On the day he was born he stole fifty cattle and drove them backwards to hide the trail
Apollo's herd; the calf-skin sandals and reversed hooves are told in the Homeric Hymn.
Myth · Greek
Hermes
Greek mythology — Olympian, messenger god, patron of travellers, traders and thieves
Hermes is the messenger of the gods and the patron of boundaries and everything that crosses them: travellers, merchants, heralds, orators, thieves and the souls of the dead, whom he leads down to the underworld as Psychopompos. Born in a cave on Mount Cyllene, he stole Apollo's cattle before nightfall on the day of his birth and invented the lyre to buy his way out of trouble. Quick, inventive and amoral, he is the Olympian most at home in the mortal world.
How to spot them
- ▸Winged sandals and cap (petasos), and the caduceus — a staff with two entwined snakes
- ▸Psychopompos, guide of souls; patron of heralds, merchants, travellers and thieves
- ▸Born in a cave on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia to Zeus and the nymph Maia
- ▸The herm: a square pillar with a head and phallus, set at doorways and crossroads
Stories & episodes
Invented the lyre from a tortoise shell, and traded it to settle a theft
He gave Apollo the lyre and kept the cattle, then invented the shepherd's pipe too.
Lulled a hundred-eyed watchman to sleep with stories and killed him
Argus Panoptes, guarding Io; hence his title Argeiphontes, 'slayer of Argus'.
Gave Odysseus the herb moly as protection against an enchantress
Circe's drugs then failed, in Odyssey 10.
Leads the souls of the dead down to the ferryman
His role as Psychopompos, seen at the end of the Odyssey with the ghosts of the suitors.
Carried the infant Dionysus away to be raised by the nymphs of Nysa
The subject of the marble at Olympia attributed to Praxiteles.
Brought three goddesses to a shepherd on Mount Ida to be judged
He escorted Hera, Athena and Aphrodite to Paris.
Freed the war-god from a bronze jar after thirteen months
Ares, imprisoned by the Aloadae giants.
Quick-fire facts
- •Roman equivalent: Mercury, god of trade — from Latin merx, merchandise — and the source of 'merchant' and 'commerce'
- •Son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia; father of Pan and, in one tradition, of Hermaphroditus by Aphrodite
- •His name appears in Linear B as e-ma-a, at Pylos
- •The Homeric Hymn to Hermes, the fourth and one of the longest, tells the cattle theft and the invention of the lyre
- •Herms were mutilated across Athens in 415 BC on the eve of the Sicilian Expedition; the scandal helped ruin Alcibiades
- •The caduceus (two snakes, wings) is his; the single-snake rod of Asclepius is the true medical symbol, and the two are widely confused
- •He is identified with the Egyptian Thoth as Hermes Trismegistus, the supposed author of the Hermetic corpus — whence 'hermetic' and 'hermetically sealed'
- •Hermeneutics, the art of interpretation, is traditionally connected with his name
- •The planet Mercury, the fastest-moving, and the liquid metal quicksilver both carry his Roman name
- •The Hermes of Praxiteles at Olympia, found in 1877, is one of the few possible Greek originals by a named master
Drill it — 10 cards
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Sources
- Aaron J. Atsma, the Theoi Project — Hermes
- Homeric Hymn to Hermes The cattle theft, the tortoise-shell lyre and the settlement with Apollo