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Hermes was a god of transitions and boundaries. He was quick and cunning, and moved freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine, as emissary and messenger of the gods,<ref>[[Iris (mythology)|Iris]] had a similar role as divine messenger.</ref> intercessor between mortals and the divine, and [[psychopomp|conductor of souls]] into the afterlife. He was protector and patron of travelers, [[Pastoralism|herdsmen]], thieves,<ref name=" Brown"/> orators and wit, literature and poets, athletics and sports, invention and trade.<ref>[[Walter Burkert]], ''Greek Religion'' 1985 section III.2.8.</ref> In some myths he is a [[trickster]], and outwits other gods for his own satisfaction or the sake of humankind. His attributes and symbols include the [[herma]], the [[rooster]] and the [[tortoise]], [[Wallet|purse]] or pouch, [[talaria|winged sandals]], [[petasus|winged cap]], and his main symbol was the herald's staff, the Greek ''[[kerykeion]]'' or Latin ''[[caduceus]]'' which consisted of two snakes wrapped around a winged staff.<ref>The Latin word ''{{lang|la|cādūceus}}'' is an adaptation of the Greek {{lang|grc|κηρύκειον}} ''{{lang|grc-Latn|kērukeion}}'', meaning "herald's wand (or staff)", deriving from {{lang|grc|κῆρυξ }} ''{{lang|grc-Latn|kērux}}'', meaning "messenger, herald, envoy". Liddell and Scott, ''Greek-English Lexicon''; Stuart L. Tyson, "The Caduceus", ''The Scientific Monthly'', '''34'''.6, (1932:492-98) p. 493</ref> |
Hermes was a god of transitions and boundaries. He was quick and cunning, and moved freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine, as emissary and messenger of the gods,<ref>[[Iris (mythology)|Iris]] had a similar role as divine messenger.</ref> intercessor between mortals and the divine, and [[psychopomp|conductor of souls]] into the afterlife. He was protector and patron of travelers, [[Pastoralism|herdsmen]], thieves,<ref name=" Brown"/> orators and wit, literature and poets, athletics and sports, invention and trade.<ref>[[Walter Burkert]], ''Greek Religion'' 1985 section III.2.8.</ref> In some myths he is a [[trickster]], and outwits other gods for his own satisfaction or the sake of humankind. His attributes and symbols include the [[herma]], the [[rooster]] and the [[tortoise]], [[Wallet|purse]] or pouch, [[talaria|winged sandals]], [[petasus|winged cap]], and his main symbol was the herald's staff, the Greek ''[[kerykeion]]'' or Latin ''[[caduceus]]'' which consisted of two snakes wrapped around a winged staff.<ref>The Latin word ''{{lang|la|cādūceus}}'' is an adaptation of the Greek {{lang|grc|κηρύκειον}} ''{{lang|grc-Latn|kērukeion}}'', meaning "herald's wand (or staff)", deriving from {{lang|grc|κῆρυξ }} ''{{lang|grc-Latn|kērux}}'', meaning "messenger, herald, envoy". Liddell and Scott, ''Greek-English Lexicon''; Stuart L. Tyson, "The Caduceus", ''The Scientific Monthly'', '''34'''.6, (1932:492-98) p. 493</ref> |
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In the Roman adaptation of the Greek pantheon (see ''[[interpretatio graeca|interpretatio romana]]''), Hermes was identified with the Roman god [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]], who, though inherited from the [[Etruscans]], developed many similar characteristics, such as |
In the Roman adaptation of the Greek pantheon (see ''[[interpretatio graeca|interpretatio romana]]''), Hermes was identified with the Roman god [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]], who, though inherited from the [[Etruscans]], developed many similar characteristics, such as being the patron of commerce. {{citation needed|date=November 2011}} |
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==Etymology== |
==Etymology== |
Revision as of 00:52, 4 April 2013
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Equivalents | |
Roman equivalent | Mercury |
Hermes (/[invalid input: 'icon']ˈhɜːrmiːz/; Greek : Ἑρμῆς) was an Olympian god in Greek religion and mythology, son of Zeus and the Pleiade Maia. He was second youngest of the Olympian gods.
Hermes was a god of transitions and boundaries. He was quick and cunning, and moved freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine, as emissary and messenger of the gods,[1] intercessor between mortals and the divine, and conductor of souls into the afterlife. He was protector and patron of travelers, herdsmen, thieves,[2] orators and wit, literature and poets, athletics and sports, invention and trade.[3] In some myths he is a trickster, and outwits other gods for his own satisfaction or the sake of humankind. His attributes and symbols include the herma, the rooster and the tortoise, purse or pouch, winged sandals, winged cap, and his main symbol was the herald's staff, the Greek kerykeion or Latin caduceus which consisted of two snakes wrapped around a winged staff.[4]
In the Roman adaptation of the Greek pantheon (see interpretatio romana), 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. [citation needed]
Etymology
The earliest form of the name Hermes is the Mycenaean Greek e-ma-a2 , written in Linear B syllabic script.[5] Most scholars derive "Hermes" from Greek herma[6] (a stone, roadside shrine or boundary marker), dedicated to Hermes as a god of travelers and boundaries; the etymology of herma itself is unknown. "Hermes" may be related to Greek hermeneus ("the interpreter"), reflecting Hermes' function as divine messenger.[7][8][9] Plato offers a Socratic folk-etymology for Hermes' name, deriving it from the divine messenger's reliance on eirein (the power of speech).[9] Scholarly speculation that "Hermes" derives from a more primitive form meaning "one cairn" is disputed.[8] The word "hermeneutics", the study and theory of interpretation, is derived from hermeneus. In Greek a lucky find was a hermaion.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Hermes_Maia_Staatliche_Antikensammlungen_2304.jpg/250px-Hermes_Maia_Staatliche_Antikensammlungen_2304.jpg)
Mythology
Early Greek sources
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Hermes_crioforo.jpg/250px-Hermes_crioforo.jpg)
Homer and Hesiod portrayed Hermes as the author of skilled or deceptive acts, and also as a benefactor of mortals. In the Iliad he was called "the bringer of good luck," "guide and guardian" and "excellent in all the tricks." He was a divine ally of the Greeks against the Trojans. However, he did protect Priam when he went to the Greek camp to retrieve the body of his son Hector. When Priam got it, Hermes took them back to Troy.[10]
He also rescued Ares from a brazen vessel where he had been imprisoned by Otus and Ephialtes. In the Odyssey he helped his great-grand son, the protagonist, Odysseus, informing him about the fate of his companions, who were turned into animals by the power of Circe, and instructed him to protect himself by chewing a magic herb; he also told Calypso Zeus' order for her to free the same hero from her island to continue his journey back home. When Odysseus killed the suitors of his wife, Hermes led their souls to Hades.[11] In The Works and Days, when Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create Pandora to disgrace humanity by punishing the act of Prometheus giving fire to man, every god gave her a gift, and Hermes’ gift was lies and seductive words, and a dubious character. Then he was instructed to take her as wife to Epimetheus.[12]
Many other myths feature Hermes. Aeschylus wrote that Hermes helped Orestes kill Clytemnestra under a false identity and other stratagems,[2] and also said that he was the god of searches, and those who seek things lost or stolen.[13] Sophocles wrote that Odysseus invoked him when he needed to convince Philoctetes to join the Trojan War on the side of the Greeks, and Euripides did appear to help in spy Dolon Greek navy.[2]
Aesop, who allegedly received his literary talents from Hermes, featured him in several of his fables, as ruler of the gate of prophetic dreams, as the god of athletes, of edible roots, and of hospitality. He also said that Hermes had assigned each person his share of intelligence.[14] Pindar and Aristophanes also document his recent association with the gym, which did not exist at the time of Homer.[15]
The Homeric hymn to Hermes invokes him as the one "of many shifts (polytropos), 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."[16] Hermes, as an inventor of fire,[17] is a parallel of the Titan, Prometheus. In addition to the lyre, Hermes was believed to have invented many types of racing and the sports of wrestling and boxing, and therefore was a patron of athletes.[18]
Hellenistic Greek sources
Several writers of the Hellenistic period expanded the list of Hermes’ achievements. Callimachus said he disguised himself as a cyclops to scare the Oceanides and was disobedient to his mother.[19] One of the Orphic Hymns Khthonios is dedicated to Hermes, indicating that he was also a god of the underworld. Aeschylus had called him by this epithet several times.[20] Another is the Orphic Hymn to Hermes, where his association with the athletic games held in tone is mystic.[21]
Phlegon of Tralles said he was invoked to ward off ghosts,[22] and Pseudo-Apollodorus reported several events involving Hermes. He participated in the Gigantomachy in defense of Olympus; was given the task of bringing baby Dionysus to be cared for by Ino and Athamas and later by nymphs of Asia, followed Hera, Athena and Aphrodite in a beauty contest; favored the young Hercules by giving him a sword when he finished his education and lent his sandals to Perseus.[23] The Thracian princes identified him with their god Zalmoxis, considering his ancestor.[24]
Anyte of Tegea of the 3rd century BC,[25] in translation by R Aldington, wrote:[26]
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. And the cool stainless spring gushes out.
called Hermes of the Ways after the patronage of travellers.[27][28]
Epithets of Hermes
Kriophoros
Argeiphontes
Hermes' epithet Ἀργειφόντης Argeiphontes (Latin: Argicida), meaning "Argus-slayer",[29][30] recalls his slaying of the hundred-eyed giant Argus Panoptes, who was watching over the heifer-nymph Io in the sanctuary of Queen Hera herself in Argos. Hermes placed a charm on Argus's eyes with the caduceus to cause the giant to sleep, after this he slew the giant.[6] Argus' eyes were then put into the tail of the peacock, symbol of the goddess Hera.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Hermes_the_scholar.jpg/150px-Hermes_the_scholar.jpg)
Messenger and guide
- Diactoros, (angelos[31]) the messenger,[32] is in fact only seen in this role, for Zeus, from within the pages of the Odyssey (Brown 1990).[2]
... Oh mighty messenger of the gods of the upper and lower worlds ... (Aeschylus).[33]
Explicitly, at least in sources of classical writings, of Euripides Electra and Iphigenia in Aulis[34] and in Epictetus Discourses.[35] According to Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine (1849) the chief office of the God was as messenger.[36]
The messenger divine and herald of the Gods, he wears the gifts from his father, the Petasus and Talaria ...[37]
and also
- hodios patron of travelers and wayfarers[29]
- oneiropompus, conductor of dreams[29]
- poimandres, shepherd of men[38]
- psychopompos, conveyor or conductor of souls[32][39] and psychogogue, conductor or leader of souls in (or through) the underworld[40][41]
the factor of travelling or motion with or without others with respect to the physical landscape, or the landscape of the soul , is the core attribute of the god as messenger and guide[42][43][44]
Trade
- Agoraeus, of the agora;[45] belonging to the market - (in Aristophanes [trans. Ehrenberg],[46]) patron of gymnasia[47]
- Dolios (lit. tricky.[48] [According to prominent folklorist Yeleazar Meletinsky, Hermes is a deified trickster.[49]] ) - god (or patron guidance[50]) and master[51] of thieves ("a plunderer, a cattle-raider, a night-watching" - in Homers' Hymns[52])...
and deception (Euripedes)[53] and (possibly evil) tricks and trickeries,[54][55][56][57] crafty (from lit. god of craft[58]), the cheat,[59] god of stealth[60] and of cunning,[61] (see also to act secretively as kleptein in reference - EL Wheeler), of treachery,[62] the schemer,[63] wily,[64] was worshipped at Pellene [Pausanias, vii. 27, 1]),[65] and invoked through Odysseus.[66]
(As the ways of gain are not always the ways of honesty and straightforwardness, Hermes obtains a bad character and an in-moral (amoral [ed.]) cult as Dolios)
— [67]
Hermes is amoral[68] like a baby.[69] although Zeus sent Hermes as a teacher to humanity to teach them knowledge of and value of justice and to improve inter-personal relationships ("bonding between mortals").[70]
- Empolaios "engaged in traffic and commerce"[55]
Additional
Other epithets included:
- chthonius - At the festival Athenia Chytri sacrifices are made to this visage of the god only.[71][72]
- cyllenius, born on Mount Kyllini
- epimelios, guardian of flocks[29]
- koinos[73]
- kriophoros "ram-bearer"[74]
- ploutodotes, giver of wealth (as inventor of fire)[75]
- proopylaios, "before the gate" (Edwardson 2011), (guardian of the gate),[76]Pylaios "doorkeeper"[77]
- strophaios, "standing at the door post"[55][78]
- Stropheus, "the socket in which the pivot of the door moves" (Kerényi in Edwardson) or "door-hinge". Protector of the door (that is the boundary), to the temple[45][79][80][81][82]
Worship and cult
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/0007MAN-Herma.jpg/200px-0007MAN-Herma.jpg)
Prior to being known as Hermes, Frothingham thought the god to have existed as a snake-god.[83] Angelo (1997) thinks Hermes to be based on the Thoth archetype.[84] The absorbing ("combining") of the attributes of Hermes to Thoth developed after the time of Homer amongst Greek and Roman; Herodotus was the first to identify the Greek god with the Egyptian (Hermopolis), Plutarch and Diodorus also, although Plato thought the gods to be dis-similar (Friedlander 1992).[85][86]
A cult was established in Greece in remote regions, likely making him a god of nature, farmers and shepherds. It is also possible that since the beginning he has been a deity with shamanic attributes linked to divination, reconciliation, magic, sacrifices, and initiation and contact with other planes of existence, a role of mediator between the worlds of the visible and invisible.[87]
During the 3rd century BC, a communication between Petosiris (a priest) to King Nechopso, probably written in Alexandria c. 150 BC, states Hermes is the teacher of all secret wisdoms available to knowing by the experience of religious ecstasy.[38][88][89]
Due to his constant mobility, he was considered the god of commerce and social intercourse, the wealth brought in business, especially sudden or unexpected enrichment, travel, roads and crossroads, borders and boundary conditions or transient, the changes from the threshold, agreements and contracts, friendship, hospitality, sexual intercourse, games, data, the draw, good luck, the sacrifices and the sacrificial animals, flocks and shepherds and the fertility of land and cattle. In addition to serving as messenger to Zeus, Hermes carried the souls of the dead to Hades, and directed the dreams sent by Zeus to mortals.[90][91][92]
Temples
One of the oldest places of worship for Hermes was Mount Cilene in Arcadia, where the myth says that he was born. Tradition says that his first temple was built by Lycaon. From there the cult would have been taken to Athens, and then radiate to the whole of Greece, according to Smith, and his temples and statues became extremely numerous.[90] Lucian of Samosata said he saw the temples of Hermes everywhere.[93]
In many places, temples were consecrated in conjunction with Aphrodite, as in Attica, Arcadia, Crete, Samos and in Magna Graecia. Several ex-votos found in his temples revealed his role as initiator of young adulthood, among them soldiers and hunters, since war and certain forms of hunting were seen as ceremonial initiatory ordeals. This function of Hermes explains why some images in temples and other vessels show him as a teenager. As a patron of the gym and fighting, Hermes had statues in gyms and he was also worshiped in the sanctuary of the Twelve Gods in Olympia, where Greeks celebrated the Olympic Games. His statue was held there on an altar dedicated to him and Apollo together.[94] A temple within the Aventine was consecrated in 495 BC.[95][96]
Symbols of Hermes were the palm tree, turtle, rooster, goat, the number four, several kinds of fish, incense. Sacrifices involved honey, cakes, pigs, goats, and lambs. In the sanctuary of Hermes Promakhos in Tanagra is a strawberry tree under which it was believed he had created,[97] and in the hills Phene ran three sources that were sacred to him, because he believed that they had been bathed at birth.
Festival
Hermes’ feast was the special Hermaea was celebrated with sacrifices to the god and with athletics and gymnastics, possibly having been established in the 6th century BC, but no documentation on the festival before the 4th century BC survives. However, Plato said that Socrates attended a Hermaea. Of all the festivals involving Greek games, these were the most like initiations because participation in them was restricted to young boys and excluded adults.[98]
Hermai/Herms
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/Byzantine_-_Circular_Pyxis_-_Walters_7164_-_View_C.jpg/220px-Byzantine_-_Circular_Pyxis_-_Walters_7164_-_View_C.jpg)
In Ancient Greece, Hermes was a phallic god of boundaries. His name, in the form herma, was applied to a wayside marker pile of stones; each traveller added a stone to the pile. In the 6th century BCE, Hipparchos, the son of Pisistratus, replaced the cairns that marked the midway point between each village deme at the central agora of Athens with a square or rectangular pillar of stone or bronze topped by a bust of Hermes with a beard. An erect phallus rose from the base. In the more primitive Mount Kyllini or Cyllenian herms, the standing stone or wooden pillar was simply a carved phallus. In Athens, herms were placed outside houses for good luck. "That a monument of this kind could be transformed into an Olympian god is astounding," Walter Burkert remarked.[100]
In 415 BCE, when the Athenian fleet was about to set sail for Syracuse during the Peloponnesian War, all of the Athenian hermai were vandalized one night. The Athenians at the time believed it was the work of saboteurs, either from Syracuse or from the anti-war faction within Athens itself. Socrates' pupil Alcibiades was suspected of involvement, and Socrates indirectly paid for the impiety with his life.[101]
Hermes' offspring
Pan
The satyr-like Greek god of nature, shepherds and flocks, Pan, could possibly be the son of Hermes through the nymph Dryope.[102] In the Homeric Hymn to Pan, Pan's mother fled in fright from her newborn son's goat-like appearance.[citation needed]
Priapus
Depending on the sources consulted, the god Priapus could be understood as a son of Hermes.[103]
Autolycus
Autolycus, the Prince of Thieves, was a son of Hermes and Chione (mortal) and grandfather of Odysseus.[104][105]
Extended list of Hermes' lovers and children
- Acacallis
- Aglaurus
- Amphion[106]
- Alcidameia of Corinth
- Antianeira / Laothoe
- Apemosyne
- Aphrodite
- Eros (possibly)
- Hermaphroditus
- Tyche (possibly)
- Astabe, daughter of Peneus
- Carmentis
- Chione / Stilbe / Telauge[107]
- Chryses, priest of Apollo
- Chthonophyle
- Crocus
- Daeira the Oceanid
- Dryope, Arcadian nymph
- Pan (possibly)
- Erytheia (daughter of Geryones)
- Norax[108]
- Eupolemeia (daughter of Myrmidon)
- Hecate
- three unnamed daughters[109]
- Herse
- Hiereia
- Gigas[110]
- Iphthime (daughter of Dorus)
- Lycus
- Pherespondus
- Pronomus
- Libye (daughter of Palamedes)
- Libys[111]
- Ocyrhoe
- Caicus
- Odrysus[112]
- Orsinoe, nymph[113]
- Pan (possibly)
- Palaestra, daughter of Choricus
- Pandrosus
- Ceryx (possibly)
- Peitho
- Penelope
- Pan (possibly)
- Persephone (unsuccessfully wooed her)
- Perseus[114]
- Phylodameia
- Polydeuces[115]
- Polymele (daughter of Phylas)
- Rhene, nymph
- Sicilian nymph
- Sose, nymph
- Pan Agreus
- Tanagra, daughter of Asopus
- Theobula / Clytie / Clymene / Cleobule / Myrto / Phaethusa the Danaid
- Therses[117]
- Thronia
- Arabus
- Urania, Muse
- Linus (possibly)
- Unknown mothers
Genealogy of the Olympians in Greek mythology
Template:Genealogy of the Olympians in Greek mythology
Art and iconography
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/AGMA_T%C3%AAte_d%27Herm%C3%A8s.jpg/225px-AGMA_T%C3%AAte_d%27Herm%C3%A8s.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Hermes-louvre3.jpg/225px-Hermes-louvre3.jpg)
The image of Hermes evolved and varied according to Greek art and culture. During Archaic Greece he was usually depicted as a mature man, bearded, dressed as a traveler, herald, or pastor. During Classical and Hellenistic Greece he is usually depicted young and nude, with athleticism, as befits the god of speech and of the gymnastics, or a robe, a formula is set predominantly through the centuries. When represented as Logios (speaker), his attitude is consistent with the attribute. Phidias left a statue of a famous Hermes Logios and Praxiteles another, also well known, showing him with Dionysus baby arms. At all times, however, through the Hellenistic periods, Roman, and throughout Western history into the present day, several of his characteristic objects are present as identification, but not always all together.[90][118]
Among these objects is a wide-brimmed hat, the Petasos, widely used by rural people of antiquity to protect themselves from the sun, and that in later times was adorned with a pair of small wings, sometimes the hat is not present, but may then have wings rising from the hair. Another object is the Porta a stick, called rhabdomyolysis (stick) or skeptron (scepter), which is referred to as a magic wand. Some early sources say that this was the bat he received from Apollo, but others question the merits of this claim. It seems that there may have been two canes, with time in a cast, one of a shepherd's staff, as stated in the Homeric Hymn, and the other a magic wand, according to some authors. His bat also came to be called kerykeion, the caduceus, in later times. Early depictions of the staff it show it as a baton stick topped by a golden way that resembled the number eight, though sometimes with its top truncated and open. Later the staff had two intertwined snakes and sometimes it was crowned with a pair of wings and a ball, but the old form remained in use even when Hermes was associated with Mercury by the Romans.[90][119]
Hyginus explained the presence of snakes, saying that Hermes was traveling in Arcadia when he saw two snakes intertwined in battle. He put the caduceus between them and parted, and so said his staff would bring peace.[120] The caduceus, historically, there appeared with Hermes, and is documented among the Babylonians from about 3500 BC. The two snakes coiled around a stick was a symbol of the god Ningishzida, which served as a mediator between humans and the mother goddess Ishtar or the supreme Ningirsu. In Greece itself the other gods have been depicted holding a caduceus, but it was mainly associated with Hermes. It was said to have the power to make people fall asleep or wake up, and also made peace between litigants, and is a visible sign of his authority, being used as a sceptre.[90]
He was represented in doorways, possibly as an amulet of good fortune, or as a symbol of purification. The caduceus is not to be confused with the Rod of Asclepius, the patron of medicine and son of Apollo, which bears only one snake. The rod of Asclepius was adopted by most Western doctors as a badge of their profession, but in several medical organizations of the United States, the caduceus took its place since the 18th century, although this use is declining. After the Renaissance the caduceus also appeared in the heraldic crests of several, and currently is a symbol of commerce.[90]
His sandals, called pédila by the Greeks and talaria by the Romans were made of palm and myrtle branches, but were described as beautiful, golden and immortal, made a sublime art, able to take the roads with the speed of wind. Originally they had no wings, but late in the artistic representations, they are depicted. In certain images, the wings spring directly from the ankles. He has also been depicted with a purse or a bag in his hands, and wearing a robe or cloak, which had the power to confer invisibility. His weapon was a sword of gold, which killed Argos; lent to Perseus to kill Medusa.[90]
Modern psychological interpretation
For Carl Jung[121] Hermes was guide to the underworld[122] is become the god of the unconscious,[123] the mediator of information between the conscious and unconscious factors of the mind, and the archetypal messenger conveying communication between realms. Hermes is seminally the guide for the inner journey.[124][125] Jung considered the gods Thoth and Hermes to be counterparts (Yoshida 2006).[126] In Jungian psychology especially (by Combs and Holland 1994[127] ), Hermes is thought relevant to study of the phenomenon of synchronicity[128] ( together with Pan and Dionysus)[129][130]
Hermes is ... the archetypal core of Jung's psyche, theories ...
— DL Merritt[131]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Mercurius_Vigo_Galicia.jpg/395px-Mercurius_Vigo_Galicia.jpg)
In the context of psycho-therapy Hermes is our inner friendliness bringing together the disparate and perhaps isolated core elements of our selves belonging to the realms of the other gods;
...He does not fight with the other gods... it is Hermes in us who befriends our psychological complexes centered by the other gods...
— López-Pedraza
He is for some identified as the archetype of healer (López-Pedraza 2003)[132]... in ancient Greece he healed through magic[133](McNeely 2011).
In the context of abnormal psychology Samuels (1986) states that Jung considers Hermes the archetype for narcissistic disorder, but also lending the disorder a "positive" (beneficious) aspect, that is Hermes is both the good and bad of narcissism.[134]
For López-Pedraza, Hermes is the protector of psychotherapy.[135] For McNeely, Hermes is a god of the healing arts(p. 88[136]).
In a consideration of all the roles Hermes was understood to have fulfilled in ancient Greece Christopher Booker gives the genius of the god to be a guide or observer of transition.[137][138]
The trickster
For Jung the trickster is the guide in total for the psychotherapeutic process (p. 86)[139]
Hermes in popular culture
See also
Notes
- ^ Iris had a similar role as divine messenger.
- ^ a b c d Brown, Norman Oliver. Hermes the thief: the evolution of a myth. Steiner Books, 1990. pp. 3-10 Cite error: The named reference "Brown" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Walter Burkert, Greek Religion 1985 section III.2.8.
- ^ The Latin word cādūceus is an adaptation of the Greek κηρύκειον kērukeion, meaning "herald's wand (or staff)", deriving from κῆρυξ kērux, meaning "messenger, herald, envoy". Liddell and Scott, Greek-English Lexicon; Stuart L. Tyson, "The Caduceus", The Scientific Monthly, 34.6, (1932:492-98) p. 493
- ^ Joann Gulizio UDQ 292.11 University of texas Retrieved 2011-11-26
- ^ a b Greek History and the Gods. Grand Valley State University (Michigan). Retrieved 2012-04-08.
- ^ Silver, Morris (1992). Taking Ancient Mythology Economically. Leiden: Brill. pp. 159–160. ISBN 90-04-09706-6.
- ^ a b Davies, Anna Morpurgo & Duhoux, Yves. Linear B: a 1984 survey. Peeters Publishers, 1985. p. 136
- ^ a b Plato. Cratylu. 383.
- ^ Homer. The Iliad. The Project Gutenberg Etext. Trad. Samuel Butler
- ^ Homer. The Odyssey. Plain Label Books, 1990. Trad. Samuel Butler. pp. 40, 81-82, 192-195.
- ^ Hesiod. Works And Days. ll. 60-68. Trad. Hugh G. Evelyn-White, 1914
- ^ Aeschylus. suppliant Women, 919. Quoted in God of Searchers. The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology
- ^ Aesop. Fables 474, 479, 520, 522, 563, 564. Quoted in God of Dreams of Omen; God of Contests, Athletics, Gymnasiums, The Games, Theoi The Project: Greek Mythology
- ^ Smith, P. 413.
- ^ Hymn to Hermes 13. The word polutropos ("of many shifts, turning many ways, of many devices, ingenious, or much wandering") is also used to describe Odysseus in the first line of the Odyssey.
- ^ In the Homeric hymn, "after he had fed the loud-bellowing cattle... he gathered much wood and sought the craft of fire. He also invented written music and many other things. He took a splendid laurel branch, gripped it in his palm, and twirled it in pomegranate wood" (lines 105, 108–10)
- ^ "First Inventors... Mercurius [Hermes] first taught wrestling to mortals." – Hyginus (c.1st CE), Fabulae 277.
- ^ Callimachus. Iambia, Frag. 12. Quoted in of Memory and Learning. The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology
- ^ Orphic Hymn 57 to Chthonian Hermes Aeschylus. Libation Bearers. Cited in Guide of the Dead. The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology
- ^ Orphic Hymn 28 to Hermes. Quoted in God of Contests, Athletics, Gymnasiums, The Games. The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology
- ^ Phlegon of Tralles. Book of Marvels, 2.1. Quoted in Guide of the Dead. The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology
- ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus. The Library. Quoted in Hermes Myths 2, Hermes Myths 3, Hermes Favour. The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology
- ^ Herodotus. Histories, 5.7. Quoted in Identified with Foreign Gods. The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology
- ^ SG Yao - Translation and the Languages of Modernism: Gender, Politics, Language Palgrave Macmillan, 20 December 2002 Retrieved 2012-07-26 ISBN 0312295197
- ^ S Benstock - Women of the Left Bank: Paris, 1900-1940 Retrieved 2012-07-26
- ^ (secondary) H Kenner - The Pound Era Random House, 30 June 2011 ISBN 1446467740 & E Gregory H.D. and Hellenism: Classic Lines Cambridge University Press, 28 September 1997 ISBN 0521430259 Retrieved 2012-07-26
- ^ (tertiary)oxforddictionaries.com - definition "benison"
- ^ a b c d The Facts on File: Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend.
- ^ Homeric Hymn 29 to Hestia
- ^ R Davis-Floyd, P Sven Arvidson Intuition: The Inside Story : Interdisciplinary Perspectives Routledge, 25 June 1997 Retrieved 2012-07-26 ISBN 0415915945
- ^ a b New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (New (fifth impression) ed.). Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited. 1968 (1972). p. 123. ISBN 0-600-02351-6.
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- ^ Perseus Tufts University - Retrieved 2012-04-09
- ^ Perseus Tufts University - Retrieved 2012-04-09
- ^ W. Blackwood Ltd. (Edinburgh). Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, Volume 22; Volume 28. Leonard Scott & Co. 1849.
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- ^ a b M-L von Franz. Projection and Re-Collection in Jungian Psychology: Reflections of the Soul. Open Court Publishing, 1985. ISBN 0875484174.
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(help) - ^ JF Krell - Mythical patterns in the art of Gustave Moreau:The primacy of Dionysus Retrieved 2012-07-26
- ^ The Chambers Dictionary Allied Publishers, 1998 Retrieved 2012-07-26
- ^ Ernest Schonfield, Teaching Fellow in German at University College London - [1] Retrieved 2012-07-26
- ^ Oxford Classical Mythology Online Higher Education Group Oxford University press Retrieved 2012-11-12
- ^ DV Porpora Landscapes of the Soul: The Loss of Moral Meaning in American Life ISBN 9780195134919, M.Kaplan (1998) -Rethinking Ziolkowski's "Landscape of the Soul:" A Mahayana Buddhisut Interpretation of Siddhartha et al [2],[3] Retrieved 2012-11-12
- ^ "Your soul is a chosen landscape ..." →[4] "Your soul is as a moonlit landscape ..." →[5] - both Paul Verlaine
- ^ a b Mabel Lang (1988). Graffiti in the Athenian Agora (PDF). Excavations of the Athenian Agora (rev. ed.). Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens. p. 7. ISBN 87661-633-3. Retrieved 2007-04-14.
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value: length (help) Cite error: The named reference "lang" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ V Ehrenberg - The People of Aristophanes: A Sociology of Old Attic Comedy Taylor & Francis, 1943 Retrieved 2012-07-14
- ^ J Fiske - Myths and Myth-makers: Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by Comparative Mythology Houghton, Mifflin, 1865 Retrieved 2012-07-14
- ^ P Young-Eisendrath - The Cambridge Companion to Jung Cambridge University Press, 1 May 2008 Retrieved 2012-07-14 ISBN 0521685001
- ^ Meletinsky, Introduzione (1993), p. 131
- ^ M Waltari - the roman novel Cambridge University press 1970 - Retrieved 2012-07-14 ISBN 1001340531
- ^ J Pòrtulas, C Miralles Archilochus and the iambic poetry Ediz. dell'Ateneo, 1986 [6]
- ^ N.O. Brown Hermes the Thief: The Evolution of a Myth Retrieved 2012-07-14
- ^ NW Slater - Spectator Politics: Metatheatre and Performance in Aristophanes University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002 Retrieved 2012-07-14 ISBN 0812236521
- ^ (secondary) "the thief praying..." in W Kingdon Clifford, L Stephen, F Pollock - Retrieved 2012-07-14
- ^ a b c (Aristophanes [trans. Ehrenberg])
- ^ William Stearns Davis - A Victor of Salamis: A Tale of the Days of Xerxes, Leonidas, and Themistocles Wildside Press LLC, 30 September 2007 Retrieved 2012-07-14 ISBN 1434483347
- ^ A Brown - A New Companion to Greek Tragedy Taylor & Francis, 1983 Retrieved 2012-07-14 ISBN 0389203963
- ^ F Santi Russell - Information Gathering in Classical Greece University of Michigan Press, 1999 Retrieved 2012-07-14
- ^ JJ Ignaz von Döllinger - The Gentile and the Jew in the courts of the Temple of Christ: an introduction to the history of Christianity Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1862 Retrieved 2012-07-14
- ^ EL Wheeler - Stratagem and the Vocabulary of Military Trickery BRILL, 1988 Retrieved 2012-07-14 ISBN 9004088318
- ^ R Parker - Polytheism and Society at Athens Oxford University Press, 10 May 2007 Retrieved 2012-07-14 ISBN 0199216118
- ^ Athenaeus (of Naucratis.), S. Douglas Olson, - The learned banqueters [7] Harvard University Press, 27 February 2008 Retrieved 2012-07-14
- ^ I Ember - Music in painting: music as symbol in Renaissance and baroque painting [8] Corvina, 1984 Retrieved 2012-07-14
- ^ Pausanias - Pausanias' Description of Greece, Volume 1 G. Bell, 1912 Retrieved 2012-07-14
- ^ Plutarch, William Reginald Halliday The Greek questions of Plutarch - Retrieved 2012-07-14
- ^ S Montiglio - Silence in the Land of Logos Princeton University Press, 17 May 2010 Retrieved 2012-07-14 ISBN 0691146586
- ^ J Pòrtulas, C Miralles [9] Retrieved 2012-07-14
- ^ JH Riker Human Excellence and an Ecological Conception of the Psyche SUNY Press, 1 July 1991 Retrieved 2012-07-14 ISBN 0791405192
- ^ [10] Retrieved 2012-07-17
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- ^ Aristophanes - The Frogs of Aristophanes, with Notes and Critical and Explanatory, Adapted to the Use of Schools and Universities, by T. Mitchell John Murray, 1839 Retrieved 2012-06-29
- ^ G S Shrimpton - Theopompus The Historian McGill-Queens, 1 April 1991 Retrieved 2012-06-29
- ^ R A Bauslaugh - The Concept of Neutrality in Classical Greece University of California Press, 28 May 1991 ISBN 0520066871 & [12] - ISBN 1438126395 citing (Diodorus Siculus)
- ^ MA De La Torre, A Hernández - The Quest for the Historical Satan Fortress Press, 1 August 2011 Retrieved 2012-07-24 ISBN 0800663241
- ^ J Fiske
- ^ CO Edwardson (page 60) - 2011 - Retrieved 2012-07-26
- ^ The Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies: Ithaca August 2009 Conference Paper - page 12 [13] Retrieved 2012-07-26
- ^ The Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies: Ithaca August 2009 -p.12
- ^ sourced originally in - R Davis-Floyd, P Sven Arvidson
- ^ R Pettazzoni - The All-Knowing God Taylor & Francis, 1956 Retrieved 2012-07-26 ISBN 0405105592
- ^ CS Wright, J Bolton Holloway, RJ Schoeck - Tales within tales: Apuleius through time AMS Press, 2000 - [14] → at Google search Retrieved 2012-07-26
- ^ CO Edwardson - 2011 Women and Philanthropy, tricksters and soul: re-storying otherness into crossroads of change
- ^ A. L. Frothingham Babylonian Origin of Hermes the Snake-God, and of the Caduceus I Retrieved 2012-11-11
- ^ P Clarkson - Counselling Psychology: Integrating Theory, Research, and Supervised Practice Routledge, 1998 Retrieved 2012-07-24 ISBN 0415145236
- ^ WJ Friedlander - The Golden Wand of Medicine: A History of the Caduceus Symbol in Medicine ABC-CLIO, 1992 Retrieved 2012-07-24 ISBN 0313280231
- ^ J Derrida - Dissemination Continuum International Publishing Group, 14 December 2004 Retrieved 2012-07-24 ISBN 0826476961
- ^ Chapman, MS Silvia Comments, Antropológicos the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. Fourth National Congress of Classical Studies / XII Meeting of Brazilian Society of Classical Studies.
- ^ Jacobi, M. (1907). .Catholic Encyclopedia Astrology New York: Robert Appleton Company Retrieved 2012-07-25
- ^ (tertiary) "religious ecstasy" -(a buddhist monk affiliated to ambedkartimes) Retrieved 2012-07-25
- ^ a b c d e f g Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1867. pp. 411-413.
- ^ Neville, Bernie. Taking Care of Business in the Age of Hermes. Trinity University, 2003. pp. 2-5.
- ^ Padel, Ruth. In and Out of the Mind: Greek Images of the Tragic Self. Princeton University Press, 1994. pp. 6-9
- ^ Lucian of Samosata. The Works of Lucian of Samosata]. BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008. Volume 1, p. 107.
- ^ Johnston, Sarah Iles. Initiation in Myth, Initiation in Practice. IN Dodd, David Brooks & Faraone, Christopher A. Initiation in ancient Greek rituals and narratives: new critical perspectives. Routledge, 2003. pp. 162, 169.
- ^ FG Moore - The Roman's World Biblo & Tannen Publishers, 1936 Retrieved 2012-07-14 ISBN 0819601551
- ^ (secondary) -"Aventine"- in V Neskow - The Little Black Book of Rome: The Timeless Guide to the Eternal City Peter Pauper Press, Inc., 1 January 2012 Retrieved 2012-07-14 ISBN 144130665X
- ^ Austin, M. The Hellenistic world from Alexander to the Roman conquest: a selection of ancient sources in translation. Cambridge University Press, 2006. p. 137
- ^ Scanlon, Thomas Francis. Eros and Greek athletics. Oxford University Press U.S., 2002. pp. 92-93
- ^ "Circular Pyxis". The Walters Art Museum.
- ^ Walter Burkert, 1985. Greek Religion (Harvard University Press)
- ^ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 6.27.
- ^ Hyginus, Fabula 160, makes Hermes the father of Pan.
- ^ Kerenyi, Gods of the Greeks, 1951, p. 175, noting G. Kaibel, Epigrammata graeca ex lapidibus collecta, 817, where the other god's name, both father and son of Hermes, is obscured; according to other sources, Priapus was a son of Dionysus and Aphrodite.
- ^ Bibliotheca 1.9.16
- ^ Homer's Odyssey, 19, 386-423
- ^ As presumed by Philostratus the Elder in his Imagines, 1.10
- ^ Eustathius on Homer, 804
- ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 17. 5
- ^ Tzetzes on Lycophron, 680
- ^ This Gigas was the father of Ischenus, who was said to have been sacrificed during an outbreak of famine in Olympia; Tzetzes on Lycophron 42
- ^ Hyginus, Fabulae, 160
- ^ Clement of Rome, Homilia, 5. 16
- ^ Scholia on Euripides, Rhesus, 36
- ^ Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 12
- ^ Ptolemy Hephaestion, 6 in Photius, 190
- ^ Saon could also have been the son of Zeus and a local nymph; both versions in Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 48. 2
- ^ Clement of Rome, Homilia, 5. 16; otherwise unknown
- ^ Müller, Karl Otfried. Ancient art and its remains: or, A manual of the archæology of art. B. Quaritch, 1852. pp. 483-488.
- ^ Brown, pp. 9-17
- ^ Hyginus. Astronomica, 2.7. Cited in God of Heralds and Bringer of Peace. The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology
- ^ (tertiary) (R Gross - ed.) - Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour (Hodder Arnold Publishers) & A.Storr The Complete Jung [15] (Princeton University Press, 14 December 1999)
- ^ A Stevens - On Jung Taylor & Francis, 1990 Retrieved 2012-07-23
- ^ DL Merritt - Jung and the Greening of Psychology and Education Retrieved 2012-07-23
- ^ JC Miller - The Transcendent Function: Jung's Model of Psychological Growth Through Dialogue With the Unconscious SUNY Press, 1 February 2004 Retrieved 2012-07-23 ISBN 0791459772
- ^ DA McNeely
- ^ H Yoshida - Joyce & Jung: The "Four Stages of Eroticism" In a Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man Peter Lang, 1 August 2006 Retrieved 2012-07-24 ISBN 0820469130
- ^ CG Jung, R Main - Jung on Synchronicity and the Paranormal Routledge, 7 August 1997 Retrieved 2012-07-25 ISBN 0415155096
- ^ HJ Hannan - Initiation Through Trauma: A Comparative Study of the Descents of Inanna and Persephone (Dreaming Persephone Forward) ProQuest, 2005 Retrieved 2012-07-25 ISBN 0549474803
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- ^ [16] Retrieved 2012-07-25
- ^ [17] Retrieved 2012-07-25
- ^ R López-Pedraza - Hermes and His Children Daimon, 1 June 2003 Retrieved 2012-07-23 ISBN 3856306307
- ^ DA McNeely - Mercury Rising: Women, Evil, and the Trickster Gods Fisher King Press, 1 October 2011 Retrieved 2012-07-23 ISBN 1926715543
- ^ A Samuels. Jung and the Post-Jungians. Taylor & Francis, 1986. ISBN 0710208642. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
- ^ (p.19 of Hermes and His Children)
- ^ (secondary)[18] Retrieved 2012-07-26
- ^ "genius" in the oxford university dictionaries online - Retrieved 2012-08-15
- ^ C.Booker - The seven basic plots: why we tell stories Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004 ISBN 0826452094 - Retrieved 2012-08-15
- ^ DA McNeely (Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Louisiana State University ...) - Mercury Rising: Women, Evil, and the Trickster Gods Fisher King Press, 1 October 2011 Retrieved 2012-07-26 ISBN 1926715543
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Theoi Project, Hermes stories from original sources & images from classical art
- Cult & Statues of Hermes
- The Myths of Hermes
- Ventris and Chadwick: Gods found in Mycenaean Greece: a table drawn up from Michael Ventris and John Chadwick, Documents in Mycenaean Greek second edition (Cambridge 1973)