Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology (Facts on File Library ...

Philostratus’s Imagines describes a painting
that features the main outlines <strong>of</strong> Hermes’
birth <strong>and</strong> theft <strong>of</strong> the cattle. Hermes is shown
hiding the cattle in a crevice <strong>of</strong> the earth
<strong>and</strong> slipping back into swaddling clothes
while Apollo confronts a confused Maia
with Hermes’ misdeeds. In the same painting,
Hermes also attempts to steal Apollo’s
weapons, but when he is caught, Apollo is
more charmed than aggrieved (a scene also
described in Horace’s Odes [1.10]).
Hermes <strong>and</strong> Apollo shared the same love
interest; they competed for the affections <strong>of</strong>
Chione. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Hermes <strong>and</strong>
Apollo impregnated her with twins on the same
day. Autolycus, a trickster figure, took after his
father, Hermes, while Apollo bestowed musical
skills on his son Philammon.
Many myths feature Hermes in his role
as guide: He brought the newborn Ion, son
<strong>of</strong> Apollo, to Apollo’s temple at Delphi in
Euripides’ Ion, returned Persephone to her
mother, Demeter, following her abduction,
<strong>and</strong> escorted P<strong>and</strong>ora to her earthly husb<strong>and</strong>,
Epimetheus. He also led Athena, Aphrodite,
<strong>and</strong> Hera to Mount Ida for the Judgment <strong>of</strong>
Paris. He guided Perseus to the Graeae in
his quest to slay Medusa. In Homer’s Iliad,
Hermes guided Priam to Achilles’ tent so
that the king could <strong>of</strong>fer a ransom for his son
Hector’s body.
Hermes has a close relationship to Zeus,
whom he sometimes aided in the subterfuge
necessary for his extramarital seductions, as in
Zeus’s affairs with Europa, Ganymede, <strong>and</strong> Io.
Hermes was comm<strong>and</strong>ed by Zeus to free his
beloved Io, who had been transformed into a
white heifer <strong>and</strong> was watched over by Argus,
servant <strong>of</strong> Hera. Disguised as a shepherd,
Hermes lulled the herdsman into closing his
many eyes in sleep with the aid <strong>of</strong> his reed
pipe. Hermes then beheaded Argus (in other
versions, he killed the Argus with a stone) <strong>and</strong>
thereafter assumed the epithet Argeiphontes, or
“slayer <strong>of</strong> Argus.” Hermes also accompanies
Zeus in the myth <strong>of</strong> Baucis <strong>and</strong> Philemon. In
Hermes
Apollodorus, Hermes killed the giant Hippolytus
in the Gigantomachy.
Hermes is associated with fertility <strong>and</strong>
prosperity. A herm, a phallic pillar surmounted
by a head, was placed in towns <strong>and</strong> on thresholds
as a good omen. Despite this link to
fertility, Hermes’ <strong>of</strong>fspring were few—when
they can be said with authority to be his—<strong>and</strong>
his loves were few. Some authors, but not
all, identify Autolycus, Cephalus, Eurytus,
Eudorus, <strong>and</strong> Pan as sons <strong>of</strong> Hermes. Another
<strong>of</strong>fspring attributed to him is Hermaphroditus,
whose mother was Aphrodite. In Ovid’s
Metamorphoses, Hermes fell in love with Herse
(see Aglaurus <strong>and</strong> Herse), daughter <strong>of</strong> King
Cecrops <strong>of</strong> Athens, <strong>and</strong> when Herse’s sister
Aglaurus became inflamed by Envy (at the
instigation <strong>of</strong> Athena), Hermes turned her to
stone. In Apollodorus’s Library, Hermes loved
Apemosyne, descendant <strong>of</strong> King Minos <strong>of</strong>
Crete.
In addition to his more prominent functions
as messenger <strong>and</strong> guide, Hermes was associated
with prosperity in commerce—he is said to
have invented weights <strong>and</strong> measures—<strong>and</strong> created
the first wrestling schools. Hermes’ broad
domain <strong>of</strong> responsibility is the basis for a comic
complaint, in Lucian’s Dialogues <strong>of</strong> the Gods (4),
about the incredible quantity <strong>of</strong> work for which
the young god is responsible.
Visual representations <strong>of</strong> Hermes in antiquity
depict a youthful god, sometimes bearded
<strong>and</strong> sometimes not, wearing easily identifiable
attributes: winged s<strong>and</strong>als, helmet, <strong>and</strong>
caduceus. Postclassical images such as Andrea
Mantegna’s Parnassus <strong>of</strong> 1497 (Louvre, Paris)
follow similar iconographic conventions. He
is shown stealing the cattle <strong>of</strong> Apollo on an
Attic black-figure hydria from the sixth century
b.c.e. (Louvre, Paris). Hermes appears in
images that represent the underworld as on an
Apulian red-figure volute krater from ca. 330
b.c.e. (Antikensammlungen, Munich). Here
Hades <strong>and</strong> Persephone are shown with other
figures associated with the world <strong>of</strong> the dead,
including Orpheus, Sisyphus, <strong>and</strong> Hermes.