Hermes

Hermes is the winged herald and messenger of the Olympian gods. In addition, he is also a divine trickster, and the god of roads, flocks, commerce, and thieves. A precocious newborn, he invented the lyre and stole Apollo’s cattle on the very first day of his life. Hermes was the only Olympian capable of crossing the border between the living and the dead.

Who Is Hermes in Greek Mythology?

Hermes is the Olympian messenger god, the son of Zeus and the nymph Maia, and the god of travel, trade, boundaries, and thieves. He is the fastest of the gods and the only one who moves freely between Olympus, the earth, and the Underworld, which is why almost every other god relies on him to carry out their business.

• Parents: Zeus and Maia, eldest of the seven Pleiades; born in a cave on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia
• Position: one of the Twelve Olympians and the second youngest, after Dionysus
• Roman name: Mercury, from whom the words merchant and commerce also descend
• Best known for: inventing the lyre, stealing Apollo’s cattle, and slaying the hundred-eyed Argus

What Is Hermes the God Of?

Hermes is the god of everything that crosses a line: roads, borders, messages, trade, and the passage from life to death. His many domains are not a random collection but variations on a single idea, that of movement between one state and another.

• Travel and roads: patron of travellers, wayfarers, and anyone far from home
• Trade and commerce: protector of merchants, markets, weights, and profit
• Heralds and speech: patron of messengers, ambassadors, orators, and interpreters
• Thieves and trickery: patron of thieves, liars, gamblers, and cunning of every kind
• Flocks and fertility: an older Arcadian role, protecting shepherds, sheep, and herds
• Athletics: patron of gymnasia, palaestrae, and the young men who trained in them
• The dead: as psychopomp, he guides souls down to Hades and can bring them back

Why Is Hermes the God of Thieves?

Hermes became the god of thieves because he committed the first theft in Greek myth: on the day he was born, he slipped out of his cradle and stole fifty of Apollo’s cattle. The Greeks did not treat this as simple crime but as proof of intelligence, and they honoured the same quality in merchants, negotiators, and orators.

• He drove the cattle backwards so their tracks pointed the wrong way, and wore brushwood sandals to hide his own
• He then lied about it to Apollo and to Zeus himself, who was amused rather than angry
• His son Autolycus inherited the gift and passed it to his grandson Odysseus, the cleverest of Greek heroes

Was Hermes a God or a Goddess?

Hermes is male – a god, never a goddess. The confusion usually comes from two sources: his child Hermaphroditus, who had both male and female features, and the fashion house that borrowed his name in the nineteenth century.

• Ancient art shows him either as a bearded man or as a beardless athletic youth, always male
• Hermaphroditus was his son by Aphrodite, and the English word hermaphrodite comes from that child’s name
• His female counterpart in the messenger role is a different deity altogether: Iris, goddess of the rainbow

Hermes’ Role

Hermes’ Name

Most scholars think that Hermes’ name derives from the Greek word herma, which means “a heap of stones” or “cairn.” Cairns were a common sight in the Ancient world, serving as trail- or boundary-markers. Some say that the first cairn was erected by the gods, when they cast all their stones in favor of Hermes, during his trial for slaying Argus Panoptes.

Hermes’ Portrayal and Symbolism

Archaic artists portrayed Hermes as a mature bearded man. However, later on, he was represented as an athletically built nude youth, immediately recognizable by four attributes: a broad-brimmed hat (petasos), winged sandals (talaria), a purse, and a herald’s wand (kerykeion, or caduceus in Latin). Hermes’ wand – a short-winged staff, entangled by two identical serpents – had magical powers, bringing sleep upon people or rousing them from it. It is very similar and frequently confused with the Rod of Asclepius, which is why Hermes’ wand is often incorrectly used as a symbol of medicine.

What Did Hermes Look Like?

Hermes was pictured in two very different ways, and which one an artist chose depended on the period. Early Greek art shows him as a mature, bearded man in a long tunic; from the fifth century BCE onward he is almost always a beardless, athletic young man, sometimes shown nude as an ideal of youthful fitness.

• Physical traits: slender and athletic rather than muscular like Heracles, built for speed rather than strength
• Recognisable attributes: the winged sandals, the broad-brimmed traveller’s hat, the purse, and the caduceus
• Greek writers rarely describe divine faces, so nearly everything known about his appearance comes from art, not text
• His oldest image is not human at all: the herm, a plain stone pillar with a carved head, set up at roadsides and doorways

Hermes’ Characteristics and Personality

Hermes is quick, charming, inventive, and completely without malice – the friendliest of the Olympians towards mortals. Where other gods punish, Hermes negotiates, and his tricks are played for advantage or amusement rather than revenge.

• Inventive: he creates the lyre, the shepherd’s pipes, and by some accounts the alphabet, numbers, and the first musical scale
• Persuasive: Homer calls him excellent in all tricks, and the Greeks credited him with the invention of speech itself
• Helpful: he rescues Odysseus from Circe, guides Priam through the Greek camp, and frees Ares from a bronze jar
• Unlike Poseidon, Hera, or Apollo, he holds no lasting grudge against any mortal in Greek myth

Hermes’ Epithets

According to some myths, Hermes wasn’t only a messenger of the gods, but also the inventor of speech. As such, he is often associated with oratory or interpretation. In Greece, an interpreter was called hermeneus, and today the science of interpretation is known as hermeneutics.

Hermes was the only Olympian capable of crossing the boundary between the living and the dead and carrying the souls of the dead in Hades. In time, he came to be known as “the conductor” or “the leader of souls.” People also called him “patron of travelers and thieves,” “shepherd of men,” “trickster,” and “Argus-slayer.”

Hermes’ Life and Deeds

Famous Myths About Hermes

The best-known myths about Hermes divide into two kinds: the stories of his own mischief, and the countless myths in which he appears to help someone else. Each of the following is told in more detail below or on its own page.

• The first day: born at dawn, he invents the lyre by noon and steals Apollo’s cattle by nightfall
• Argus Panoptes: he lulls the hundred-eyed giant to sleep with stories and music, then kills him to free Io
• Perseus: he lends the hero his winged sandals and leads him to the Graeae before the hunt for Medusa
• Odysseus: he brings the herb moly to Aeaea so that Circe’s magic cannot transform him
• Priam and Achilles: he guides the old king of Troy safely through the Greek camp to ransom Hector’s body
• Pandora: he escorts her to Epimetheus and, in Hesiod, gives her lies and a cunning nature
• Calypso: he carries Zeus’ order to Ogygia that Odysseus must be set free

Hermes, a Precocious Child

Hermes was the son of Zeus and Maia, the oldest of the seven Pleiades. He was born in a cave in Mount Cyllene in Arcadia at dawn. By noon he was able to invent the lyre and play a hymn celebrating his own birth on it. That very same evening, for reasons unknown, he stole the cattle of Apollo. Afterward, he came back and innocently tucked himself up in his cradle.

Hermes and Apollo

To invent the lyre, Hermes killed a tortoise and scooped the flesh out of its shell. Then, honoring the Pleiades, he stretched seven strings of sheep-gut over the empty shell. Once he found out who had stolen his cattle, Apollo was so angry at Hermes that bad things might have happened if Hermes hadn’t appeased Apollo with a lyre- accompanied song. In exchange for it, Apollo forgave his little brother everything and swore to be his closest friend forevermore. Some say that as a token of this promise, Apollo gifted Hermes with the latter one’s most emblematic object: the caduceus.

Hermes, a Darling of the Gods

By all accounts, Hermes was a darling of the gods. Artemis supposedly taught him how to hunt and Pan how to play the pipes. He was the one who guided Persephone back to her mother, Demeter. Above all, Hermes was very close with his father, acting in many of his affairs as Zeus’ wingman. Most famously, he beheaded the hundred-eyed giant Argus Panoptes, previously sent by Hera to closely watch over Zeus’ love interest Io.

Zeus and Hermes

Hermes is the son of Zeus and, more than any other child of his, his personal agent. Where Zeus rules by force and authority, Hermes acts by speed, persuasion, and discretion, which makes him the god Zeus sends whenever a matter needs handling rather than deciding.

• He carries Zeus’ commands to Calypso, to Aegisthus, and to Priam, and delivers the summons that begins the Judgement of Paris
• He covers for his father’s affairs, most dramatically by killing Argus to free Io from Hera’s watch
• He rescues the unborn Dionysus and carries the infant to safety after Semele’s death
• Zeus never punishes him, not even for stealing Apollo’s cattle and lying about it to his face

Hermes, the Messenger

In his role as a messenger, Hermes is present in numerous other myths. He escorts Pandora to Epimetheus, leads Perseus to the Graeae, and guides Priam safely to Achilles’ tent. In addition, he showed Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera the way to Mount Ida where Paris was supposed to judge which one of them was the fairest.

Hermes’ Women and Children

Even though associated with fertility, it seems that Hermes never married, and had relatively few famous consorts and children. Aphrodite bore him Hermaphrodites and possibly Tyche, Herse – Cephalus, and the nymph Dryope – Pan. Later poets sometimes link Hermes with Peitho or Hecate.

Once, Hermes and Apollo fell in love simultaneously with the virgin Chione and slept with her on the very same day. Later, Chione gave birth to twins. Philammon took after Apollo and became a famous musician. Unsurprisingly, Hermes’ son Autolycus became a trickster and a thief. Poets say that not few of his traits were inherited by his grandson: Odysseus.

Debunking Hermes Myths & Unknown Facts

One common misconception about Hermes is that he is primarily a god of thieves and tricksters. While it is true that he has been associated with these aspects, his role as a messenger, guide, and protector of travelers, as well as his skills in diplomacy, oratory, and invention, are just as important. Another misconception is that Hermes was a dishonest and untrustworthy deity. In reality, Hermes was often tasked with carrying out Zeus' orders, and his cunning and resourcefulness allowed him to complete these tasks successfully.

Gymnasia and Palaestrae

A lesser-known fact about Hermes is that he was considered the patron of gymnasia and palaestrae, which were ancient Greek training centers for athletes. His athletic physique and connection to physical prowess made him an ideal protector of these institutions.

Hermes and Dreams

Additionally, Hermes was also revered as a god of dreams, and ancient Greeks believed that he sent prophetic dreams to mortals. In this role, he was known as Oneiros, which means "dream" in Greek.

Facts About Hermes

The essential facts about Hermes can be stated briefly:

• He was the second youngest of the Twelve Olympians, older only than Dionysus
• He invented the lyre on the day he was born, using a tortoise shell and seven strings of sheep-gut
• He stole fifty of Apollo’s cattle before he was a day old, and was forgiven in exchange for the lyre
• His staff is the caduceus, two snakes around a winged rod, which is not a medical symbol despite its modern use
• His sacred animals were the ram, the hare, and the tortoise; his oldest emblem was the roadside herm
• He was the only Olympian who could enter and leave the Underworld at will
• His Roman name is Mercury, and the planet Mercury is named after him for its speed
• The words hermeneutics and hermaphrodite both descend from his name

Unraveling Hermes: The God Who Crossed Every Border

Hermes holds a strange position among the Olympians. He is not the strongest, the wisest, or the most feared, and no great war or catastrophe turns on his decisions. Yet he appears in more myths than almost any other god, because nearly every story needs someone to carry a message, open a door, or lead a traveller from one world into the next.

That role explains the odd breadth of his domains. Roads, trade, theft, speech, and death look unrelated until they are seen as the same act: crossing a line that separates one place, person, or state from another. The merchant crosses between owners, the herald between enemies, the thief between what is his and what is not, and the psychopomp between the living and the dead. Hermes governs the moment of transition itself.

It also explains why the Greeks liked him. A god of boundaries could easily have been frightening, but Hermes is generous with mortals, quick to help heroes, and forgiven even when he lies to Zeus. His first day set the pattern: theft, music, negotiation, and a friendship gained instead of a punishment earned.

Hermes Sources

The 4^th Homeric Hymn is dedicated solely to Hermes and retells his childhood in length. In Lucian’s “Dialogues of the Gods,” there are few imagined interchanges between Hermes and other gods (3, 14, 15, 21, 24) which, now that you know Hermes better, will certainly make you laugh. A brief preview: in the 24^th Dialogue, Hermes amusingly complains to his mother about the amount of work he has on his plate on a daily basis.

See Also: Zeus, Mount Olympus, Apollo, Pandora