Hermes: Winged Messenger

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To many ancient cultures, including the Greeks, mythology was a literal part of their histories. The Greeks in particular used myths to explain natural phenomena and many other occurrances (Greek Mythology...). The foremost way that this was done was by attributing such occurrances to either the wrath or pleasure of gods created to lord over various dominions. One of these gods revered by the Greeks was Hermes, the winged messenger of the gods. Hermes, known to the Romans as Mercury, was originally a fertility god, and then became the god of roads and travel (Forty 286,288). He was also known as Hermes Psychopompos, because he escorted souls to Hades(Carlyon 172, Hermes...). Eventually, many other fields fell under his wide jurisdiction. He became responsible for increase in the animal world, as well as being the god of commerce, manual skill, oratory and eloquence, thieves and the wind. He was even the patron of athletes, especially wrestlers, basically all activities that required skill and dexterity (Zimmerman 124, Bullfinch 29). He had many children by various godesses and mortals, including Pan, his son by Dryope, Cephalus, by Herse, and Ceryx, by Pandrosus. He had many children with the goddess Aphrodite, including Hermaphroditus, also known as Atlantius, Eunomia, Peitho, Rhodos, and Tyche (Carlyon 174, Hermes...). He also fathered the infamous thief Autolycus, by Chione (Zimmerman 124). Hermes was the son of the god Zeus and the nymph Maia (Schwab 754). He was born in a cave on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, and within hours of his birth had already committed his first larceny (Hermes...). He left the cave while his mother slept, going to Piera, where Apollo pastured his cattle. The child stole the cattle, forcing them... ... middle of paper ... ...td., 1999. "Greek Mythology: HERMES. Summary of the Olympian God." Dec 12 http://66.90.77.92/Summary/Hermes.html "Greek Mythology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Dec 13 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology "Hermes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Dec 13 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes http://www.uiowa.edu/~classics/programs/classics-info.html Schwab, Gustav. Gods and Heroes: Myths and Epics of Ancient Greece. Toronto: Pantheon Books, 1946. Tripp, Edward. Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1970. Zimmerman, J.E.. Dictionary of Classical M

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