Greek mythology in popular culture: Hermes

Notes[link]