Part 248: Hermes

It's snowy outside and I got a lot of free time on my hands. Sounds like it's time for another

PERSONA MYTHOLOGY UPDATE

Let's talk about Hermes.


Hermes is one of the most famous Greek gods. The son of Zeus and Maia, a daughter of the Titan Atlas, he was the herald of the gods as well as the escort of the dead to the Underworld. He was the patron god of travel, commerce and trade, wit, oratory, literature, thievery--your go-to guy for a trickster. In ancient Greece, the pillars used as road markers were dedicated to him. He is commonly identified by his winged hat and sandals and often represented by the caduceus, a winged stave entwined with a pair of snakes.

Hermes was born and raised in a cave in the mountain Kyllene in Arcadia. After his birth, Maia wrapped him in swaddling cloths, put him to bed, and went to sleep. Hermes squirmed his way out of his cradle and ran away to Pieria in northern Greece. There he found and stole the cattle belonging his half-brother Apollo, taking them to Pylos where he hid them in a grotto save for two which he sacrificed. According to one version of the story, he tied whisks to their tails so that they would wipe away their own tracks as they walked, while another has him putting boots on backwards on their feet so it would appear that they had walked in the opposite direction, and a third says that he simply walked them backward. But in my favorite account, he actually took the poor animals' hooves off and put them back on backwards to fool any pursuit.

Shortly thereafter, Hermes found a tortoise (other versions put this story before the cattle theft), killed it, and hollowed out its shell. He used the shell to create the first lyre. Cattle theft and instrument inventing takes a lot out of a guy, so Hermes returned to Kyllene and went to sleep, still clutching his lyre.

Whatever stratagem Hermes used to hide his tracks, it didn't work. Locals who saw the herd go by gave directions to Apollo when the god came looking for his cows. However, the thief of course wasn't there anymore, so Apollo used divination to trace Hermes back to Kyllene. When he arrived and made his accusations, Maia insisted on her son's innocence, claiming that he had been sleeping in his cradle up until then. Nevertheless, Apollo took Hermes with him before Zeus for judgement.

Hermes denied everything. However, Zeus had seen everything and ordered his son to return the cattle. However, Hermes began to play his lyre. Apollo was so enchanted with its music that he agreed to exchange the cattle for the lyre. Later, Hermes also invented the shepherd's pipe, the syrinx. Apollo loved this instrument as well, so he traded the caduseus, the staff of heraldry for it. Subsequently Hermes became the herald of the gods. Just as the caduceus become Hermes's most famous symbol, so did the lyre became the symbol of Apollo, the god of music.

Hermes is, by the standards of Greek gods, a pretty cool guy. Generally, if there is a god helping a hero in a story, it is usually him or Athene. For example, when Perseus was preparing to face the gorgon Medusa, Hermes lent him his winged sandals so the hero could fly. In the Odyssey, he is the god who tells Odysseus to chew a magic herb during his confrontation with Circe so the witch could not turn him into a pig. Later in the story, Hermes visits the nymph Calliope, who has imprisoned Odysseus on her island for seven years, and orders her to allow the poor guy to return home already. To be fair, as the herald of the gods Hermes is the go-to guy when the gods interfere with the affairs of humans. In a lot of stories (for example, both incidents from the Odyssey) he is simply carrying out the will of the gods, rather than acting out of good will towards humans.

On a side note, the caduseus is often used as a symbol of medical organizations, particularly in the States, for reasons that have nothing to do with Hermes. Someone presumably mixed it up with the Rod of Asclepius, which is a staff entwined with a single snake. The Rod of Asclepius, as you may have guessed from the name, represented Asclepius, the god of medicine and doctors. This understandable mistake becomes morbidly hilarious when you remember that Hermes escorted people to the Underworld--pretty much the exact opposite of what you want your doctor to do to you.

Caduceus


Rod of Asclepius