Godly pr
From Realmofthemuse
{{Infobox Individual| Hermes,
Greek God |
character journal=godly_pr |
individual name=Hermes |
image=
|
race=God |
home planet=Greece |
home era=All Times |
affiliated with=Antigone, Poseidon, Psyche, Aphrodite, Hestia |
writer=[EJ |}}
Contents |
HERMES
Hermes is a playful Greek/Roman God. He usually appears between the ages of 12 and 20, with blond hair and clean shaven face. His eyes are a bright blue, and he is usually smiling. One of the younger Greek Gods, he certainly acts his age...of five. He likes to play tricks, and he rarely takes things as seriously as they should be taken. He likes to win, and is not above telling others things to get his way. However, there is one thing you can always be sure of with Hermes- He'll never tell a lie.
Mythology Of Hermes
Hermes, in Greek mythology, is the Olympian god of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures, of invention, of commerce in general, and of the cunning of thieves and liars. The Homeric hymn to Hermes invokes him as the one
"of many shifts (polutropos), blandly cunning, a robber, a cattle driver, a bringer of dreams, a watcher by night, a thief at the gates, one who was soon to show forth wonderful deeds among the deathless gods."
As a translator, Hermes is a messenger from the gods to humans, sharing this with Iris. An interpreter who bridges the boundaries with strangers is a hermeneus. Hermes gives us our word "hermeneutics" for the art of interpreting hidden meaning. In Greek a lucky find was a hermaion.
Hermes, as an inventor of fire, is a parallel of the Titan, Prometheus. In addition to the syrinx and the lyre, Hermes was believed to have invented many types of racing and the sport of boxing, and therefore was a patron of athletes. Modern mythographers have connected Hermes with the trickster gods of other cultures.
Hermes also served as a psychopomp, or an escort for the dead to help them find their way to the afterlife (the Underworld in the Greek myths). In many Greek myths, Hermes was depicted as the only god besides Hades and Persephone who could enter and leave the Underworld without hindrance.
In the fully-developed Olympian pantheon, Hermes was the son of Zeus and the Pleiade Maia, a daughter of the Titan Atlas. Hermes' symbols were the rooster and the tortoise, and he can be recognized by his purse or pouch, winged sandals, winged cap, and the herald's staff, the kerykeion. Hermes was the god of thieves because he was very cunning and shrewd and was a thief himself from the night he was born, when he slipped away from Maia and ran away to steal his elder brother Apollo's cattle.
Hermes was loyal to his father Zeus. When the nymph Io, one of Zeus' consorts, was trapped by Hera and guarded over by the many-eyed giant Argus Panoptes, Hermes saved her by lulling the giant to sleep with stories and then decapitating him with a crescent-shaped sword.
In the Roman adaptation of the Greek religion, Hermes was identified with the Roman god Mercury, who, though inherited from the Etruscans, developed many similar characteristics, such as being the patron of commerce.
Hermes is Related To
Antigone | Poseidon | Psyche | Aphrodite | Hestia |
Epithets of Hermes
Argeiphontes
Hermes' epithet Argeiphontes, or Argus-slayer, recalls his slaying of the many-eyed giant Argus Panoptes, who was watching over the heifer-nymph Io in the sanctuary of Queen Hera herself in Argos. Putting Argus to sleep, Hermes used a spell to permanently close all of Argus's eyes and then slew the giant. Argus's eyes were then put into the tail of the peacock, symbol of the goddess Hera.
Logios
His epithet of Logios is the representation of the god in the act of speaking, as orator, or as the god of eloquence. Indeed, together with Athena, he was the standard divine representation of eloquence in classical Greece. The Homeric Hymn to Hermes (probably 6th century BC) describes Hermes making a successful speech from the cradle to defend himself from the (true) charge of cattle theft. Somewhat later, Proclus' commentary on Plato's Republic describes Hermes as the god of persuasion. Yet later, Neoplatonists viewed Hermes Logios more mystically as origin of a "Hermaic chain" of light and radiance emanating from the divine intellect (nous). This epithet also produced a sculptural type.
Other epithets included:
Agoraios, of the agora Acacesius, of Acacus Charidotes, giver of charm Criophorus, ram-bearer Cyllenius, born on Mount Cyllene Diaktoros, the messenger Dolios, the schemer Enagonios, of the (Olympic) games Enodios, on the road Epimelius, keeper of flocks Eriounios, luck bringer Polygius Psychopompos, conveyor of souls
Cult
Though temples to Hermes existed throughout Greece, a major center of his cult was at Pheneos in Arcadia, where festivals in his honor were called Hermoea.
As a crosser of boundaries, Hermes Psychopompos' ("conductor of the soul") was a psychopomp, meaning he brought newly-dead souls to the Underworld and Hades. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Hermes conducted Persephone the Kore (young girl or virgin), safely back to Demeter. He also brought dreams to living mortals.
Among the Hellenes, as the related word herma ("a boundary stone, crossing point") would suggest, Hermes embodied the spirit of crossing-over: He was seen to be manifest in any kind of interchange, transfer, transgressions, transcendence, transition, transit or traversal, all of which involve some form of crossing in some sense. This explains his connection with transitions in one���¢s fortune -- with the interchanges of goods, words and information involved in trade, interpretion, oration, writing -- with the way in which the wind may transfer objects from one place to another, and with the transition to the afterlife.
Many graffito dedications to Hermes have been found in the Athenian Agora, in keeping with his epithet of Agoraios and his role as patron of commerce.
Originally, Hermes was depicted as an older, bearded, phallic god, but in the 6th century BCE, the traditional Hermes was reimagined as an athletic youth (illustration, top right). Statues of the new type of Hermes stood at stadiums and gymnasiums throughout Greece.
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 a midwife or a wise and gentle old woman; so the nymph appears to have been an ancient one, or more probably a goddess. At any rate, she was one of the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas, taking refuge in a cave of Mount Cyllene in Arcadia.
The infant Hermes was precocious. His first day he invented the lyre. By nightfall, he had rustled the immortal cattle of Apollo. For the first sacrifice, the taboos surrounding the sacred kine of Apollo had to be transgressed, and the trickster god of boundaries was the one to do it.
Hermes drove the cattle back to Greece and hid them, and covered their tracks. When Apollo accused Hermes, Maia said that it could not be him because he was with her the whole night. However, Zeus entered the argument and said that Hermes did steal the cattle and they should be returned. While arguing with Apollo, Hermes began to play his lyre. The instrument enchanted Apollo and he agreed to let Hermes keep the cattle in exchange for the lyre.
Hermes' offspring
Pan
The satyr-like Greek god of nature, shepherds and flocks, Pan was often said to be the son of Hermes through the nymph Dryope. In the Homeric Hymn to Pan, Pan's mother ran away from the newborn god in fright over his goat-like appearance.
Hermaphroditus
Hermaphroditus was an immortal son of Hermes through Aphrodite. He was changed into a hermaphrodite (person with both male and female parts) when the gods literally granted the nymph Salmacis's wish that they never separate.
Tyche
The goddess of luck, Tyche, or Fortuna, was sometimes said to be the daughter of Hermes and Aphrodite.
Abderus
Abderus was a son of Hermes who was devoured by the Mares of Diomedes. He had gone to the Mares with his friend Heracles.
Autolycus
Autolycus, the Prince of Thieves, was a son of Hermes and grandfather of Odysseus.
List of Hermes' consorts and children
Aglaurus Athenian priestess Eumolpus warlord Antianeira Malian princess Echion Argonaut Apemosyne Cretan princess Aphrodite Eunomia Hermaphroditus Rhodos Tyche Carmentis Arcadian nymph Evander founder of Latium Chione Phocian princess Autolycus thief Dryope Arcadian nymph Pan rustic god Eupolomia Phthian princess Aethalides Argonaut herald Herse Athenian priestess Cephalus hunter(Also Ceryx) Crocus who died and became the crocus flower Pandrosus Athenian priestess Ceryx Eleusinian herald Peitho( "Persuasion" his wife according to Nonnos) Sicilian nymph Daphnis rustic poet Theobula Eleian princess Myrtilus charioteer Born of the urine of Hermes, Poseidon and Zeus Orion giant hunter Unknown mothers Abderus squire of Heracles
Hermes in the myths
The Iliad
In Homer's Iliad, Hermes helps King Priam of Troy (Ilium) sneak into the Achaean (Greek) encampment to confront Achilles and convince him to return Hector's body.
The Odyssey
In Odyssey book 5, Hermes is sent to demand from Calypso Odysseus' release; in book 10 he protects Odysseus from Circe by bestowing upon him a herb, moly, which would protect him from her spell.
Argus Panoptes/Io
Hermes, at the request of Zeus, lulled the giant Argus to sleep and rescued Io, but Hera sent a gadfly to sting Io as she wandered the earth in cow form. Zeus eventually changed Io back to human form, and she became through Epaphus; her son with Zeus the ancestress of Heracles.
Perseus
Hermes aided Perseus in killing the gorgon Medusa by giving Perseus his winged sandals and Zeus' sickle. He also gave Perseus Hades' helmet of invisibility and told him to use it so that Medusa's immortal sisters could not see him. Athena helped Perseus as well by lending him her polished shield. Hermes also guided Perseus to the Underworld.
Prometheus
In the ancient play Prometheus Bound, attributed to Aeschylus, Zeus sends Hermes to confront the enchained Titan Prometheus about a prophecy of the Titan's that Zeus would be overthrown. Hermes scolds Prometheus for being unreasonable and willing to endure torture, but Prometheus refuses to give him details about the prophecy.
Herse/Aglaurus/Pandrosus
When Hermes loved Herse, one of three sisters who served Athena as priestesses or parthenos, her jealous older sister Aglaurus stood between them. Hermes changed Aglaurus to stone. Hermes then impregnated Aglaurus while she was stone. Cephalus was the son of Hermes and Herse. Hermes had another son, Ceryx, who was said to be the offspring of either Herse or Herse's other sister, Pandrosus. With Aglaurus, Hermes was the father of Eumolpus.
Other stories
In the story of the musician Orpheus, Hermes brought Eurydice back to Hades after Orpheus failed to bring her back to life when he looked back toward her after Hades told him not to.
Hermes helped to protect the infant god Dionysus from Hera, after Hera destroyed Dionysus' mortal mother Semele through her jealousy that Semele had conceived an immortal son of Zeus.
Hermes changed the Minyades into bats.
Hermes learned from the Thriae the arts of fortune-telling and divination.
When the gods created Pandora, it was Hermes who brought her to mortals and bestowed upon her a strong sense of curiosity.
King Atreus of Mycenae retook the throne from his brother Thyestes using advice he received from the 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.
Diogenes, speaking in jest, related the myth of Hermes taking pity on his son Pan, who was pining for Echo but unable to get a hold of her, and teaching him the trick of masturbation to relieve his suffering. Pan later taught the habit to the young shepherds.
Most of the Hermes information came from: Wiki
