Hermes Ingenui (Vatican Museums), Roman copy of the second century BC after a Greek original of the 5th century BC. Hermes has akerykeion (caduceus),kithara,petasos (round hat) and a traveler's cloak.
In myth, Hermes functions as theemissary and messenger of the gods,[6] and is often presented as the son ofZeus andMaia, thePleiad. He is regarded as "the divine trickster",[7] about which theHomeric Hymn to Hermes offers the most well-known account.[8]
InRoman mythology andreligion many of Hermes's characteristics belong toMercury,[11] a name derived from the Latinmerx, meaning "merchandise", and the origin of the words "merchant" and "commerce."[3]: 178
The earliest form of the nameHermes (Ἑρμῆς) is theMycenaean Greek *hermāhās,[12] written𐀁𐀔𐁀e-ma-a2 (e-ma-ha) in theLinear B syllabic script.[13] Other forms of the name of Hermes areHermeias (Ἑρμείας),Hermaōn (Ἑρμάων),Hermān (Ἑρμᾱν),Hermaios (Ἓρμαιος), andHermaỵos (Ἓρμαιυος).[14] Most scholars deriveHermes from Greekἕρμα (herma),[15] 'stone heap'.[3]: 177 Hermax, ('heap of stones'),[16]hermaīon, ('gift of Hermes'),[17]hermaīos hill were holy to Hermes.[14]
Theetymology ofἕρμα itself is unknown, but is probably not aProto-Indo-European word.[12]R. S. P. Beekes rejects the connection withherma and suggests aPre-Greek origin.[12] However, the stone etymology is also linked to Indo-European*ser- ('to bind, put together'). Scholarly speculation thatHermes derives from a more primitive form meaning 'onecairn' is disputed.[18] Other scholars have suggested that Hermes may be a cognate of the VedicSarama.[19][20]
It is likely that Hermes is a pre-Hellenic god, though the exact origins of his worship, and its original nature, remain unclear.Frothingham thought the god to have existed as a Mesopotamian snake-god, similar or identical toNingishzida, a god who served as mediator between humans and the divine, especiallyIshtar, and who was depicted in art as acaduceus.[21][22] Angelo (1997) thinks Hermes to be based on theThoth archetype.[23] The absorbing ("combining") of the attributes of Hermes to Thoth developed after the time of Homer amongst Greeks and Romans; Herodotus was the first to identify the Greek god with the Egyptian (Hermopolis) (Plutarch and Diodorus also did so), although Plato thought the gods were dissimilar (Friedlander 1992).[24][25]
His cult was established in Greece in remote regions, likely making him originally a god of nature, farmers, and shepherds. It is also possible that since the beginning he has been a deity withshamanic attributes linked todivination,reconciliation,magic,sacrifices, andinitiation and contact with other planes of existence, a role of mediator between the worlds of the visible and invisible.[26] According to a theory that has received considerable scholarly acceptance, Hermes originated as a form of the godPan, who has been identified as a reflex of theProto-Indo-European pastoral god*Péh2usōn,[27][28] in his aspect as the god ofboundary markers. The PIE root*peh2 'protect' also shows up in Latinpastor 'shepherd' (whence the Englishpastoral). A zero grade of the full PIE form (*ph2usōn) yields the name of the SanskritpsychopompPushan, who, like Pan, is associated with goats.[29] Later, the epithet supplanted the original name itself and Hermes took over the role of psychopomp and as god of messengers, travelers, and boundaries, which had originally belonged to Pan, while Pan himself continued to be venerated by his original name in his more rustic aspect as the god of the wild in the relatively isolated mountainous region ofArcadia. In later myths, after the cult of Pan was reintroduced to Attica, Pan was said to be Hermes's son.[28][30]
Archaic bearded Hermes from a herm, early 5th century BC
The image of Hermes evolved and varied along with Greek art and culture. InArchaic Greece he was usually depicted as a matured and bearded man, who dressed as a traveler, herald and shepherd. This image remained common on the Hermai, which served as boundary markers, roadside markers, and grave markers, as well as votive offerings.
InClassical andHellenistic Greece, Hermes was usually depicted as a young, athletic man lacking a beard. When represented as Logios (Greek: Λόγιος, speaker), his attitude is consistent with the attribute.Hermes Ludovisi byPhidias orMyron possibly represent beardless Hermes Logios[31].Praxiteles showed him with the babyDionysus in his arms.
Hermes's winged sandals are evident in thisGetty Villa copy of a Roman bronze recovered from theVilla of the Papyri, Naples
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.[32][33][better source needed] 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 this hat is not present, and may have been replaced with wings rising from the hair.
Statue of Hermes wearing thepetasos and a voyager's cloak, and carrying thecaduceus and a purse; Roman copy after a Greek original (Vatican Museums)
Another object is thecaduceus, a staff with two intertwined snakes, sometimes crowned with a pair of wings and a sphere.[34] The caduceus, historically, appeared with Hermes, and is documented among the Babylonians from about 3500 BC. Two snakes coiled around a staff was also a symbol of the godNingishzida, who, like Hermes, served as a mediator between humans and the divine (specifically, the goddessIshtar or the supremeNingirsu). In Greece, 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 betweenlitigants, and is a visible sign of his authority, being used as a sceptre.[32][better source needed] A similar-appearing but distinct symbol is theRod of Asclepius, associated with the patron of medicine and son ofApollo,Asclepius, which bears only one snake. TheRod of Asclepius, occasionally conflated with the caduceus in modern times, is used by most Western physicians as a badge of their profession. After the Renaissance, the caduceus also appeared in the heraldic crests of several, and currently is a symbol of commerce.[32][better source needed]
Hermes's sandals, calledpédila by the Greeks andtalaria by the Romans, were made of palm and myrtle branches but were described as beautiful, golden and immortal, made by 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. Hermes has also been depicted with a purse or a bag in his hands, wearing a robe or cloak, which had the power to confer invisibility. His weapon was aharpe, which killedArgos; it was also lent to Perseus to killMedusa andCetus.[32]
Hermes began as a god with strong chthonic, or underworld, associations. He was apsychopomp, leader of souls along the road between "the Under and the Upper world". This function gradually expanded to encompass roads in general, and from there to boundaries, travelers, sailors, commerce,[22] and travel itself.[35] Hermes also in time became a figure associated with literary creation, rhetoric and story-telling.[36]
Beginning with the earliest records of his worship, Hermes has been understood as achthonic deity (heavily associated with the earth or underworld).[22] As a chthonic deity, the worship of Hermes also included an aspect relating tofertility, with thephallus being included among his major symbols. The inclusion of phallic imagery associated with Hermes and placed, in the form ofherma, at the entrances to households may reflect a belief in ancient times that Hermes was a symbol of the household's fertility, specifically the potency of the male head of the household in producing children.[22]
Charon with punt pole standing in his boat, receiving Hermes psychopompos who leads a deceased woman.Thanatos Painter, ca. 430 BC
The association between Hermes and the underworld is related to his function as a god of boundaries (the boundary between life and death), but he is considered apsychopomp, a deity who helps guide souls of the deceased to the afterlife, and his image was commonly depicted on gravestones in classical Greece.[22]
In Ancient Greece, Hermes was a phallic god of boundaries. His name, in the formherma, was applied to a wayside marker pile of stones, and each traveler added a stone to the pile. In the 6th century BC,Hipparchus, the son ofPisistratus, replaced thecairns that marked the midway point between each villagedeme at the centralagora of Athens with a square or rectangular pillar of stone or bronze topped by a bust of a bearded Hermes. An erect phallus rose from the base. In the more primitiveMount Kyllini or Cyllenian herms, the standing stone or wooden pillar was simply a carved phallus. "That a monument of this kind could be transformed into anOlympian god is astounding,"Walter Burkert remarked.[37] In Athens, herms were placed outside houses, both as a form of protection for the home, a symbol of male fertility, and as a link between the household and its gods with the gods of the wider community.[22]
In 415 BC, on the night when the Athenian fleet was about to set sail forSyracuse during thePeloponnesian War, all of the Athenian hermai were vandalized. 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's pupilAlcibiades was suspected of involvement, and one of the charges eventually made against Socrates, which led to his execution 16 years later, was that he had either corrupted Alcibiades or failed to guide him away from his moral corruption.[38]
In association with his role as a psychopomp and god who is able to cross boundaries easily, Hermes is predominantly worshipped as a messenger, and often described as the messenger of the gods (since he can convey messages between the divine realms, the underworld, and the world of mortals).[39][better source needed] As a messenger and divine herald, he wears winged sandals (or, in Roman art influenced by Etruscan depictions ofTurms, a winged cap).[40]
Kriophoros Hermes (which takes the lamb), late-Roman copy of Greek original from the 5th century BC.Barracco Museum, Rome
Hermes was known as the patron god of flocks, herds, and shepherds, an attribute possibly tied to his early origin as an aspect of Pan. InBoeotia, Hermes was worshiped for saving the town from a plague by carrying a ram or calf around the city walls. A yearly festival commemorated this event, during which a lamb would be carried around the city by "the most handsome boy" and then sacrificed to purify and protect the city from disease, drought, and famine. Numerous depictions of Hermes as a shepherd god carrying a lamb on his shoulders (Hermes kriophoros) have been found throughout the Mediterranean world, and it is possible that the iconography of Hermes as "The Good Shepherd" had an influence on early Christianity, specifically in the description of Christ as "the Good Shepherd" in the Gospel of John.[22][41]
The earliest written record of Hermes comes fromLinear B inscriptions from Pylos, Thebes, and Knossos dating to the Bronze AgeMycenaean period. Here, Hermes's name is rendered ase-ma-a (Ἑρμάhας). This name is always recorded alongside those of several goddesses, including Potnija, Posidaeja, Diwja, Hera, Pere, and Ipemedeja, indicating that his worship was strongly connected to theirs. This is a pattern that would continue in later periods, as worship of Hermes almost always took place within temples and sanctuaries primarily dedicated to goddesses, including Hera, Demeter, Hecate, and Despoina.[22]
In literary works ofArchaic Greece, Hermes is depicted both as a protector and a trickster. InHomer'sIliad, Hermes is called "the bringer of good luck", "guide and guardian", and "excellent in all the tricks".[42] InHesiod'sWorks and Days, Hermes is depicted givingPandora the gifts of lies, seductive words, and a dubious character.[43]
The earliest known theological or spiritual documents concerning Hermes are found in theHomeric Hymns composedc. the 7th century BC. InHomeric Hymn 4 to Hermes describes the god's birth and his theft ofApollo's sacred cattle. In this hymn, Hermes is invoked as a god "of many shifts" (polytropos), associated with cunning and thievery, but also a bringer of dreams and a night guardian.[44] He is said to have invented the chelyslyre,[45] as well as racing and the sport ofwrestling.[46]
The cult of Hermes flourished inAttica, and many scholars writing before the discovery of the Linear B evidence considered Hermes to be a uniquely Athenian god. This region had numerousHermai, or pillar-like icons, dedicated to the god marking boundaries, crossroads, and entryways. These were initially stone piles, later pillars made of wood, stone, or bronze, with carved images of Hermes, a phallus, or both.[22] In the context of these herms, by theClassical period Hermes had come to be worshiped as the patron god of travelers and sailors.[22] By the 5th century BC, Hermai were also in common use as grave monuments, emphasizing Hermes's role as a chthonic deity and psychopomp.[22] This was probably his original function, and he may have been a late inclusion in the Olympic pantheon; Hermes is described as the "youngest" Olympian, and some myths, including his theft of Apollo's cows, describe his initial coming into contact with celestial deities. Hermes therefore came to be worshiped as a mediator between celestial and chthonic realms, as well as the one who facilitates interactions between mortals and the divine, often being depicted on libation vessels.[22]
Due to his mobility and his liminal nature, mediating between opposites (such as merchant/customer[22]), he was considered the god ofcommerce 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.[32][47][48]
In Athens, Hermes Eion came to represent the Athenian naval superiority in their defeat of the Persians, under the command of Cimon, in 475 BC. In this context, Hermes became a god associated with the Athenian empire and its expansion, and of democracy itself, as well as all of those closely associated with it, from the sailors in the navy, to the merchants who drove the economy.[22] A section of the agora in Athens became known as the Hermai, because it was filled with a large number of herms, placed there as votive offerings by merchants and others who wished to commemorate a personal success in commerce or other public affair. The Hermai was probably destroyed in theSiege of Athens and Piraeus (87–86 BC).[22]
There was a popular, now lost play by the tragedianAstydamas with Hermes as the primary subject.
As Greek culture and influence spread following the conquests ofAlexander the Great, a period ofsyncretism orinterpretatio graeca saw many traditional Greek deities identified with foreign counterparts. InPtolemaic Egypt, for example, the Egyptian godThoth was identified by Greek speakers as the Egyptian form of Hermes. The two gods were worshiped as one at the Temple of Thoth in Khemenu, a city which became known in Greek asHermopolis.[49] This led to Hermes gaining the attributes of a god of translation and interpretation, or more generally, a god of knowledge and learning.[22] This is illustrated by a 3rd-century BC example of a letter sent by the priest Petosiris to King Nechopso, probably written in Alexandria c. 150 BC, stating that Hermes is the teacher of all secret wisdoms, which are accessible by the experience of religious ecstasy.[50][51]
An epithet of Thoth found in the temple atEsna, "Thoth the great, the great, the great",[52] became applied to Hermes beginning in at least 172 BC. This lent Hermes one of his most famous later titles,Hermes Trismegistus (Ἑρμῆς ὁ Τρισμέγιστος), 'thrice-greatest Hermes'.[53] The figure of Hermes Trismegistus would later absorb a variety of other esoteric wisdom traditions and become a major component ofHermeticism,alchemy, and related traditions.[54]
As early as the 4th century BC, Romans had adopted Hermes into their own religion, combining his attributes and worship with the earlier Etruscan god Turms under the nameMercury. According to St. Augustin, the Latin name "Mercury" may be a title derived from "medio currens", in reference to Hermes's role as a mediator and messenger who moves between worlds.[22] Mercury became one of the most popular Roman gods, as attested by the numerous shrines and depictions in artwork found inPompeii.[55] In art, the Roman Mercury continued the style of depictions found in earlier representations of both Hermes and Turms, a young, beardless god with winged shoes or hat, carrying the caduceus. His role as a god of boundaries, a messenger, and a psychopomp also remained unchanged following his adoption into the Roman religion (these attributes were also similar to those in the Etruscan's worship of Turms).[56]
The Romans identified the Germanic godOdin with Mercury, and there is evidence that Germanic peoples who had contact with Roman culture also accepted this identification. Odin and Mercury/Hermes share several attributes in common. For example, both are depicted carrying a staff and wearing a wide-brimmed hat, and both are travelers or wanderers. However, the reasons for this interpretation appear to go beyond superficial similarities: Both gods are connected to the dead (Mercury as psychopomp and Odin as lord of the dead inValhalla), both were connected to eloquent speech, and both were associated with secret knowledge. The identification of Odin as Mercury was probably also influenced by a previous association of a more Odin-like Celtic god as the "Celtic Mercurius".[57]
A further Roman Imperial-era syncretism came in the form ofHermanubis, the result of the identification of Hermes with the Egyptian god of the dead,Anubis. Hermes and Anubis were both psychopomps the primary attribute leading to their conflation as the same god. Hermanubis depicted with a human body and a jackal head, holding the caduceus. In addition to his function of guiding souls to the afterlife, Hermanubis represented the Egyptian priesthood the investigation of truth.[58][59]
Beginning around the turn of the 1st century AD, a process began by which, in certain traditions Hermes becameeuhemerised – that is, interpreted as a historical, mortal figure who had become divine or elevated to godlike status in legend. Numerous books of wisdom and magic (including astrology, theosophy, and alchemy) were attributed to this "historical" Hermes, usually identified in his Alexandrian form of Hermes Trismegistus. As a collection, these works are referred to as theHermetica.[60]
Though worship of Hermes had been almost fully suppressed in the Roman Empire following theChristian persecution of paganism under Theodosius I in the 4th century AD, Hermes continued to be recognized as a mystical or prophetic figure, though a mortal one, byChristian scholars. Earlymedieval Christians such asAugustine believed that a euhemerised Hermes Trismegistus had been an ancient pagan prophet who predicted the emergence of Christianity in his writings.[61][62] Some Christian philosophers in the medieval and Renaissance periods believed in the existence of a "prisca theologia", a single thread of true theology that could be found uniting all religions.[63][64] Christian philosophers used Hermetic writings and other ancient philosophical literature to support their belief in theprisca theologia, arguing that Hermes Trismegistus was a contemporary of Moses,[65] or that he was the third in a line of important prophets afterEnoch and Noah.[66][67]
The 10th-centurySuda attempted to further Christianize the figure of Hermes, claiming that "He was called Trismegistus on account of his praise of the trinity, saying there is one divine nature in the trinity."[68]
There are only three temples known to have been specifically dedicated to Hermes during the Classical Greek period, all of them inArcadia. Though there are a few references in ancient literature to "numerous" temples of Hermes,[32][69] this may be poetic license describing the ubiquitous herms, or other, smaller shrines to Hermes located in the temples of other deities.[22] One of the oldest places of worship for Hermes wasMount Cyllene in Arcadia, where some myths say he was born. Tradition holds that his first temple was built byLycaon. From there, the Hermes cult would have been taken to Athens, from which it radiated to the whole of Greece.[32] In the Roman period, additional temples to Hermes (Mercury) were constructed across the Empire, including several in modern-day Tunisia. Mercury's temple in Rome was situated in theCircus Maximus, between theAventine andPalatine hills, and was built in 495 BC.[70]
In most places, temples wereconsecrated to Hermes 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 thegym andfighting, Hermes had statues in gyms and he was also worshiped in the sanctuary of the Twelve Gods in Olympia where Greeks celebrated theOlympic Games. His statue was held there on an altar dedicated to him and Apollo together.[71]A temple within theAventine was consecrated in 495 BC.[72][73]
Pausanias wrote that during his time, atMegalopolis people could see the ruins of the temple of Hermes Acacesius.[74]In addition, the Tricrena (Τρίκρηνα, meaning Three Springs) mountains atPheneus were sacred to Hermes, because three springs were there and according to the legend, Hermes was washed in them, after birth, by the nymphs of the mountain.[75]Furthermore, atPharae there was a water sacred to Hermes. The name of the spring was Hermes's stream and the fish in it were not caught, being considered sacred to the god.[76]
Sacrifices to Hermes involved honey, cakes, pigs, goats, and lambs. In the city ofTanagra, it was believed that Hermes had been nursed under a wildstrawberry tree, the remains of which were held there in the shrine of HermesPromachus,[77] and in the hills Phene ran three waterways that were sacred to him, because he was believed to have been bathed there at birth.
Hermes's feast was theHermaia, which was celebrated with sacrifices to the god and with athletics and gymnastics, possibly having been established in the 6th century BC, but no documentation on the festival before the 4th century BC survives. However, Plato said that Socrates attended a Hermaea. Of all the festivals involving Greek games, these were the most likeinitiations because participation in them was restricted to young boys and excluded adults.[78]
In Boeotia there was a fest atTanagra, and two temples. The first of Hermeskriophoros (ram-bearer) who was related to the festival and the second of Hermespromachos (champion)[79] AtCoroneia there was a sanctuary of Hermesepimelios(keeper of the flocks)[80] and atCorseia a grove with a statue of Hermes.[81] In Attica Hermes was worshiped together with other gods, especially with the nymphs. Inscriptions from the islands indicate that there were festivals of Hermes atChios andCrete, where he had the epithetdromios (of the race-course).[82] InCorinth he had a temple and two bronze statues[83] and atPherai an oracular shrine and a spring of Hermesagoraios (of the market)[84] Hermes was specially worshiped atPheneos where he had a temple and the games "Hermaia" were celebrated.[85]
AtPellene there was an statue of Hermesdolios and an old established race.[86] AtKyllene the statue of Hermes was a phallos.[87] NearTegea there was the temple of Hermes,Aepytus. AtMegalopolis there was a temple of Hermes Akakesios, and a second near a stadium for athletic games.[88] The myth of the birth of Hermes is related to the mountainKyllene near Pheneos and the god had the surnameKyllenios.Pindar refers to games of Hermes at Kyllene that seem to be similar to the games of Pheneos.[82]
Hermes'sepithetArgeïphontes (Ancient Greek:Ἀργειφόντης;Latin:Argicida), meaning "slayer of Argus",[89][90] recalls the slaying of the hundred-eyed giantArgus Panoptes by the messenger god. Argus was watching over the heifer-nymphIo in the sanctuary ofHera in Argos. Hermes, disguised as a shepherd, placed a charm on Argus's eyes with the caduceus to cause the giant to sleep, after which he slew the giant with aharpe.[15] The eyes were then put into the tail of thepeacock, a symbol of Hera.
An Homeric form isDiaktoros Argeïphontes.(Ancient Greek:διάκτορος ἀργειφόντης). Frisk derives "argophontes" from "argos" (argipous), "fast" frequently for dogs. Sanskritrirẚ,rji-pya, "fast flying", Armenianarevi. The meaning seems similar to the epithet of Hermeskynagches, dog-throttler. "Diaktor" (from -kter, kill) indicates a god of death.[91][92]
Kriophoros.In ancient Greek culture,kriophoros (Greek:κριοφόρος) orcriophorus, the "ram-bearer",[101] is a figure that commemorates the solemn sacrifice of a ram. It becomes an epithet of Hermes.
Ktenites, taking care of horses, lions, dogs, etc.[100]
Sarpedon's body carried byHypnos andThanatos (Sleep and Death), while Hermes watches. Side A of the so-called "Euphronios krater", Attic red-figured calyx-krater signed by Euxitheos (potter) and Euphronios (painter), c. 515 BC.
The chief office of the god was as messenger.[39] Explicitly, at least in sources of classical writings, ofEuripides'sElectra andIphigenia in Aulis[102] and inEpictetus'sDiscourses.[103] Hermes (Diactorus,Angelos)[104] the messenger,[105] is in fact only seen in this role, for Zeus, from within the pages of theOdyssey.[106] The messenger divine and herald of the Gods, he wears the gifts from his father, the petasos and talaria.[40]
Oh mighty messenger of the gods of the upper and lower worlds... (Aeschylus).[107]
Eriounios, an Homeric epithet with uncertain meaning. According to Hesychius: oùnei, deṹro, dràme. The Arcadians also oùnon, the Cypriots drómon.[112] This intepretetion relates the epithet to "move quickly".[113]
Sokos Eriounios, a Homeric epithet with a much-debated meaning – probably "swift, good-running".[117] But in the Hymn to HermesEriounios is etymologized as "very beneficial".[118]
So-called "Logios Hermes" (Hermes Orator). Marble, Roman copy from the late 1st century BC – early 2nd century AD after a Greek original of the 5th century BC.
No cult to Hermes Dolios existed inAttica, and so "this form of Hermes seems to have existed in speech only, but he was surely still a real power"[124][125]
Hermes Dolio is ambiguous.[126] According to prominentfolkloristYeleazar Meletinsky, Hermes is a deifiedtrickster[127] and master of thieves ("a plunderer, a cattle-raider, a night-watching" in theHomeric Hymn to Hermes)[128] and deception (Euripides)[129] and (possibly evil) tricks and trickeries,[121][130][131][132] crafty (fromlit. god of craft),[133] the cheat,[134] the god of stealth.[135] He is also known as the friendliest to man, cunning,[136] treacherous,[137] and a schemer.[138]
(As the ways of gain are not always the ways of honesty and straightforwardness, Hermes obtains a bad character and an in-moral (amoral [ed.]) cult as Dolios)[142][verification needed]
Hermes isamoral[143] like a baby.[144] Zeus sent Hermes as a teacher to humanity to teach them knowledge of and value of justice and to improve inter-personal relationships ("bonding between mortals").[145]
Considered to have a mastery of rhetorical persuasion andspecial pleading, the god typically has nocturnalmodus operandi.[146] Hermes knows the boundaries and crosses the borders of them to confuse their definition.[147]
Hermes Propylaeus. Roman copy of theAlcamenes statue from the entrance of the AthenianAcropolis, original shortly after the 450 BC.
In the Lang translation of theHomeric Hymn to Hermes, the god after being born is described as arobber,a captain of raiders and athief of the gates.[148]
Klepsiphron (κλεψίφρων), with the mind of a thief.[149]
Eriounis, an Homeric epithet with uncertain meaning. Probably helper or bringer of good luck.[161]
Eriounios, an Homeric epithet with uncertain meaning. According to Hesychius: oùnei, deṹro, dràme. The Arcadians also oùnon, the Cypriots drómon.[112] This intepretetion relates the epithet to "move quickly".[162]
Proopylaios, "before the gate", "guardian of the gate";[166]Pylaios, "doorkeeper"[167]
Sokos (σώκος), the strong one, an Homeric epithet.[168]
Stropheus,[169] "the socket in which the pivot of the door moves" (Kerényi in Edwardson) or "door-hinge". Protector of the door (that is the boundary), to the temple[119][170][171][172][173]
This circular Pyxis or box depicts two scenes. The one shown presents Hermes awarding the golden apple of the Hesperides to Aphrodite, whom Paris has selected as the most beautiful of the goddesses.[174] The Walters Art Museum.
According to theHomeric Hymn to Hermes,Zeus, in the dead of night, secretly made love toMaia,[175] who avoided the company of the gods, in a cave of Cyllene. She became pregnant with Hermes. After giving birth to the baby, Maia wrapped him in blankets and went to sleep. The rapidly maturing infant Hermes crawled away toThessaly, where, by nightfall of his first day, he stole some of his half-brotherApollo's cattle and invented thelyre from a tortoise shell. Maia refused to believe Apollo when he claimed that Hermes was the thief, and Zeus then sided with Apollo. Finally, Apollo exchanged the cattle for the lyre, which became one of his identifying attributes.[176]
TheHomeric 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."[44] The wordpolutropos ("of many shifts, turning many ways, of many devices, ingenious, or much wandering") is also used to describe his mortal descendantOdysseus in the first line of theOdyssey. In addition to the chelyslyre,[45] Hermes was believed to have invented many types of racing and the sport ofwrestling, and therefore was a patron of athletes.[46]
Homer andHesiod portrayed Hermes as the author of skilled or deceptive acts and also as a benefactor of gods and mortals alike. InWorks and Days, when Zeus orderedHephaestus to createPandora to disgrace humanity by punishing Prometheus's act of giving fire to man, every god gave her a gift, and Hermes's gifts were crafty words and a dubious character. Hermes was then instructed to take her as wife to theTitanEpimetheus.[43] With the help ofArtemis, Hermes rescuedAres from a brazen vessel where he had been imprisoned byOtus and Ephialtes. In theIliad, Hermes is 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, but he also protectedPriam when he went to the Greek camp to retrieve the body of his sonHector and accompanied them back to Troy.[42] In theOdyssey, Hermes helps the protagonist Odysseus by informing him about the fate of his companions, who were turned into animals by the power ofCirce. Hermes instructed Odysseus to protect himself by chewinga magic herb; he also toldCalypso of Zeus's order to free Odysseus from her island to allow him to continue his journey back home. When Odysseus killed the suitors of his wife, Hermes led their souls to Hades.[177]
Hermes with his mother Maia. Detail of the side B of an Attic red-figure belly-amphora, c. 500 BC.
Aesop 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.[179] One of the most notable fables in which Hermes appears isthe Honest Woodcutter.
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.[180] Another is the Orphic Hymn to Hermes, where his association with the athletic games held is mystic in tone.[181]
Phlegon of Tralles said Hermes was invoked to ward off ghosts,[182] and Apollodorus reports several events involving Hermes. According to Apollodorus, Hermes participated in theGigantomachy in defense of Olympus;[183] was given the task of bringing babyDionysus to be cared for by Ino and Athamas and later took him to be cared for by theNysan nymphs, later called theHyades;[184] aidedPerseus in fetching the head of theGorgonMedusa,[185] favored the young Heracles by giving him a sword when he finished his education;[186] and leadHera,Athena andAphrodite toParis to be judged by him in a beauty contest.[187]
Anyte of Tegea of the 3rd century BC,[188] in the translation byRichard Aldington, wrote, "I Hermes stand here at the crossroads by the wind beaten orchard, near the hoary grey coast; and I keep a resting place for weary men. And the cool stainless spring gushes out."[189]
Hermes pursuing a woman, probablyHerse. Attic red-figure amphora, c. 470 BC.
Peitho, the goddess of seduction and persuasion, was said byNonnus to be the wife of Hermes.[190]
Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, was wooed by Hermes. After she had rejected him, Hermes sought the help ofZeus to seduce her. Zeus, out of pity, sent his eagle to take away Aphrodite's sandal when she was bathing, and gave it to Hermes. When Aphrodite came looking for the sandal, Hermes seduced her. They had a child,Hermaphroditus.[191]
Daeira, an Oceanid and an underworld goddess, mated with Hermes and gave birth to a son named Eleusis.[192]
Apemosyne, a princess of Crete, was travelling to Rhodes one day with her brotherAlthaemenes. Hermes saw her and fell in love with her, but Apemosyne fled from him. Hermes could not catch her because she ran faster than him. The god then devised a plan and laid some freshly skinned hides across her path. Later, on her way back from a spring, Apemosyne slipped on those hides and fell. At that moment, Hermes caught her and raped her. When Apemosyne told her brother what had happened, he became angry, thinking that she was lying about being molested by the god. In his anger, he kicked her to death.[193]
Chione, a princess of Phokis, attracted the attention of Hermes. He used his wand to put her to sleep and slept with her. To Hermes she bore a son,Autolycus.[194]
Herse, an Athenian princess, was loved by Hermes and bore a son named Cephalus to him.
Iphthime, a princess of Doros, was loved by Hermes. They had three Satyroi – named Pherespondos, Lykos and Pronomos.
Penelopeia, an Arcadian nymph, was loved by Hermes. It is said that Hermes had sex with her in the form of a goat, which resulted in their son, the godPan, having goat legs.[195] She has been confused or conflated withPenelope, the wife ofOdysseus.
TheOreads, the nymphs of the mountains were said to mate with Hermes in the highlands, breeding more of their kind.[196]
Tanagra was a nymph for whom the godsAres and Hermes competed in a boxing match. Hermes won and carried her off to Tanagra in Boeotia.
According to Hyginus'sFabula,Pan, the Greek god of nature, shepherds and flocks, is the son of Hermes through the nymphDryope.[197] It is likely that the worship of Hermes himself actually originated as an aspect of Pan as the god of boundaries, which could explain their association as parent and child in Hyginus. In other sources, the godPriapus is understood as a son of Hermes.[198]
According to the mythographerApollodorus,Autolycus, the Prince of Thieves, was a son of Hermes andChione, making Hermes a great-grandfather ofOdysseus.[199]
Hermes and a young warrior. Bendis Painter, c. 370 BC.
Once, Hermes chased eitherPersephone orHecate with the aim to rape her; but the goddess snored or roared in anger, frightening him off so that he desisted, hence her earning the name "Brimo" ("angry").[200][AI-generated source?]
Hermes also loved young men inpederastic relationships where he bestowed or taught something related to combat, athletics, herding, poetry and music.Photius wrote thatPolydeuces (Pollux), one of the Dioscuri, was a lover of Hermes, to whom he gifted the Thessalian horse Dotor.[201][202]Amphion became a great singer and musician after his lover Hermes taught him to play and gave him a golden lyre.[203]Crocus was said to be a beloved of Hermes and was accidentally killed by the god in a game ofdiscus when he unexpectedly stood up; as the unfortunate youth's blood dripped on the soil, thesaffron flower came to be.[204]Perseus received the divine items (talaria,petasos, and thehelm of darkness) from Hermes because he loved him.[205] AndDaphnis, a Sicilian shepherd who was said to be the inventor ofpastoral poetry, is said to be a son or sometimeseromenos of Hermes.[206]
The following is a list of Hermes's offspring, by various mothers. Beside each offspring, the earliest source to record the parentage is given, along with the century to which the source (in some cases approximately) dates.
Souls on the Banks of the Acheron, oil painting depicting Hermes in the underworld.Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl, 1898
ForCarl Jung, Hermes's role as messenger between realms and as guide to the underworld[257] made him the god of theunconscious,[258] the mediator between the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind, and the guide for inner journeys.[259][260]Jung considered the gods Thoth and Hermes to be counterparts.[261]He emphasized Hermes's central role in the practice of medieval alchemy,[262] which Jung believed to be symbolic of the psychological process he called individuation.[263] In Jungian psychology especially,[264] Hermes is seen as relevant to study of the phenomenon ofsynchronicity[265] (together withPan andDionysus):[266][267]
Hermes is an archetypal figure, a potential in every human psyche ...
He is identified by some with the archetype of healer,[153] as the ancient Greeks ascribed healing magic to him.[260]
In the context of abnormal psychology Samuels (1986) states that Jung considers Hermes the archetype for narcissistic disorder; however, he lends the disorder a "positive" (beneficious) aspect, and represents both the good and bad of narcissism.[268]
For López-Pedraza, Hermes is the protector of psychotherapy.[269] For McNeely, Hermes is a god of the healing arts.[270]
According toChristopher Booker, all the roles that Hermes held in ancient Greek thought, all considered, reveal Hermes to be a guide or observer oftransition.[271]
For Jung, Hermes's role astrickster made him a guide through the psychotherapeutic process.[260]
^The Latin wordcādūceus is an adaptation of the Greekκηρύκειονkērykeion, meaning "herald's wand (or staff)", deriving fromκῆρυξkēryx, meaning "messenger, herald, envoy". Liddell and Scott,Greek-English Lexicon; Stuart L. Tyson, "The Caduceus",The Scientific Monthly,34.6 (1932:492–98), p. 493.
^Bullfinch's Mythology (1978), Crown Publishers, p. 926.
^abcdefghijklmnopqrRADULOVI, IFIGENIJA; VUKADINOVI, SNEŽANA; SMIRNOVBRKI, ALEKSANDRA – Hermes the Transformer Ágora. Estudos Clássicos em debate, núm. 17, 2015, pp. 45–62 Universidade de Aveiro. Aveiro, Portugal.[1]Archived 7 September 2021 at theWayback Machine (PDF link)
^Pearson, Patricia O'Connell; Holdren, John (May 2021).World History: Our Human Story. Versailles, Kentucky: Sheridan Kentucky. p. 115.ISBN978-1-60153-123-0.
^Nilsson, Ingela (27 September 2016). "Romantic Love in Rhetorical Guise: The Byzantine Revival of the Twelfth Century". In Cupane, Carolina; Krönung, Bettina (eds.).Fictional Storytelling in the Medieval Eastern Mediterranean and Beyond. Brill's Companions to the Byzantine World, volume 1. Leiden: Brill. p. 49.ISBN9789004307728. Retrieved15 July 2025.[...] Hermes – the god of literary creation – appears to protect not only the young lovers but also the rhetorics of the work.
^Walter Burkert, 1985.Greek Religion (Harvard University Press)
^abW. Blackwood Ltd. (Edinburgh).Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, Volume 22; Volume 28. Leonard Scott & Co. 1849.
^abRochester Institute of Technology."Greek Gods". Rochester Institute of Technology. Archived fromthe original on 25 May 2013.
^Freeman, J. A., Jefferson, L. M., & Jensen, R. M. (2015).The Good Shepherd and the Enthroned Ruler: A Reconsideration of Imperial Iconography in the Early Church. The Art of Empire. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress.
^abHomer.The Iliad. The Project Gutenberg Etext. Trans.Samuel Butler.
^Hart, G.,The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, 2005, Routledge, second edition, Oxon, p 158
^Copenhaver, B. P., "Hermetica", Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1992, p xiv.
^Fowden, G., "The Egyptian Hermes", Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987, p 216
^Beard, Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town at 295–298
^Combet-Farnoux, Bernard (1980). "Turms étrusque et la fonction de « minister » de l'Hermès italique".Mercure romain : Le culte public de Mercure et la fonction mercantile à Rome de la République archaïque à l'époque augustéenne. École française de Rome. pp. 171–217.
^Schjødt, J. P. Mercury–Wotan–Óðinn: One or Many?. Myth, Materiality, and Lived Religion, 59.
^Faivre, A. (1995).The Eternal Hermes: From Greek God to Alchemical Magus. Red Wheel/Weiser.
^Heiser, James D. (2011).Prisci Theologi and the Hermetic Reformation in the Fifteenth Century (1st ed.). Malone, Tex.: Repristination Press.ISBN978-1-4610-9382-4.
^Jafar, Imad (2015). "Enoch in the Islamic Tradition".Sacred Web: A Journal of Tradition and Modernity.XXXVI.
^Yates, F., "Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition", Routledge, London, 1964, pp 14–18 and pp 433–434
^Hanegraaff, W. J., "New Age Religion and Western Culture", SUNY, 1998, p 360
^Yates, F., "Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition", Routledge, London, 1964, p 27 and p 293
^Yates, F., "Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition", Routledge, London, 1964, p52
^Copenhaver, B.P., "Hermetica", Cambridge University Press, 1992, p xlviii
^Reece, Steve, "Σῶκος Ἐριούνιος Ἑρμῆς (Iliad 20.72): The Modification of a Traditional Formula,"Glotta: Zeitschrift für griechische und lateinische Sprache 75 (1999–2000) 259–280, understandsSokos as a metanalysis of a word ending in -s plusOkus "swift", anderiounios as related to Cyprian "good-running".[2]Archived 16 October 2021 at theWayback Machine
^S. Hornblower; A. Spawforth (2014).The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Oxford Reference, Oxford University Press. p. 370.ISBN978-0-19-870677-9.
^CO Edwardson (2011),Women and Philanthropy, tricksters and soul: re-storying otherness into crossroads of change, Pacifica Graduate Institute, 2010, p. 60.
^The Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies: Ithaca August 2009, Conference Paper, page 12[3]Archived 10 October 2013 at theWayback Machine.
^Hyginus,Fabula 160, makes Hermes the father of Pan.
^Karl Kerényi,Gods of the Greeks, 1951, p. 175, citing G. Kaibel,Epigrammata graeca ex lapidibus collecta, 817, where the other god's name, both father and son of Hermes, is obscured; according to other sources, Priapus was a son of Dionysus and Aphrodite.
^Köppen, Johann Heinrich Just; Heinrich, Karl Friedrich; Krause, Johann Christian Heinrich (1818).Erklärende Anmerkungen zu Homers Ilias. Vol. 2. pp. 72.
^According toHesiod'sTheogony886–890Archived 5 May 2016 at theWayback Machine, of Zeus's children by his seven wives, Athena was the first to be conceived, but the last to be born; Zeus impregnated Metis then swallowed her, later Zeus himself gave birth to Athena "from his head", see Gantz, pp. 51–52, 83–84.
^abMerritt, Dennis L. (1996–1997). "Jung and the Greening of Psychology and Education".Oregon Friends of C.G. Jung Newsletter.6 (1): 9, 12, 13. (Online.Archived 26 February 2012 at theWayback Machine)
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