The Mythology Book

54

H

ermes, generally described

as the “messenger of the

gods,” was that and much

more. Famously, he was able to flit

from one place to another in an

instant, carried through the air

on winged sandals that would

become emblematic of the god

himself. His ability to fly was key

to his role as courier. Symbolically,

though, the god’s rapid travel

The god Hermes, with a painted

whiplash in his right hand, leads a

chariot carrying the nymphs Basile

and Echelos in this marble votive

relief dating from 410 bce.

suggested his quickness of thought

and his heedlessness of the normal

restrictions of time and space.

Springing to life

Hermes was the son of Zeus and

Maia, daughter of the Titan Atlas

and the sea nymph Pleione. Known

to the Romans as Mercury, he

showed his mercurial character

from the very beginning of his life,

when (according to the Homeric

Hymn to Hermes) he “jumped

straight from his mother’s womb”

and landed in his cradle. The young

god did not lie there long, but

instead leapt out of the cave that

A BRINGER

OF DREAMS

HERMES’S FIRST DAY

IN BRIEF

THEME

Unpredictability

and change

SOURCES

Odyssey, Homer, 8th century

bce; Theogony, Hesiod, ca. 700

bce; Homeric Hymns,

Anonymous, ca. 600 bce;

Orphic Hymns, Anonymous,

ca. 250 bce– 150 ce.

SETTING

Mount Olympus, Greece.

KEY FIGURES

Hermes The messenger god;

son of Zeus and Maia.

Zeus King of the gods.

Maia Daughter of Atlas and

Pleione; mother of Hermes.

Atlas A Titan; father of Maia.

Pleione A sea nymph; mother

of Maia.

Apollo The sun god.

Orion A giant hunter.

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ANCIENT GREECE 55

See also: The war of the gods and Titans 32–33 ■ The many affairs of Zeus 42–47 ■ The quest of Odysseus 66–71 ■

Arachne and Minerva 115 ■ The adventures of Thor and Loki in Jötunheim 146–47 ■ Ananse the spider 286–87

had been his mother’s refuge—

despite being only one hour old—to

find and steal the cattle of the sun

god, Apollo. Hermes had barely

stepped outside the cave when he

was diverted by the sight of a

tortoise. Scooping out the animal,

he turned the hollow shell “into a

singer.” He covered the opening

with cowhide, leaving a sounding-

hole; he then stretched strings

across it and built a little wooden

bridge to make the world’s first lyre.

Plucking the strings, he burst into

song, recounting epic stories of the

world and its creation—of Titans,

Olympians, nymphs, men and

women, and other beings.

Multifaceted god

Not yet a day old, Hermes was

already the world’s first musician,

poet, and historian. His

multifaceted genius was also

capricious. The Homeric Hymn

states that, even as he sang, he was

“inwardly attending to other

matters”: as Apollo’s sun went

down, Hermes crept onto the lands

of the god and took his cattle.

Walking the beasts backward, so

their trail seemed to lead in the

opposite direction, he herded them

back to his home.

The quick cunning displayed

by Hermes had much in common

with “trickster” spirits of other

mythologies, such as West Africa’s

Ananse or the Loki of Norse legend.

Despite his love of pranks, Hermes

also possessed a capacity for more

serious deeds. For example, he

invented ritual sacrifice when he

slew two of Apollo’s cows, skinned,

and roasted them, and—though

hungry—left the aromatic flesh on a

platform to atone for his theft.

The caduceus, the rod that

Hermes carried in his left hand,

could confer sleep and healing at

a touch. The two symmetrically

coiling serpents that wound around

the caduceus suggested its ability

to balance and reconcile opposing

sides, whether through changing

them from one form to another or

through negotiation and trade—

Hermes was also believed to be the

god of commerce. ■

Maia and the Pleiades

Hermes’s mother was one of

Zeus’s many amatory conquests.

According to Hesiod’s Theogony,

Maia, daughter of Atlas the Titan

and Pleione the sea nymph, had

gone up to Zeus’s “holy bed,” slept

with him, and bore him a son—the

messenger god. Maia in turn

would be rewarded with her own

winged transformation.

After the war of the gods with

the Titans, while Atlas was forced

to carry the sky and heavens upon

his shoulders, his wife, Pleione,

was romantically pursued by

Orion, the great huntsman. For

seven years Orion harassed not

only the sea nymph but her

seven daughters as well. At last,

Zeus answered their prayers

and intervened, first turning

Orion into the group of stars

now associated with his name—

Orion’s belt. He then

transformed Pleione and

her daughters—including

Maia—into doves. They flew

into the night sky to become

the Pleiades, a cluster of

stars whose appearance is

traditionally associated with

the onset of rainy weather.

The seven daughters of Atlas

and Pleione—depicted here by Elihu

Vedder (1885)—fly to the heavens

and become the Pleiades.

And Maia bore to Zeus

glorious Hermes, the herald

of the deathless gods.

Theogony

[Hermes] fastened on his feet

the immortal golden

sandals which carried

him faster than the breeze.

Odyssey

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