| Hermes | |
|---|---|
God of boundaries, roads, travelers, merchants, thieves, athletes, shepherds, commerce, speed, cunning, language, oratory, wit, and messages | |
| Member of the Twelve Olympians | |
 Hermes Ingenui (Vatican Museums), Roman copy of the second century BC after a Greek original of the 5th century BC. Hermes has a kerykeion (caduceus), kithara, petasos (round hat) and a traveler's cloak. | |
| Abode | Mount Olympus |
| Planet | Mercury[1] |
| Symbol | Talaria, caduceus, tortoise, lyre, rooster, Petasos (Winged helmet) |
| Day | Wednesday (hēméra Hermoû) |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | Zeus and Maia |
| Siblings | Several paternal half-siblings |
| Children | Evander, Pan, Hermaphroditus, Abderus, Autolycus, Eudoros, Angelia, Myrtilus, Palaestra, Aethalides, Arabius, Astacus, Bounos, Cephalus, Cydon, Pharis, Polybus, Prylis, Saon |
| Equivalents | |
| Etruscan | Turms |
| Roman | Mercury |
| Egyptian | Thoth |
| Part of a series on |
| Ancient Greek religion |
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Hermes (/ˈhɜːrmiːz/; ‹See Tfd›Greek: Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves,[2] merchants, and orators.[3][4] He is able to move quickly and freely between the worlds of the mortal and the divine aided by his winged sandals. Hermes plays the role of the psychopomp or "soul guide"—a conductor of souls into the afterlife.[3]: 179, 295 [5]
In myth, Hermes functions as the emissary and messenger of the gods,[6] and is often presented as the son of Zeus and Maia, the Pleiad. He is regarded as "the divine trickster",[7] about which the Homeric Hymn to Hermes offers the most well-known account.[8]
Hermes's attributes and symbols include the herma, the rooster, the tortoise, satchel or pouch, talaria (winged sandals), and winged helmet or simple petasos, as well as the palm tree, goat, the number four, several kinds of fish, and incense.[9] However, his main symbol is the caduceus, a winged staff intertwined with two snakes copulating and carvings of the other gods.[10]
In Roman mythology and religion many of Hermes's characteristics belong to Mercury,[11] a name derived from the Latin merx, meaning "merchandise," and the origin of the words "merchant" and "commerce."[3]: 178
- ^ Evans, James (1998). The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy. Oxford University Press. pp. 296–7. ISBN 978-0-19-509539-5. Retrieved 4 February 2008.
- ^ Burkert, p. 158.
- ^ a b c Powell, Barry B. (2015). Classical Myth (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson. pp. 177–190. ISBN 978-0-321-96704-6.
- ^ Brown, Norman Oliver (1947). Hermes the Thief: The Evolution of a Myth. New York: Vintage Books. p. 3.
- ^ Burkert, pp. 157–158.
- ^ Burkert, p. 158. Iris has a similar role as divine messenger.
- ^ Burkert, p. 156.
- ^ Homer, 1–512, as cited in Powell, pp. 179–189.
- ^ Austin, M. Hellenistic world from Alexander to the Roman conquest: a selection of ancient sources in translation. Cambridge University Press, 2006. p. 137.
- ^ The Latin word cādūceus is an adaptation of the Greek κηρύκειον kērykeion, meaning "herald's wand (or staff)", deriving from κῆρυξ kēryx, 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.