Herm (sculpture)

"Herma" redirects here. For the piano piece by Iannis Xenakis, see Herma (Xenakis).
Herma of Demosthenes from the Athenian Agora, work by Polyeuktos, c. 280 BC, Glyptothek

A herma (Ancient Greek: ἑρμῆς, plural ἑρμαῖ hermai),[1] commonly herm in English, is a sculpture with a head and perhaps a torso above a plain, usually squared lower section, on which male genitals may also be carved at the appropriate height. Hermae were so called either because the head of Hermes was most common or from their etymological connection with the Greek word ἕρματα (hérmata, meaning 'blocks of stone'), which originally had no reference to Hermes at all.[2] The form originated in ancient Greece, and was adopted by the Romans (called mercuriae), and revived at the Renaissance in the form of term figures and atlantes.

  1. ^ Anatole Bailly, Abrégé du dictionnaire Grec-Français, Hachette, Paris, 1901, p. 361.
  2. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hermae". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 365.