42 Facts About Hermes

Hermes'smesrmes is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology.

Hermes'smes is considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orators.

Hermes'smes is able to move quickly and freely between the worlds of the mortal and the divine, aided by his winged sandals.

Hermes'smesrmes plays the role of the psychopomp or "soul guide"—a conductor of souls into the afterlife.

Hermes'smesrmes is regarded as "the divine trickster, " about which the Homeric Hymn to Hermes'smesrmes offers the most well-known account.

Related searches

Scholarly speculation that "Hermes" derives from a more primitive form meaning "one cairn" is disputed.

Later, the epithet supplanted the original name itself and Hermes took over the roles as god of messengers, travelers, and boundaries, which had originally belonged to Pan, while Pan himself continued to be venerated by his original name in his more rustic aspect as the god of the wild in the relatively isolated mountainous region of Arcadia.

Image of Hermes evolved and varied along with Greek art and culture.

In Classical and Hellenistic Greece, Hermes was usually depicted as a young, athletic man lacking a beard.

The caduceus, historically, appeared with Hermes, and is documented among the Babylonians from about 3500 BC.

Two snakes coiled around a staff was a symbol of the god Ningishzida, who, like Hermes, served as a mediator between humans and the divine .

Hermes'smesrmes has been depicted with a purse or a bag in his hands, wearing a robe or cloak, which had the power to confer invisibility.

Hermes'smes's weapon was a sword of gold, which killed Argos; it was lent to Perseus to kill Medusa.

Hermes'smesrmes began as a god with strong chthonic, or underworld, associations.

Hermes'smes was a psychopomp, leader of souls along the road between "the Under and the Upper world".

Hermes'smesrmes was known as the patron god of flocks, herds, and shepherds, an attribute possibly tied to his early origin as an aspect of Pan.

In Boeotia, Hermes was worshiped for having saved the town from a plague by carrying a ram or calf around the city walls.

In Hesiod's The Works and Days, Hermes' is depicted giving Pandora the gifts of lies, seductive words, and a dubious character.

In Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes describes the god's birth and his theft of Apollo's sacred cattle.

Hermes'smes is said to have invented the chelys lyre, as well as racing and the sport of wrestling.

Cult of Hermes flourished in Attica, and many scholars writing before the discovery of the Linear B evidence considered Hermes to be a uniquely Athenian god.

Hermes'smesrmanubis depicted with a human body and a jackal head, holding the caduceus.

Christian philosophers used Hermetic writings and other ancient philosophical literature to support their belief in the prisca theologia, arguing that Hermes Trismegistus was a contemporary of Moses, or that he was the third in a line of important prophets after Enoch and Noah.

One of the oldest places of worship for Hermes was Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, where some myths say he was born.

Hermes'smesrmes was called Atlantiades, because his mother, Maia was the daughter of Atlas.

Related searches

Hermes'smesrmes placed a charm on Argus' eyes with the caduceus to cause the giant to sleep, after which he slew the giant.

Hermes'smesrmes was called Cyllenian, because according to some myths he was born at the Mount Cyllene, and nursed by the Oread nymph Cyllene.

Hermes'smesrmes is sometimes depicted in art works holding a purse.

Hermes'smes is known as the friendliest to man, cunning, treacherous, and a schemer.

Hermes'smesrmes knows the boundaries and crosses the borders of them to confuse their definition.

Hermes'smes was a divine ally of the Greeks against the Trojans.

Hermes'smes rescued Ares from a brazen vessel where he had been imprisoned by Otus and Ephialtes.

Hermes'smesrmes instructed Odysseus to protect himself by chewing a magic herb; he told Calypso of Zeus' order to free Odysseus from her island to allow him to continue his journey back home.

Hermes'smesrmes was then instructed to take her as wife to Epimetheus.

Aeschylus wrote in The Eumenides that Hermes helped Orestes kill Clytemnestra under a false identity and other stratagems, and said that he was the god of searches, and those who seek things lost or stolen.

Hermes'smes said that Hermes'smesrmes had assigned each person his share of intelligence.

Callimachus said that Hermes disguised himself as a Cyclops to scare the Oceanids and was disobedient to his mother.

One of the Orphic Hymns Khthonios is dedicated to Hermes, indicating that he was a god of the underworld.

Anyte of Tegea of the 3rd century BC, in the translation by Richard Aldington, wrote, I Hermes stand here at the crossroads by the wind beaten orchard, near the hoary grey coast; and I keep a resting place for weary men.

Crocus was said to be a beloved of Hermes and was accidentally killed by the god in a game of discus when he unexpectedly stood up; as the unfortunate youth's blood dripped on the soil, the saffron flower came to be.

In Jungian psychology especially, Hermes is seen as relevant to study of the phenomenon of synchronicity :.

Hermes'smes is identified by some with the archetype of healer, as the ancient Greeks ascribed healing magic to him.