Ermes - Mercurio/Hermes - Mercury

Ermes

Ermes, Hermes o Ermete, raramente Erme (in greco antico: Ἑρμῆς), è una divinità della mitologia e della religione greca. Il suo ruolo principale è di messaggero degli dei. Figlio di Zeus e della Pleiade Maya, è uno dei dodici dei Olimpi.
I suoi simboli sono il gallo e la tartaruga, ma è chiaramente riconoscibile anche per il suo borsellino, i suoi sandali e cappello alati e il bastone da messaggero, il caduceo.
Nella mitologia romana il corrispondente di Ermes è Mercurio, il quale, sebbene sia un dio di derivazione etrusca, possiede molte caratteristiche simili all'Ermes greco, essendo infatti il dio dei commerci.

Etimologia del nome

Dal 1848, quando Karl Otfried Müller ne fornì una dimostrazione, si credeva che il nome Hermes derivasse dalla parola greca erma (ἕρμα), che identifica un tipo di pilastro quadrato o rettangolare decorato in alto con una testa (generalmente barbuta) di Ermes e in basso con la raffigurazione di genitali maschili durante l'erezione. Negli ultimi anni, però, la scoperta della precedente presenza del dio, anche nel pantheon miceneo, testimoniata dalle iscrizioni in scrittura Lineare B ritrovate a Pilo e a Cnosso che riportano "Hermes Aroia" (Ermes ariete), hanno fatto propendere per l'opinione opposta, ovvero che dal dio il nome sia passato alla rappresentazione in forma di pilastro. In ogni caso l'associazione con questo tipo di costruzioni — usate ad Atene con scopi apotropaici e in tutta la Grecia per segnare le strade e i confini — ha fatto sì che Hermes diventasse il dio protettore dei viaggi fatti via terra.

Il culto di Ermes

Templi dedicati a Hermes erano diffusi in tutta la Grecia, ma il centro più importante dove veniva praticato il suo culto era Feneo in Arcadia dove si tenevano le celebrazioni in suo onore chiamate "Hermoea".
Il dio Ermes possedeva il ruolo di psicopompo, cioè accompagnatore dello spirito dei morti: aiutava a trovare la via per il mondo sotterraneo dell'aldilà, e uno dei pochi che ha il permesso di frequentare gli inferi. Nell'Inno omerico a Demetra, Ermes riporta Persefone sana e salva da sua madre Demetra. Ermes accompagna nell'oltretomba le anime dei pretendenti di Penelope uccisi da Odisseo e anche lo spettro di Dario I di Persia nella tragedia I Persiani.
Per gli antichi Greci infatti in Ermes si incarnava principalmente lo spirito del passaggio e dell'attraversamento: ritenevano che il dio si manifestasse in qualsiasi tipo di scambio, trasferimento, violazione, superamento, mutamento, transito, tutti concetti che rimandano in qualche modo a un passaggio da un luogo, o da uno stato, all'altro. Questo spiega il suo essere messo in relazione con i cambiamenti della sorte dell'uomo, con lo scambio di beni, con i colloqui e lo scambio di informazioni consueti nel commercio nonché, ovviamente con il passaggio dalla vita a ciò che viene dopo di essa.
L'Inno omerico a Hermes lo invoca come: «dalle molte risorse (polýtropos), gentilmente astuto, predone, guida di mandrie, apportatore di sogni, osservatore notturno, ladro ai cancelli, che fece in fretta a mostrare le sue imprese tra le dee immortali». Hermes funge anche da interprete, svolgendo il ruolo di ánghelos (ἄγγελος, "messaggero degli dèi"), un compito che divide con Iris. Da Hermes deriva la parola ermeneutica, ovvero l'arte di interpretare i significati nascosti. In greco un uomo fortunato veniva chiamato "hermaion".
La figura di Ermes come inventore del fuoco può essere accostata a quella di Prometeo. Si credeva che Hermes, oltre alla siringa e alla lira, avesse inventato anche molti tipi di competizioni sportive e la pratica del pugilato: per questo era considerato il protettore degli atleti. Vari esperti di mitologia contemporanei hanno nei loro scritti messo Hermes in relazione con divinità imbroglione e ingannatrici presenti in altre culture.
Ermes è anche il dio degli oratori, della letteratura, dei poeti, dell'atletica, delle invenzioni, e del commercio in generale nonché, nella teologia greca, rappresentante del lógos (λόγος).
Platone fa sostenere anche a Socrate che si 'dice' che: «Ermes è dio interprete, messaggero, ladro, ingannatore nei discorsi e pratico degli affari, in quanto esperto nell'uso della parola; suo figlio è il logos», pur ritenendo che in realtà di questi dèi non sappiamo nulla.

«Si tramanda che il loro capo sia Ermete, significando che bisogna compiere atti graditi con raziocinio, e non a caso, bensì verso quanti ne sono degni; infatti, chi sia stato trattato con ingratitudine diviene più restio a compiere benefici. Ora si dà il caso che Ermete sia il lógos, che gli dèi inviarono a noi dal cielo, facendo della razionalità una prerogativa esclusiva degli uomini, tra le creature che vivono sulla terra, il che essi ritennero di gran lunga eminente su tutto il resto. E ha preso nome dell'occuparsi di parlare (mésthain ereîn) ossia di dire légein, oppure del fatto di essere nostro presidio (éryma) e, per così dire, nostra fortezza.»

(Lucio Anneo Cornuto. Compendio di Teologia greca. XVI)

Questa caratteristica teologica è derivata dalla sua precedente interpretazione mitica come Dio dei confini e dei viaggiatori, dei pastori e dei mandriani, degli oratori e dei poeti, della letteratura, dell'atletica, dei pesi e delle misure, del commercio e dell'astuzia caratteristica di ladri e bugiardi.
Per i manichei, Hermes era considerato uno dei cinque profeti che avevano preceduto Mani. Poi il personaggio è giunto nella profetologia islamica col nome di Idris ed Enoch (Okhnokh).

Ermes nella mitologia

La nascita di Ermes

Il dio Ermes nacque in una grotta del monte Cillene, dove la madre Maia, figlia del Titano Atlante si univa con il Re degli Dei Zeus all'insaputa della dea Era.
Il piccolo Ermes fu un bambino molto precoce: nel suo primo giorno di vita inventò la lira uccidendo una tartaruga, che diventò il suo animale sacro, e la notte stessa riuscì a rubare la mandria di bovini di Apollo suo fratello, nascondendola in una grotta e cancellandone le tracce degli zoccoli, da questo episodio, divento' tra l'altro il protettore dei ladri, oltre che messagero degli dei. Il piccolo Ermes sacrificò agli Dei due mucche, anche se tentato di mangiarsele. Quando Apollo accusò Ermes del furto, dopo aver consultato il volo degli uccelli, Maia lo difese dicendo che non poteva essere stato lui, dato che aveva trascorso con lei tutta la notte. Tuttavia intervenne Zeus che disse che in realtà Ermes aveva effettivamente rubato la mandria e doveva restituirla, ma anche Apollo non doveva approfittare di suo fratello essendo più grande. Mentre discuteva con Apollo, Ermes cominciò a suonare la sua lira: il suono del nuovo strumento piacque così tanto ad Apollo che, in cambio di esso, accettò che Ermes si tenesse la mandria rubata. Dopo qualche estate Ermes costruì il flauto di Pan e fece a cambio con Apollo ricevendo il suo bastone da pastore. Ermes costruì anche la fisarmonica a bocca che scambiò con suo fratello che gli insegnò a interpretare il volo degli uccelli. Da quel giorno Ermes divenne anche il protettore dei musicanti e il pastore di tutti i pascoli e di tutte le mandrie.

Genealogia (Esiodo)

Urano

Gea

Genitali di  Urano

CRONO

Rea

Zeus

Era

Poseidone

Ade

Demetra

Estia

a

b

Ares

Efesto

Meti

Atena

Latona

Apollo

Artemide

Maia

Ermes

Semele

Dioniso

Dione

a

b

Afrodite

Perseo

Ermes aiutò Perseo a uccidere la gorgone Medusa dandogli i suoi sandali alati e il falcetto di Zeus. Diede a Perseo anche l'elmo di Ade che aveva il potere di rendere invisibili, consigliandogli di usarlo per non farsi vedere dalle immortali sorelle di Medusa. Anche Atena fornì il proprio aiuto a Perseo, prestandogli il suo scudo lucente.

Prometeo

Nell'antica tragedia Prometeo incatenato - attribuita a Eschilo – Zeus invia Hermes a discutere con l'incatenato titano di una profezia fatta da Prometeo stesso che diceva che Zeus sarebbe stato rovesciato dal suo trono. Hermes rimprovera Prometeo, lo consiglia di parlare e gli dice che è irragionevole voler prolungare la sua tortura, ma Prometeo si rifiuta di spiegare la propria profezia.

L'Iliade

Dopo che Zeus impone agli dei di partecipare direttamente alla Guerra di Troia, Ermes si schiera dalla parte degli Achei.
Nonostante ciò, Ermes protegge il re di Troia Priamo quando questi entra nell'accampamento acheo per chiedere che gli fosse restituito il corpo del figlio Ettore per dargli i funerali.

L'Odissea

Dopo il concilio degli dei dove viene deciso che Odisseo può ritornare a casa, il dio Ermes viene inviato a chiedere a Calipso di lasciare andare il re di Itaca dall'isola di Ogigia.
Odisseo stesso racconta ad Alcinoo che sull'isola di Eea il dio Ermes si offre di aiutare il re di Itaca dandogli un'erba detta Moly utile come antidoto contro l'effetto delle pozioni di Circe.
Odisseo e Ermes non si fidano della maga Circe e non vengono trasformati in porci come i loro compagni
Dopo la strage dei pretendenti, Ermes accompagna le loro anime nell'oltretomba.

La discendenza di Ermes

Pan

Pan, il dio della natura, delle selve, dei pastori e delle greggi dall'aspetto di un satiro, era considerato figlio di Hermes e della ninfa Driope. Nell'Inno Omerico a Pan, dopo averlo partorito la madre di Pan fuggì via dal neonato spaventata dal suo aspetto.

Ermafrodito

Ermafrodito era figlio di Hermes e di Afrodite. Fu trasformato in un ermafrodito quando gli dei concessero alla lettera a lui e alla ninfa Salmace di non separarsi mai.

Priapo

Il dio Priapo era figlio di Hermes e Afrodite. Attraverso la figura di Priapo si perpetua il ricordo dell'origine di Hermes come divinità fallica. Secondo fonti diverse, Priapo era invece figlio non di Hermes ma di Dioniso.

Eros

Secondo alcune fonti il malizioso dio alato dell'amore Eros, figlio di Afrodite, era stato concepito con Hermes, anche se la paternità è stata attribuita anche ad altri dei come Ares. La Teogonia di Esiodo afferma che Eros era nato dal nulla e la sua venuta al mondo era precedente agli dei. Nella mitologia romana Eros prese il nome di Cupido.

Tyche

La dea della fortuna Tyche (in greco Τύχη) o Fortuna, secondo alcune leggende era figlia di Hermes e Afrodite.

Abdero

Abdero fu un figlio di Hermes che finì divorato dalle cavalle di Diomede quando accompagnò Eracle a compiere la sua impresa.

Autolico

Autolico, il principe dei ladri, era figlio di Hermes e fu il nonno di Odisseo.

Elenco completo delle amanti e dei figli di Ermes

1. Acacallide - Principessa Cretese
   1. Cidone - Eroe di Cidonia
2. Aglauro - Sacerdotessa di Atena
   1. Eumolpo - Grande guerriero
   2. Cerice - Sacerdote di Demetra
3. Antianira - Amazzone
   1. Echione Argonauti
   2. Erito Argonauti
4. Apemosine - Principessa Cretese
5. Afrodite
   1. Eros (secondo alcune leggende)
   2. Eunomia
   3. Ermafrodito
   4. Peito
   5. Priapo (secondo alcune leggende)
   6. Rodio
   7. Tyche
   8. Feneo
6. Carmenti - Ninfa dell'Arcadia
   1. Evandro - Fondatore del Lazio
7. Chione - Principessa Focese
   1. Autolico - Ladro
8. Dafnide - Ninfa siciliana
   1. Dafni - Poeta agreste
9. Deira
   1. Eleusi - Fondatore della città omonima
10. Driope - Ninfa dell'Arcadia
    1. Pan - Divinità agreste
11. Eupolomia - Principessa della Ftia
    1. Etalide - Messaggero degli Argonauti
12. Erse - Sacerdotessa di Atena
    1. Cefalo - Cacciatore
    2. Cervice - araldo dei misteri eleusini
13. Croco - Morì e si trasformò nel fiore omonimo
14. Pandroso - Sacerdotessa di Atena
    1. Ceryx - Messaggero di Eleusi
15. Iereia
    1. Giga
16. Peito - Dea della persuasione, Secondo Nonno la moglie di Hermes
17. Penelope - Ninfa dell'Arcadia (secondo alcune leggende la moglie di Odisseo)
    1. Pan - (Secondo una leggenda)
18. Persefone - (secondo una leggenda)
19. Polimela - Ninfa del corteo di Artemide
    1. Eudoro - Scudiero di Achille
20. Teobula - Principessa di Elea
    1. Mirtilo - Auriga
21. Nato dall'urina di Hermes, Zeus e Poseidone
    1. Orione - Gigante cacciatore (secondo una leggenda)
22. Da madre sconosciuta
    1. Abdero - Scudiero di Eracle
23. Da madre sconosciuta
    1. Lino - Celebre cantore

Iconografia di Ermes

Nelle epoche più antiche, l'iconografia di Hermes era piuttosto diversa da quella adottata nel periodo classico: era immaginato come un dio anziano, barbuto e dotato di un fallo di notevoli dimensioni.
Nel VI secolo a.C. la sua figura fu rielaborata e trasformata in quella di un giovane dall'aspetto atletico con un cappello alato. Le statue di Hermes ritratto con il suo nuovo aspetto furono diffusamente sistemate negli stadi e ginnasi di tutta la Grecia.
In epoca classica Hermes era solitamente ritratto mentre indossava un cappello da viaggiatore dall'ampia tesa oppure il caratteristico cappello alato [in greco antico: πέτασος ("petaso")] calzava un paio di sandali anch'essi alati, i talari, e portava il bastone da messaggero, tipico della cultura orientale, o il caduceo, attorno al quale sono intrecciati due serpenti, o anche il "kerykeion", sopra al quale si trova un simbolo simile a quello usato in astrologia per il segno del toro. Indossava abiti semplici, da viaggiatore, lavoratore o pastore. Spesso era rappresentato o ricordato inserendo nelle opere d'arte i suoi tipici simboli, la borsa, il gallo o la tartaruga. Quando era rappresentato nella sua accezione di "Hermes Logios", ovvero il simbolo della divina eloquenza, generalmente teneva un braccio alzato in un gesto che accentuava l'enfasi dell'orazione.
L'immagine più usata e conosciuta di Ermes è quella di un ragazzo atletico vestito con abiti semplici da viandante, con un cappello alato, e due sandali alati.

Nella cultura di massa

• Nella saga Percy Jackson e gli dei dell'Olimpo Luke Castellan, l'antagonista principale,è figlio di Ermes.

L'Ermes Ludovisi o "Hermes Logios" - Copia marmorea romana di un originale greco del V secolo a.C. forse attribuibile a Fidia

Dopo Fidia e un altro autore

Statua di Ermes giovane e senza barba, che tiene il caduceo (mancante). Copia romana della fine del I sec.-inizio del II sec. d.C. da un originale greco del V sec. a.C.

Citazioni su Ermes

• In fondo, Ermes è l'intelletto della forza divinizzante l'uomo. Il poeta nei momenti di estro (istros = furore) – il matematico che risolve problemi arditissimi – il fisico che trova una legge e la prova – un oratore che seduce un'assemblea – un musico che incanta i suoi uditori – sono manifestazioni dell'ermes, intelletto sottile delle più alte pulsazioni ipercerebrali. (Giuliano Kremmerz)
• In realtà sembra pure che questo nome abbia una qualche attinenza con la parola, e l'essere hermeneus ('interprete'), nunzio, ladro, ingannatore nei discorsi e trafficante è questa tutta una attività che riguarda la potenza della parola. Quello che dicevamo anche prima, l'eirein e l'uso del 'parlare'. L'altra parte poi, come anche Omero spesso dice, adopera emesato ('escogitò') che vuol dire 'macchinare', mechanesasthai. Servendosi dunque di queste due parti il legislatore ci presenta questo dio come ho mesamenos ('colui che escogitò') il parlare e la parola, il parlare infatti è eirein, e quasi ci ordina: "O uomini, colui che escogitò il parlare, è giusto che da voi venga chiamato Eiremes". Ora noi, abbellendo, come crediamo, il suo nome, lo chiamiamo Ermes. (Platone)

Rappresentazione di una cerimonia per la consacrazione di un'erma (Fedor Bronnikov, XIX secolo). 

Fedor Bronnikov 

Consecration of the herm by F.Bronnikov

Mercurio

Mercurio (Mercurius, nome latino del dio greco Hermes, Ερμής) è il protettore dell'eloquenza, del commercio e dei ladri, nella mitologia greca e romana. Essendo il messaggero degli dei viene spesso raffigurato con le ali ai piedi. Viene raffigurato come figlio di Giove e della pleiade Maia. 

Mitologia

Mitologia greca

Nella mitologia greca Mercurio (Hermes), figlio di Zeus e della ninfa Maia, era il messaggero degli dei, dio protettore dei viaggi e dei viaggiatori, della comunicazione, dell'inganno, dei ladri, dei truffatori, dei bugiardi, delle sostanze, della divinazione. Tra gli altri ruoli, Hermes era anche il portatore dei sogni e il conduttore delle anime dei morti negli inferi.

Mitologia romana

Nella mitologia romana Mercurio rappresenta non solo per la sua velocità i ladri ma è anche il dio degli scambi, del profitto del mercato e del commercio, il suo nome latino probabilmente deriva dal termine merx o mercator, che significa mercante.
A Roma, un tempio a lui dedicato, venne eretto nel Circo Massimo sul colle Aventino, nel 495 a.C.

«…I consoli (Publio Servilio Prisco Strutto e Appio Claudio Sabino Inregillense) si contendevano l'onore di consacrare il tempio di Mercurio e il senato girò la questione al popolo: a chi dei due fosse toccato, per volontà del popolo stesso, l'onore della consacrazione, sarebbe andata anche l'amministrazione dell'annona e il compito di formare una corporazione di commercianti, nonché di celebrare i riti solenni di fronte al pontefice massimo. Il popolo assegnò la consacrazione del tempio a Marco Letorio, centurione primipilo, con un intento chiarissimo: non si trattava cioè tanto di onorare quest'uomo - troppo grande la sproporzione tra l'incarico e la sua posizione nella vita di tutti i giorni -, quanto di un'offesa alle persone dei consoli. …»

(Tito Livio, Ab Urbe condita libri, lib. II, par. 27)

Ebbe dalla ninfa Carmenta Evandro, il mitologico fondatore della città di Pallante sul Palatino a Roma.

Nell'arte

• Mercurio e Argo, dipinto di Diego Velázquez (1659).

Curiosità

Il governo italiano dedicò proprio a Mercurio la vecchia banconota da 500 lire, dal 1974 al 1979.

Il Mercurio nell'interpretazione scultorea di Jean-Baptiste Pigalle.

1753 

Hermes

Hermes (/ˈhɜːrmiːz/; Greek: Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian god in Greek religion and mythology, the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia, and the second youngest of the Olympian gods (Dionysus being the youngest).
Hermes was the emissary and messenger of the gods. Hermes was also "the divine trickster" and "the god of boundaries and the transgression of boundaries, ... the patron of herdsmen, thieves, graves, and heralds." He is described as moving freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine, and was the conductor of souls into the afterlife. He was also viewed as the protector and patron of roads and travelers.
In some myths, he is a trickster and outwits other gods for his own satisfaction or for the sake of humankind. His attributes and symbols include the herma, the rooster, the tortoise, satchel or pouch, winged sandals, and winged cap. His main symbol is the Greek kerykeion or Latin caduceus, which appears in a form of two snakes wrapped around a winged staff with carvings of the other gods.
In the Roman adaptation of the Greek pantheon , Hermes is identified with the Roman god Mercury, who, though inherited from the Etruscans, developed many similar characteristics such as being the patron of commerce.

Etymology and origins

The earliest form of the name Hermes is the Mycenaean Greek *hermāhās, written 𐀁𐀔𐁀 e-ma-a₂ (e-ma-ha) in the Linear B syllabic script. Most scholars derive "Hermes" from Greek ἕρμα herma, "prop, heap of stones, boundary marker", from which the word hermai ("boundary markers dedicated to Hermes as a god of travelers") also derives. The etymology of ἕρμα itself is unknown, but it is probably not an Proto-Indo-European word. However, the stone etymology is also linked to Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, put together”). Scholarly speculation that "Hermes" derives from a more primitive form meaning "one cairn" is disputed. In Greek, a lucky find is a ἕρμαιον hermaion.
According to one theory that has received considerable scholarly acceptance, Hermes himself originated as a form of the god Pan, who has been identified as a reflex of the Proto-Indo-European pastoral god *Péh₂usōn, in his aspect as the god of boundary markers. Later, the epithet supplanted the original name itself and Hermes took over the roles as god of messengers, travelers, and boundaries, which had originally belonged to Pan, while Pan himself continued to be venerated by his original name in his more rustic aspect as the god of the wild in the relatively isolated mountainous region of Arcadia. In later myths, after the cult of Pan was reintroduced to Attica, Pan was said to be Hermes's son.
Other origins have also been proposed. R. S. P. Beekes rejects the connection with herma and suggests a Pre-Greek origin. Other scholars have suggested that Hermes may be a cognate of the Vedic Sarama.

Mythology

Early Greek sources

Homer and Hesiod

Homer and Hesiod portrayed Hermes as the author of skilled or deceptive acts and also as a benefactor of mortals. In the Iliad, he is 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 and accompanied them back to Troy.
He also rescued Ares from a brazen vessel where he had been imprisoned by Otus and Ephialtes. In the Odyssey, Hermes helps his great-grand son, the protagonist Odysseus, by informing him about the fate of his companions, who were turned into animals by the power of Circe. Hermes instructed Odysseus to protect himself by chewing a magic herb; he also told Calypso of Zeus' order to free Odysseus from her island to allow him to continue his journey back home. When Odysseus killed the suitors of his wife, Hermes led their souls to Hades. In The Works and Days, when Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create Pandora to disgrace humanity by punishing Prometheus's act of giving fire to man, every god gave her a gift, and Hermes' gifts were lies, seductive words, and a dubious character. Hermes was then instructed to take her as wife to Epimetheus.

Athenian tragic playwrights

Aeschylus wrote in The Eumenides that Hermes helped Orestes kill Clytemnestra under a false identity and other stratagems, and also said that he was the god of searches, and those who seek things lost or stolen. In Philoctetes, Sophocles invokes Hermes when Odysseus needs to convince Philoctetes to join the Trojan War on the side of the Greeks, and in Euripides' Rhesus Hermes helps Dolon spy on the Greek navy.

Aesop

Aesop 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.

Hymn to Hermes

The 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." Hermes, as an inventor of fire, 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.

Translations

In 1820 Shelley translated this hymn.
H. G. Evelyn-White's translation, published 1914, is used on the Perseus Project.

Hellenistic Greek sources

Several writers of the Hellenistic period expanded the list of Hermes's achievements. Callimachus said that Hermes disguised himself as a cyclops to scare the Oceanides and was disobedient to his mother. 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. Another is the Orphic Hymn to Hermes, where his association with the athletic games held is mystic in tone.
Phlegon of Tralles said he was invoked to ward off ghosts, 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. The Thracian princes identified him with their god Zalmoxis, considering his ancestor.
Anyte of Tegea of the 3rd century BC, in translation by Richard Aldington, wrote:

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 travelers.

Epithets of Hermes

Atlantiades

Hermes was also called Atlantiades (Greek: Ατλαντιάδης), because his mother, Maia was the daughter of Atlas.

Kriophoros

In ancient Greek cult, kriophoros (Greek: κριοφόρος) or criophorus, the "ram-bearer," is a figure that commemorates the solemn sacrifice of a ram. It becomes an epithet of Hermes: Hermes Kriophoros.

Argeiphontes

Hermes's epithet Ἀργειφόντης Argeiphontes (Latin: Argicida), meaning "Argus-slayer", 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. Argus' eyes were then put into the tail of the peacock, a symbol of the goddess Hera.

Messenger and guide

The chief office of the God was as messenger.

• Hermes (Diactoros, Angelos) the messenger, is in fact only seen in this role, for Zeus, from within the pages of the Odyssey (Brown 1990).

Oh mighty messenger of the gods of the upper and lower worlds ... (Aeschylus).

explicitly, at least in sources of classical writings, of Euripides Electra and Iphigenia in Aulis and in Epictetus Discourses.

The messenger divine and herald of the Gods, he wears the gifts from his father, the Petasus and Talaria.
and also

• Hodios, patron of travelers and wayfarers.
• Oneiropompus, conductor of dreams.
• Poimandres, shepherd of men.
• Psychopompos, conveyor or conductor of souls and psychogogue, conductor or leader of souls in (or through) the underworld.

Trade

• Agoraeus, of the agora; belonging to the market (Aristophanes)
• Empolaios, "engaged in traffic and commerce"

Hermes is sometimes depicted in art works holding a purse.

Dolios

• Dolios, "tricky".

No cult to Hermes Dolios existed in Attica, of this Athens being the capital, and so this form of Hermes seems to have existed in speech only.
The god is ambiguous.
According to prominent folklorist Yeleazar Meletinsky, Hermes is a deified trickster and master of thieves ("a plunderer, a cattle-raider, a night-watching" in Homers' Hymns) and deception (Euripides) and (possibly evil) tricks and trickeries, crafty (from lit. god of craft), the cheat, the god of stealth.

friendliest to man

and cunning, (see also, to act secretively as kleptein, in reference EL Wheeler), of treachery, the schemer.
Hermes Dolios, was worshipped at Pellene and invoked through Odysseus.

(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)

Hermes is amoral like a baby. 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").
Considered to have a mastery of rhetorical persuasion and special pleading, the god typically has nocturnal modus operandi. Hermes knows the boundaries and crosses the borders of them to confuse their definition.

Thief

In the Lang translation of Homer's Hymn to Hermes, the god after being born is described as a robber, a captain of raiders, and a thief of the gates.
According to the late Jungian psychotherapist López-Pedraza, everything Hermes thieves, he later sacrifices to the gods.

Patron of thieves

Autolycus received his skills as the greatest of thieves due to sacrificing to Hermes as his patron.

Additional

Other epithets included:

• chthonius – at the festival Athenia Chytri sacrifices are made to this visage of the god only.
• cyllenius, born on Mount Kyllini
• epimelios, guardian of flocks
• koinos
• kriophoros, "ram-bearer"
• ploutodotes, giver of wealth (as inventor of fire)
• proopylaios, "before the gate", "guardian of the gate", Pylaios, "doorkeeper"
• strophaios, "standing at the door post"
• 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
• patron of gymnasia

Worship and cult

Prior to being known as Hermes, Frothingham thought the god to have existed as a snake-god. Angelo (1997) thinks Hermes to be based on the Thoth archetype. 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).
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.
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.
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.

Temples

One of the oldest places of worship for Hermes was Mount Cyllene 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 radiated to the whole of Greece, according to Smith, and his temples and statues became extremely numerous. Lucian of Samosata said he saw the temples of Hermes everywhere.
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. A temple within the Aventine was consecrated in 495 BC.
Symbols of Hermes were the palm tree, turtle, rooster, goat, the number four, several kinds of fish and 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, 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's feast was the special Hermaea which 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.

Hermai/Herms

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 traveler added a stone to the pile. In the 6th century BC, 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.
In 415 BC, 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.

Hermes's possible offspring

Pan

The satyr-like Greek god of nature, shepherds and flocks, Pan, could possibly be the son of Hermes through the nymph Dryope. In the Homeric Hymn to Pan, Pan's mother fled in fright from her newborn son's goat-like appearance.

Priapus

Depending on the sources consulted, the god Priapus could be understood as a son of Hermes.

Autolycus

Autolycus, the Prince of Thieves, was a son of Hermes and Chione (mortal) and grandfather of Odysseus.

Extended list of Hermes's lovers and children

1. Acacallis
   1. Cydon
2. Aglaurus
   1. Eumolpus
3. Amphion
4. Alcidameia of Corinth
   1. Bounos
5. Antianeira / Laothoe
   1. Echion, Argonaut
   2. Eurytus, Argonaut
6. Apemosyne
7. Aphrodite
   1. Hermaphroditus
   2. Tyche (possibly)
8. Astabe, daughter of Peneus
   1. Astacus
9. Carmentis
   1. Evander
10. Chione / Stilbe / Telauge
    1. Autolycus
11. Chryses, priest of Apollo
12. Chthonophyle
    1. Polybus of Sicyon
13. Crocus
14. Daeira the Oceanid
    1. Eleusis
15. Dryope, Arcadian nymph
    1. Pan (possibly)
16. Erytheia (daughter of Geryon)
    1. Norax
17. Eupolemeia (daughter of Myrmidon)
    1. Aethalides
18. Hecate
    1. three unnamed daughters
19. Herse
    1. Cephalus
    2. Ceryx (possibly)
20. Hiereia
    1. Gigas
21. Iphthime (daughter of Dorus)
    1. Lycus
    2. Pherespondus
    3. Pronomus
22. Libye (daughter of Palamedes)
    1. Libys
23. Ocyrhoe
    1. Caicus
24. Odrysus
25. Orsinoe, nymph
    1. Pan (possibly)
26. Palaestra, daughter of Choricus
27. Pandrosus
    1. Ceryx (possibly)
28. Peitho
29. Penelope
    1. Nomios
    2. Pan (possibly)
30. Persephone (unsuccessfully wooed her)
31. Perseus
32. Phylodameia
    1. Pharis
33. Polydeuces
34. Polymele (daughter of Phylas)
    1. Eudorus
35. Rhene, nymph
    1. Saon of Samothrace
36. Sicilian nymph
    1. Daphnis
37. Sose, nymph
    1. Agreus
38. Tanagra, daughter of Asopus
39. Theobula / Clytie / Clymene / Cleobule / Myrto / Phaethusa the Danaid
    1. Myrtilus
40. Therses
41. Thronia
    1. Arabus
42. Urania, Muse
    1. Linus (possibly)
43. Unknown mothers
    1. Abderus
    2. Angelia
    3. Dolops
    4. Palaestra

Genealogy

Hermes's family tree
Uranus Gaia Uranus' genitals Iapetus Oceanus Tethys Cronus Rhea Clymene Pleione Zeus Hera Poseidon Hades Demeter Hestia Atlas     a       b  Maia Ares Hephaestus Hermes Metis Athena Leto Apollo Artemis Semele Dionysus Dione     a       b Aphrodite

Art and iconography

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 (Greek: Λόγιος, 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 the baby Dionysus in his 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.
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, and may have been replaced with wings rising from the hair. Another object is the Porta: a stick, called a skeptron (scepter), which is referred to^{[by whom?]} as a magic wand. Some early sources^[who?] say that this was the bat he received from Apollo, but others^[who?] question the merits of this claim. It seems that there may have been two canes, one of a shepherd's staff, as stated in the Homeric Hymn, and the other a magic wand, according to some authors.^[who?] His bat also came to be called kerykeion, the caduceus, in later times. Early depictions of the staff show it as a baton stick topped by a golden way^{[clarification needed]} 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.
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. The caduceus, historically, 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 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.
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.
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. Hermes has also been depicted with a purse or a bag in his hands, 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.

In other religions

Christianity

According to Acts 14, when Paul the Apostle visited the city of Lystra, the people there mistook him for Hermes and his companion Barnabas for Zeus.

Modern interpretation

Psychology

For Carl Jung Hermes's role as messenger between realms and as guide to the underworld, made him the god of the unconscious, the mediator between the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind, and the guide for inner journeys. Jung considered the gods Thoth and Hermes to be counterparts. In Jungian psychology especially, Hermes is seen as relevant to study of the phenomenon of synchronicity (together with Pan and Dionysus):

Hermes is ... the archetypal core of Jung's psyche, theories ...

— DL Merritt

He is identified by some with the archetype of healer, as the ancient Greeks ascribed healing magic to him.
In the context of abnormal psychology Samuels (1986) states that Jung considers Hermes the archetype for narcissistic disorder; however, he lends the disorder a "positive" (beneficious) aspect, and represents both the good and bad of narcissism.
For López-Pedraza, Hermes is the protector of psychotherapy. For McNeely, Hermes is a god of the healing arts.
According to Christopher Booker, all the roles Hermes held in ancient Greek thought all considered reveals Hermes to be a guide or observer of transition.
For Jung, Hermes's role as trickster made him a guide through the psychotherapeutic process.

Hermes series essays

French philosopher Michel Serres wrote a set of essays called the Hermes series.

Sarpedonte portato da Hypnos e Thanatos osservati da Hermes. Lato A del cosiddetto cratere di Eufronio, ca. 515 a.C.

Jaime Ardiles-Arce (photographer). Krater by Euphronios (painter) and Euxitheos (potter). - Contact us/Photo submission

Sarpedon’s body carried by Hypnos and Thanatos (Sleep and Death), while Hermes watches. Side A of the so-called “Euphronios krater”, Attic red-figured calyx-krater signed by Euxitheos (potter) and Euphronios (painter), ca. 515 BC. H. 45.7 cm (18 in.); D. 55.1 cm (21 11/16 in.). Formerly in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (L.2006.10); Returned to Italy and exhibited in Rome as of January, 2008.

Mercury

Mercury (/ˈmɜːrkjʊri/; Latin: Mercurius [mɛrˈkʊriʊs] is a major god in Roman religion and mythology, being one of the Dii Consentes within the ancient Roman pantheon. He is the god of financial gain, commerce, eloquence (and thus poetry), messages, communication (including divination), travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery and thieves; he also serves as the guide of souls to the underworld. He was considered the son of Maia, who was a daughter of the Titan Atlas, and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is possibly related to the Latin word merx ("merchandise"; cf. merchant, commerce, etc.), mercari (to trade), and merces (wages); another possible connection is the Proto-Indo-European root merĝ- for "boundary, border" (cf. Old English "mearc", Old Norse "mark" and Latin "margō") and Greek οὖρος (by analogy of Arctūrus/Ἀρκτοῦρος), as the "keeper of boundaries," referring to his role as bridge between the upper and lower worlds.^{[citation needed]} In his earliest forms, he appears to have been related to the Etruscan deity Turms; both gods share characteristics with the Greek god Hermes. He is often depicted holding the caduceus in his left hand. Similar to his Greek equivalent Hermes, he was awarded the caduceus by Apollo who handed him a magic wand, which later turned into the caduceus.  

History

Mercury did not appear among the numinous di indigetes of early Roman religion. Rather, he subsumed the earlier Dei Lucrii as Roman religion was syncretized with Greek religion during the time of the Roman Republic, starting around the 4th century BC. From the beginning, Mercury had essentially the same aspects as Hermes, wearing winged shoes (talaria) and a winged hat (petasos), and carrying the caduceus, a herald's staff with two entwined snakes that was Apollo's gift to Hermes. He was often accompanied by a cockerel, herald of the new day, a ram or goat, symbolizing fertility, and a tortoise, referring to Mercury's legendary invention of the lyre from a tortoise shell.  

Like Hermes, he was also a god of messages, eloquence and of trade, particularly of the grain trade. Mercury was also considered a god of abundance and commercial success, particularly in Gaul, where he was said to have been particularly revered. He was also, like Hermes, the Romans' psychopomp, leading newly deceased souls to the afterlife. Additionally, Ovid wrote that Mercury carried Morpheus' dreams from the valley of Somnus to sleeping humans.
Archeological evidence from Pompeii suggests that Mercury was among the most popular of Roman gods. The god of commerce was depicted on two early bronze coins of the Roman Republic, the Sextans and the Semuncia.

Syncretism

When they described the gods of Celtic and Germanic tribes, rather than considering them separate deities, the Romans interpreted them as local manifestations or aspects of their own gods, a cultural trait called the interpretatio Romana. Mercury, in particular, was reported as becoming extremely popular among the nations the Roman Empire conquered; Julius Caesar wrote of Mercury being the most popular god in Britain and Gaul, regarded as the inventor of all the arts. This is probably because, in the Roman syncretism, Mercury was equated with the Celtic god Lugus, and in this aspect was commonly accompanied by the Celtic goddess Rosmerta. Although Lugus may originally have been a deity of light or the sun (though this is disputed), similar to the Roman Apollo, his importance as a god of trade made him more comparable to Mercury, and Apollo was instead equated with the Celtic deity Belenus. Romans associated Mercury with the Germanic god Wotan, by interpretatio Romana; 1st-century Roman writer Tacitus identifies him as the chief god of the Germanic peoples.

Names and epithets

Mercury is known to the Romans as Mercurius and occasionally in earlier writings as Merqurius, Mirqurios or Mircurios, had a number of epithets representing different aspects or roles, or representing syncretisms with non-Roman deities. The most common and significant of these epithets included the following:

• Mercurius Artaios, a syncretism of Mercury with the Celtic god Artaios, a deity of bears and hunting who was worshiped at Beaucroissant, France.
• Mercurius Arvernus, a syncretism of the Celtic Arvernus with Mercury. Arvernus was worshiped in the Rhineland, possibly as a particular deity of the Arverni tribe, though no dedications to Mercurius Arvernus occur in their territory in the Auvergne region of central France.
• Mercurius Cimbrianus, a syncretism of Mercury with a god of the Cimbri sometimes thought to represent Odin.
• Mercurius Cissonius, a combination of Mercury with the Celtic god Cissonius, who is written of in the area spanning from Cologne, Germany to Saintes, France.
• Mercurius Esibraeus, a syncretism of the Iberian deity Esibraeus with the Roman deity Mercury. Esibraeus is mentioned only in an inscription found at Medelim, Portugal, and is possibly the same deity as Banda Isibraiegus, who is invoked in an inscription from the nearby village of Bemposta.
• Mercurius Gebrinius, a syncretism of Mercury with the Celtic or Germanic Gebrinius, known from an inscription on an altar in Bonn, Germany.
• Mercurius Moccus, from a Celtic god, Moccus, who was equated with Mercury, known from evidence at Langres, France. The name Moccus ("pig") implies that this deity was connected to boar-hunting.
• Mercurius Visucius, a syncretism of the Celtic god Visucius with the Roman god Mercury, attested in an inscription from Stuttgart, Germany. Visucius was worshiped primarily in the frontier area of the empire in Gaul and Germany. Although he was primarily associated with Mercury, Visucius was also sometimes linked to the Roman god Mars, as a dedicatory inscription to "Mars Visucius" and Visucia, Visicius' female counterpart, was found in Gaul.

In ancient literature

In Virgil's Aeneid, Mercury reminds Aeneas of his mission to found the city of Rome. In Ovid's Fasti, Mercury is assigned to escort the nymph Larunda to the underworld. Mercury, however, falls in love with Larunda and makes love to her on the way. Larunda thereby becomes mother to two children, referred to as the Lares, invisible household gods.

Temple

Mercury's temple in Rome was situated in the Circus Maximus, between the Aventine and Palatine hills, and was built in 495 BC.
That year saw disturbances at Rome between the patrician senators and the plebeians, which led to a secession of the plebs in the following year. At the completion of its construction, a dispute emerged between the consuls Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis and Publius Servilius Priscus Structus as to which of them should have the honour of dedicating the temple. The senate referred the decision to the popular assembly, and also decreed that whichever was chosen should also exercise additional duties, including presiding over the markets, establish a merchants' guild, and exercising the functions of the pontifex maximus. The people, because of the ongoing public discord, and in order to spite the senate and the consuls, instead awarded the honour of dedicating the temple to the senior military officer of one of the legions named Marcus Laetorius. The senate and the consuls, in particular the conservative Appius, were outraged at this decision, and it inflamed the ongoing situation.
The dedication occurred on 15 May, 495 BC.
The temple was regarded as a fitting place to worship a swift god of trade and travel, since it was a major center of commerce as well as a racetrack. Since it stood between the plebeian stronghold on the Aventine and the patrician center on the Palatine, it also emphasized the role of Mercury as a mediator.^{[citation needed]}

Worship

Because Mercury was not one of the early deities surviving from the Roman Kingdom, he was not assigned a flamen ("priest"), but he did have his own major festival, on 15 May, the Mercuralia. During the Mercuralia, merchants sprinkled water from his sacred well near the Porta Capena on their heads.

In popular culture

• The now-defunct Mercury car brand from Ford Motor Co. was named after the Roman god. The first logo the Mercury brand used was a side profile of Mercury's head, complete with winged helmet.
• Likewise, Mercury Records, a major American record label from the 1940s to the present, was not only named after the Roman god, but used a stylized frontal illustration of his head as its trademark.
• The United States' so-called Mercury dime, issued from 1916 to 1945, actually features a Winged Liberty and not the god Mercury, but is so named because of a misinterpretation of the goddess's Phrygian cap as wings.

Mercurio, dipinto di Hendrik Goltzius

Part of a series of three paintings, depicting Mercury, Hercules, and Minerva, commissioned by Johan Colterman.

1611

Particolare di un vaso a figure rosse (circa 480-470 a.C.) che raffigura Achille, Priamo, Ermes e Odisseo.

Tarquinia Painter - Jastrow (2006)

The embassy to Achilles (Book 9 of the Iliad): from left to right, Achilles (sulking, wrapped in his cloak), Hermes (with the caduceus), Phoenix (white-haired) and Odysseus. Detail of an Attic red-figure cup, ca. 480 BC–470 BC. From Vulci.

 Paolo Farinati, Mercurio che afferra la Fortuna per il lungo ciuffo, 1590 circa, affresco, Villa Nichesola-Conforti, Ponton di Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella (Verona).

Giuseppeconforti - Opera propria

Paolo Farinati, Mercurio che afferra la Fortuna per il lungo ciuffo, 1590 circa, affresco, Villa Nichesola-Conforti, Ponton di Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella (Verona).

Ermes, copia romana di un'opera bronzea di Lisippo (Louvre)

Copy of Lysippos? - Ricardo André Frantz (User:Tetraktys), 2006

Youth untying his sandal, so-called “Sandalbinder Hermes”. Left arm and shoulder, right forearm and thigh, part of the chlamys and the plinth are modern restorations; the ploughshare at the base of the rock is a modern addition based on an errouneous identification with L. Quinctius Cincinnatus; the head is ancient but may be nonpertinent to the statue. Pentelic marble (body), Roman copy of the 2nd century CE after a Greek original of the late 4th century BC. From the Theater of Marcellus in Rome.

 Prometheus, Merkur und die Pandora

Josef Abel

prima del 1818

Hermes con Dioniso, scultura del 350-330 a.C di Prassitele

Roccuz  - Opera propria

L'Ermes di Prassitele ad Olimpia.

 Alberto Fuster - Aphotheosis of Peace - Google Art Project

Alberto Fuster (1870 - 1922) – Painter (Mexican) Born in Veracruz. Dead in Texas.

Alaux, Jean - Pandora carried off by Mercury
18th or 19th century

 Allegory of the virtues of Prince Regent John.

Domingos Sequeira

 1810 circa

 Jupiter und Merkur bei Philemon und Baucis 

Cerchia di Andrea Appiani

 Andrea Appiani (circle) Jupiter und Merkur bei Philemon und Baucis.jpg
Creato: 18th or 19th century

 Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson - Minerva between Apollo and Mercury, 1814-15

"Commerce": Mercury, god of commerce, with his winged cap and sandals and caduceus, hands a bag of gold to en:Robert Morris, financier of the Revolutionary War. On the left, men move a box on a dolly; on the right, the anchor and sailors lead into the next scene, "Marine."

Architect of the Capitol -1865

Apotheosis of Mercury, in the ceiling over the Main Staircase of Quintela Palace, Lisbon, Portugal.

XIX sec.

  Correggio

1528 circa

Bon Boullogne - Venus and Mercury, 1688

David Rijckaert (III) - Philemon and Baucis Giving Hospitality to Jupiter and Mercury  

prima metà del XVII sec.

procession of the three daughters of the King of Athens (and others) returning from the Festival of Minerva; Herse in red; figures attributed to Adam Elsheimer (1578-1610)

1605 circa

Charles Meynier - Statue of Mercury in a landscape

  

A decorated target of the kind new members of the Roydal Copenhagen Shooting Society had to have made

sconosciuto - 1797

Représentation peinte de Mercure, dans les panneaux du cabinet des muses du château d'Oiron, période Louis XIII

 La obra representa al dios Mercurio junto a Argos, y es una de las obras de temática mitológica de Diego Velázquez conservadas en el Museo del Prado

1659 circa

Português: O Deus Mercúrio, nas paredes da Escadaria Principal do Palácio Quintela, em Lisboa, Portugal.

English: The God Mercury, on the walls of the Main Staircase of the Quintela Palace, in Lisbon, Portugal

1822

 Mercury and Battus

Adam Elsheimer  (1578–1610)

circa 1605-1610

 Evelyn de Morgan - Mercury, 1870-1873

 The Elevation of the Great Elector into Olympus. Oil on canvas (destroyed in World War II). Ceiling painting (detail: Mercury), City Palace, Potsdam 

Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo - Bildindex der Kunst und Architektur: object 20366819 – photograph number LAC 9.003/24 – image file fmlac9003_24a.jpg Foto: Peter Cürlis; (color); Aufnahme-Datum: um 1944.04/1944.08; Zugang: (Dauerleihgabe Kunsthistorisches Institut der Universität Mainz). Fotoinhalt: Ausschnitt: Merkur

 1751

 Franҫois Boucher - Mercury Entrusting the Infant Bacchus to the Nymphs of Nysa

 François Boucher (1703/1770)

Eustache Le Sueur - Cupid orders Mercury, messenger of the Gods, to announce the Power of Love to the Universe, 1646-47

 Hendrick van Balen I (Attr.) - Herse and her Sisters with Mercury

tra il 1600 e il 1632 circa

 Apollon et Hermes ou allegorie du monde celeste 

Francesco Albani , 1635

 Jacob Symonsz. Pynas - Mercury and Herse

1618 circa

 Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

1757

 Jan Baptist Huysmans and Jan Erasmus Quellinus - Mercury turns the jealous Aglaulus into stone

1700 circa

 Der Handel 

R. de Villodas - Illustrirter Katalog der internationalen Kunstausstellung im Königl. Glaspalaste in München 1883, 4. Auflage, München, September 1883 

 Jean Siméon Chardin - The Attributes of the Arts with a Bust of Mercury

1728 circa 

Golden Apple of Discord by Jacob Jordaens

1633

Johann Carl Loth - Mercury Piping to Argus

tra il 1655 e il 1660 circa

Mercury ordering Calypso to release Odysseus. Painting, commissioned between 1678 and 1682 for the bedchamber of Mary Stuart, later queen of England, at the hunting lodge of her husband, William III of Orange, the present Soestdijk Palace. For the two other surviving paintings by de Lairesse from this bedchamber, see File:Gerard de Lairesse 001.jpg and File:1677 Gérard de Lairesse - Diana.jpg.

Gérard de Lairesse

Johannes Lingelbach - Harbor Scene sn272

1667

Hermès  tra il 1671 e il 1681

Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne

Joshua Reynolds  - Mercury as Cut Purse miser 

Nederlands: Faringdon Collection Trust. This painting is paired with an another allegorical subject using children: Cupid as Link Boy. In this pair, Reynolds mocked the tradition of children representing classical subjects by placing his children in the streets of London, infused with sexual undertones. Mercury was a messenger as well as the god of commerce and was often depicted with a money bag. Here, he has stolen it.

Isidoro Bianchi di Campione - 'Allegory of Love and Wisdom'

Isidoro Bianchi (1581-1662)

seconda metà del XVII sec.  

 Laurent de La Hyre - Mercury Takes Bacchus to be Brought up by Nymphs 

1638

 Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678) - Mercurius en Argus 

Creato: entro il 1678

 Peter Paul Rubens - Mercury, 1636-1638

 Nicolas Poussin Mercure Hersé et Aglaure 

1624 - 1626 circa

Mercury Carriers Psyche to Mount Olympus by Bartholomäus Spranger

Budapest 2012

Thomas Quine - Hermes

   Ancient Roman glyptics in the Museo archeologico nazionale (Florence)

 cammeo in calcedonio restaurato con testa di mercurio nel xvi-xvii sec.

 Casa de Maria Viñas i Oliver, a la Rambla d'Ègara núm. 197 (Terrassa). Edifici racionalista d'Ignasi Escudé del 1941. Vista de la porta i el plafó escultòric amb una al·legoria de Mercuri.

Ornament featuring Mercury, patron of the month of June, by Adolphe Giraldon

1911