17.) In the Iliad and Odyssey this tradition is not mentioned, though Hermes is characterised as a cunning thief. In the first hours after his birth, he escaped from his cradle, went to Pieiria, and carried off some of the oxen of Apollo. 291), whence he is called Atlantiades or Cyllenius but Philostratus ( Icon. Hermas), a son of Zeus and Maia, the daughter of Atlas, was born in a cave of Mount Cyllene in Arcadia (Hom. >īelow are two graphics depicting Hermes' family tree, the first with names transliterated from the Greek and the second with the common English spellings:-ĮNCYCLOPEDIA Hermes-Mercury, Greco-Roman marble statue C1st A.D., State Hermitage Museum Hermes was the father of the goat-legged god Pan by the nymphe Penelopeia. He was the second-youngest of the twelve Olympian gods and was often depicted as a beardless youth. His half-brothers and sisters included the gods Apollon, Artemis, Athena, Ares, Persephone and Dionysos. Hermes was a son of Zeus and the Pleiad-nymphe Maia and a grandson of the Titans Kronos (Cronus), Rheia and Atlas and the nymphe Pleione. DIONYSOS & APHRODITE (Orphic Hymn 57) OFFSPRING ZEUS & MAIA (Hesiod Theogony 938 & Astronomy Frag 1, Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes, Homeric Hymn 17, Alcaeus Frag 308, Simonides Frag 555, Aeschylus Libation Bearers 683 & Frag 212, Apollodorus 3.112, Philostratus Elder 1.46, Ovid Fasti 5.79) The content is outlined in the Index of Hermes Pages (left column or below). This site contains a total of 13 pages describing the god, including general descriptions, mythology, and cult. >īelow are examples of the god's animals as depicted in ancient Greek art and photos of his sacred plants:-ġ. His sacred plants were the crocus flower and the strawberry-tree.
As the god of herds he was also closely associated with cattle, sheep and goats. In ancient art he rode on the back of a large ram. Hermes' sacred animals were the ram and the hare. >īelow are some examples of his attributes as depicted in ancient Greek art:-ġ. The most primitive hermae were simple, upright standing-stones while the more elaborate were rectangular statuettes sculpted with the head of the god, a phallus, and his herald's wand symbol. >Īnother unique symbol of the god was the herma, a stone road-marker which doubled as a small wayside shrine. The god was clothed in a knee-length robe ( chiton) with a short cloak ( chlamys), winged boots, and a brimmed, traveller's hat. Hermes' most distinctive attribute was the herald's wand (Greek kerykeion, Latin caduceus) but he was sometimes armed instead with a short sword. Many other myths are detailed over the following pages. He gave Odysseus a magical herb to protect the hero from the magic of the treacherous witch Kirke (Circe). Hermes seduced the beautiful princess Khione (Chione) on the same night as his half-brother Apollon. He assisted the hero Perseus in his quest to slay the Gorgon Medousa, providing guidance and gifts from the gods. He was sent by Zeus to slay the hundred-eyed giant Argos Panoptes who had been commanded by Hera to guard Zeus' paramour Io. Hermes transformed the tell-tale, herdsman Battos into a stone as punishment for reporting his theft of Apollon's cattle. Zeus was so amused by the young god's antics that he granted him a place as one of the twelve supreme gods of Olympos.
HERMES MYTHSĪs a new-born infant Hermes snuck out of his crib, stole the cattle of the god Apollon, and crafted the first lyre from a tortoise-shell. Hermes was depicted as either a handsome and athletic, beardless youth or as an older, bearded man, with winged boots and a herald's wand. He was the herald and personal messenger of Zeus, King of the Gods, and also the guide of the dead who led souls down into the underworld. HERMES was the Olympian god of herds and flocks, travellers and hospitality, roads and trade, thievery and cunning, heralds and diplomacy, language and writing, athletic contests and gymnasiums, astronomy and astrology. Mercurius, Mercury Hermes, Athenian red-figure lekythos C5th B.C., Metropolitan Museum of Art
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