The Mythology Book

(Chris Devlin) #1

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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