Hermes
Is Hermes Zeus’s son?
What was Hermes the god of?
What musical instrument did Hermes invent?
Hermes, Greek god, son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia; often identified with the Roman Mercury and with Casmilus or Cadmilus, one of the Cabeiri. His name is probably derived from herma (see herm), the Greek word for a heap of stones, such as was used in the country to indicate boundaries or as a landmark. One of the 12 Olympians, Hermes was the divine messenger, the protector of herds and travelers, and the god of commerce and trade. He was also a trickster god and the patron of thieves and liars. The earliest center of his cult was probably Arcadia, where Mt. Cyllene was reputed to be his birthplace. There he was especially worshipped as the god of fertility, and his images were ithyphallic.
Attributes
Both in literature and cult Hermes was constantly associated with the protection of cattle and sheep, and he was often closely connected with deities of vegetation, especially Pan and the nymphs. In Homer’s Odyssey, however, he appears mainly as the messenger of the gods and the conductor of the dead to Hades. Hermes was also a dream god, and the Greeks offered him the last libation before sleep. As a messenger, he may also have become the god of roads and doorways. Treasure casually found was his gift, and any stroke of good luck was attributed to him; this conception and his function as a deity of gain, honest or dishonest, are natural derivatives of his character as a god of fertility. In many respects he was Apollo’s counterpart; like him, Hermes was a patron of music and was credited with the invention of the kithara or the lyre and sometimes of music itself. He was also god of eloquence and presided over some kinds of popular divination.
The sacred number of Hermes was four, and the fourth day of the month was his birthday. In archaic art, apart from the stylized herms, he was portrayed as a full-grown and bearded man, clothed in a long tunic and often wearing a cap and winged boots. Sometimes he was represented in his pastoral character, bearing a sheep on his shoulders; at other times he appeared as the messenger of the gods with the kērykeion, or herald’s staff (see caduceus), which was his most frequent attribute. From the latter part of the 5th century bce he was portrayed as a nude and beardless youth, a young athlete.
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Exploits
According to legend, the infant Hermes was distinguished by his extreme precocity and rapid development. On the very day of his birth, he stole and hid a herd of cattle that belonged to Apollo. He also invented the kithara or lyre by stretching the entrails of some of the cattle across the shell of a tortoise. He then returned to his swaddling clothes in the cave where Maia had given birth. When Apollo arrived demanding the restoration of his cattle, Maia refused to believe that the baby Hermes could have been responsible. In the ensuing argument, in which Zeus supported Apollo’s claim, Hermes emerged and began to play the instrument he had devised. Enchanted, Apollo acquired it in lieu of his cattle. Hermes is sometimes credited with inventing the panpipes, the flute, and various athletic events.
Hermes appears in several myths connected to other gods, notably Zeus. Disguised as wayfarers, he and Zeus were hospitably received by the pious Philemon and Baucis, who were saved from a flood in reward. Hermes famously slew the many-eyed giant Argus, who had been commissioned by Hera to guard Zeus’s beloved Io, a mortal woman transformed into a heifer by Hera. He was known for using guile and cunning to achieve his goals; in the killing of Argus, for instance, he first put the giant to sleep by playing music. Because of his ability to travel between worlds, Hermes was charged by Demeter to conduct her daughter, Persephone, from the underworld, where she had been confined after her abduction by Hades.
Hermes played a similar role in Orpheus’s quest to retrieve Eurydice from the underworld, conducting one lover or the other between the realms of the living and the dead. In some versions of the story, Hermes barred Orpheus’s way when he attempted to reenter the underworld after violating the condition that had been set for Eurydice’s release. Hermes also assisted Perseus in his slaying of Medusa. In the Odyssey he advised Odysseus to consume the herb moly for protection from the magic of the sorceress Circe. He was also one of the gods who were instrumental in securing Odysseus’s release from his seven-year captivity by the nymph Calypso.
Children
Hermes did not have a consort, although he did father several children by immortal and mortal women. Most famous of his offspring is the god Pan, who is regarded in most traditions as the son of Hermes and the dryad Dryope (Odysseus’s wife, Penelope, is sometimes given as Pan’s mother). Like Hermes, Pan was associated with herds, nature, and music. The part-male, part-female Hermaphroditus was regarded as the child of Hermes and Aphrodite. Odysseus claimed Hermes as an ancestor through his grandfather, the thief Autolycus.
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