Hermes Hermes bearing the infant Dionysus, by Praxiteles Hermēs (Greek: 'Έρμης': 'pile of marker stones'), in Greek mythology, is the god of travelers, shepherds, land travel, orators, literature, cunning, poets, athletics, weights and measures, and thieves, and the messenger from the gods to humans. Son of Zeus and a nymph named Maia, Hermes was born in a cave on Mt. Cyllene in Peloponnesus, between Achaia and Arcadia. His origin on Mt. Cyllene explains the origin of an epithet for Hermēs: Hermēs Cylleneius. He was also referred to as Enagonios. As a psychopomp, Hermēs is known as Psychopompos ("conductor of the soul"). The Romans found that Hermes was equivalent to the god Mercury, who may have been the descendent of the Etruscan Turms. The Roman Mercury later absorbed the Dei Lucrii, early gods of commerce and wealth, and were referred to by that name. In the syncretic religious atmosphere of the Roman Empire, Hermes was combined with the Egyptian Anubis to form Hermanubis. In a similar fashion, the name Hermes Trismegistus was used later by alchemists and their like to refer to a syncretic god combining elements from Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. Hermēs or Mercury was commonly identified by Roman observers with the Germanic god Wotan/Woden/Odin, hence Latin dies Mercurius corresponds to English Wednesday from Wodnes dæg 'Woden's day'. The modern post office in Greece uses Hermēs as its symbol. Cult (religion) Hermēs was worshipped especially fervently by travelers, pilgrims, thieves and poets. Though temples to Hermēs existed throughout Greece, a center of his cult was Arcadia, where festivals in his honor were called Hermoea. "Mercury" by Hendrick Goltzius, 1611 (Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem) Hermēs was a psychopomp, meaning he brought newly-dead souls to the underworld, Hades. He also brought dreams to living mortals. In addition to the syrinx and the lyre, Hermes invented many types of racing and the sport of boxing. Statues of Hermēs stood at stadia and gymnasiums throughout Greece. Hermai In very ancient Greece, before his role as protector of merchants and travelers, Hermēs was a phallic god, associated with fertility, luck, roads and borders. His name in the form herma referred to a square or rectangular pillar of stone, or bronze topped by a bust of Hermēs usually with a beard; an erect phallus rose from the base. In the more primitive "Cyllenian" herms, the standing stone or wooden pillar was frankly simply a phallus. The hermai were used to mark roads and boundaries. In Athens, they were placed outside houses for good luck. In 415 BCE, when the Athenian fleet was about to set sail for Syracuse during the Peloponnesian War, all of the Athenian hermai were vandalized. The Athenians at the time believed it was the work of saboteurs, either from Syracuse or the anti-war faction within Athens itself. Socrates' pupil Alcibiades was suspected to have been involved, and Socrates indirectly paid for the impiety with his life. Hermes In Art Hermēs was usually portrayed wearing a broad-brimmed traveller's hat or a winged cap, wearing winged sandals and carrying his herald's staff, entwined by serpents, called the caduceus. He wore the garments of a traveler, worker or shepherd. He was represented by purses, roosters and turtles. Birth Hermes was born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia to Maia. As the story is told in the Homeric Hymn, the Hymn to Hermes, Maia was a nymph, but Greeks generally applied the name to an midwife or a wise and gentle old woman, so the nymph appears to have been an ancient one, one of the Pleiades taking refuge in a cave of Arcadia. The god was precocious: on the day of his birth, by midday he had invented the lyre, using the shell of a tortoise, and by nightfall he had rustled the immortal cattle of Apollo. Hermēs' Offspring Pan In the Olympic pantheon Pan became the son of Hermēs and the nymph Dryope. She was terrified of her ugly, half-goat baby so she ran away. Hermēs took the baby to Mt. Olympus, where gods enjoyed the child's laughter and good nature. He became a god worshipped by shepherds and woodsmen particularly. Pan was mistakenly reported to have died by a sailor, but, even after this, his shrines and temples were much frequented. Pan was known as a bit of a womanizer-he seduced Selene, goddess of the moon, one night, while disguised as a white-fleeced sheep. He also pursued the nymph Echo and many other woodland deities, but to little avail. Abderus Abderus was a son of Hermes who was devoured by the Mares of Diomedes. He had gone to the Mares with his friend, Herakles. Hermaphroditus Hermaphroditus was the third son of Hermēs, with Aphrodite. He was changed into a hermaphrodite by the gods, responding to the pleas of Salmacis, whose love Hermaphroditus spurned. Other Stories Herse/Aglaulus/Pandrosus When Hermēs loved Herse, a jealous Aglaulus stood between them and refused to move. Hermēs changed her to stone. Cephalus was the son of Hermes and Herse. Hermēs also had a son, Ceryx, with Herse's other sister, Pandrosus. With Aglaulus, Hermēs was the father of Eumolpus. Argus/Io Zeus loved the Argive princess Io and changed her into a cow to protect her from Hera. Hera suspected his deception and asked for the cow as a present. Zeus was unable to refuse and she placed the watchman Argus to guard the cow. Hermēs, at the request of Zeus, lulled Argus to sleep and rescued Io but Hera sent a gadfly to sting her as she wandered the earth in cow form. Zeus eventually changed her back to human form, and she became—through Epaphus, her son with Zeus—the ancestress of Herakles. Other Roles Hermēs saved Odysseus from both Calypso and Circe, by convincing the first to let Odysseus go and then protecting him from the latter bestowing upon him an herb that would protect him from Circe's spell. In addition, Hermēs brought Eurydice back to Hades after Orpheus looked back towards his wife for a second time. He also changed the Minyades into bats. He taught the Thriae the arts of fortune-telling and divination. King Atreus of Mycenae retook the throne from his brother, Thyestes using advice he received from the wise trickster Hermes. Thyestes agreed to give the kingdom back when the sun moved backwards in the sky, a feat that Zeus accomplished. Atreus retook the throne and banished Thyestes. Consorts/Children Aphrodite Eunomia Hermaphroditus Peitho Rhodos Tyche Aglaulus Eumolpus Herse Cephalus Pandrosus Ceryx Dryope Pan Unknown mother Abderus Aethalides Echion Myrtilus Unknown Sicilian nymph Daphnis External links Cult of Hermes You can find more information, original sources and images at http://www.elolimpo.com/?nombre=hermes&s=per FAVORITE ARTICLES: History of the World    History of the United States    History of Europe    Ancient History    History    Military History    World War I    Bombing of Dresden    California    US Constitution    Frank Sinatra    Boston    Marbury v. Madison This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes