Hermes is the messenger of the gods, swift as the wind thanks to his winged sandals and winged hat, the petasos. He protects travellers, roads, merchants, shepherds, speakers, athletes and thieves too. He also guides the souls of the dead to the underworld, as psychopompos. To the Romans he was Mercury, the name of the planet closest to the Sun and of the liquid metal.
A prodigious baby
Son of Zeus and the nymph Maia, he was born in a cave on Mount Cyllene, in Arcadia, in the Peloponnese. On his first day of life he slipped out of his swaddling clothes, found a tortoise and, using the shell as a sound box and ox gut as strings, invented the lyre. Then he reached Thessaly and stole fifty cows from his brother Apollo, making them walk backwards and wearing sandals of twigs to confuse the tracks. Back in his cradle, he pretended to sleep.
Apollo discovered the theft and took him before Zeus, who laughed at the baby's cunning. To make peace, Hermes gave Apollo the lyre, and Apollo gave him the caduceus, a golden staff, and the task of guarding the herds. The caduceus, with two entwined snakes and two wings, is still a symbol of commerce.
Helper of gods and heroes
- On Zeus's orders he lulled to sleep and killed hundred-eyed Argus, who was guarding Io.
- He gave Perseus winged sandals and a sword to kill Medusa.
- He gave Odysseus the herb moly, which protected him from the sorceress Circe's spells.
- He brought Persephone back from the underworld to her mother Demeter.
- He led Paris and the three goddesses to the judgement that sparked the Trojan War.
His cult
Hermes was worshipped everywhere, but above all in Arcadia. Along roads and in front of houses stood herms, pillars with the god's head that protected wayfarers. His name survives in words such as hermetic.
See also the twelve Olympians.