12: Hermes

Question 1

Parents of Hermes

Answer 1

• From The Homeric Hymn to Hermes
• Child of Maia and Zeus
• Maia is the eldest daughter (Pleiades) of Atlas and Pleione (Oceanid)
• The Pleiades aka the Seven Sisters are followers of Artemis

Question 2

Where was Hermes born and what did he invent

Answer 2

• Hermes was born in Arcadia in Peloponnesus on Mt. Cyllene –> Epithet: Cyllenian
• He invents the Lyre out of a tortoise shell
• Pastoral God –> steals Apollo’s cattle

Question 3

Story of Apollo and Hermes

Answer 3

Hermes steals 50 of Apollo’s cattle and makes them walk backwards. Old man sees him and promises him bountiful crops if he keeps it a secret.

The Old man breaks his word and APollo finds out. Hermes denies his part in theft to prevent Apollo from “God-Handling” him. Hermes asks Zeus to decide. Apollo still lies and Zeus (God of Oaths) knowes hes lying but he tells them to work it out together.

Hermes confeses to Apollio but he offers Apollo a lyre as an apology and Apollo offers Hermes a Guide to Gods. Hermes vows to never steal again from Apollo

Question 4

Hermes’ Historical Origins

Answer 4

Hermes: Herma (plural: Hermae)= ‘Stone-heap’
* originally as a trail marker. Travellers add stones for good luck
* Hermes as a divine spirit inhabiting stone pile. How he became protector of travellers
* The stone pile is not fully anthropomorphic: pillar with human head and an erect phallus –> households had them to avert evil and for fertility
* Associated with Arcadia –> N. central Peloponnesus
* God of boundaries: transgression. He escorts those to the underworld

Question 5

What is the Hermes God of

Answer 5

• Trickster figure: from Homeric Hymn to Hermes
• God of Travellers: Herma as Trail Marker
• God of Thieves: night time travellers
• God of Youth: mischievous
• God of Merchants: travellers bring good to marketplace. His latin name is Mercury => Comerce; Merchant; Merchandise;
• God of Heralds and Messengers: main messenger of Zeus in Iliad and Odyssey

Question 6

Hermes Soul Guide

Answer 6

• Psychopompos: “Soul Guide”
• Conveys souls on final journey to underworld
• Psychostasia: “weighing of souls”
• Psycho = soul; pompos = sender

Question 7

Hermes Divine Messenger

Answer 7

• Petasus: traveller’s hat
• Talaria: sandals that are sometimes winged
• Caduceus: Herald’s staff, sometimes entwined with 2 snakes (vs Asclepius of one snake)

Question 8

Who is hermaphroditus and his story

Answer 8

• Hermaphroditus is the child of Hermes and Aphrodite
• Salmacis, a Naiad (water nymph) falls in love with Hermaphroditus and she clings to him while bathibng. She makes a prayer to the gods that they may never be separated. Their bodies join together, neither man or woman, possibly the origin of hermaphrodites. Originally the minor fertility deity

Question 9

Epithet of Hermes, slayer of…

Answer 9

Slayer of Argus Panoptes –> Argeïphontes