Comparing Herme And Hermes

Hermes and Apollo each play a significant role in Greek mythology and both have equally earned their titles as Olympian Gods. Apollo is the God of light and has the duty of moving the Sun across the sky with his horse chariot. Hermes is the messenger of all Gods and links mortals to the Olympians. The all-powerful Zeus, who is the supreme ruler of all Gods, fathers them. It is only natural that both would inherit God-Like traits of their father. Through analyzing the Hymn to Apollo and Hymn to Hermes, Apollo and Hermes do have quite a bit in common. They both are Gods of shepherds, flocks, and music. Despite the roles and responsibilities that make them alike, they have their own intelligences and attributes that set them greatly apart. Apollo

“Mother, why aim this abuse at me, as if I were an infant child who knows but a few naughty tricks in his mind, a timid babe, whose mother’s rebukes make him cower in fright?” (Michael Crudden, The Homeric Hymns, Page 49) Hermes is also perceived as clever because he made the cattle walk backwards, so no one would think it was him.

Based on the intellect and talents that Apollo possesses, I find that they are far more superior to and more effectively used than the ones Hermes retains. Apollo showed that he was more disciplined and had a higher level of maturity at a young age.. While Hermes stole the cattle from Apollo, Apollo protected shepherds from wolves. His compassion for wolves developed his protective nature. “At an early age he protected shepherds from wolves…” (Barry Powell, Classical Myth, Page

These are the traits that make the ideal God. Apollo is fair because when Hermes gave him the lyre, he gave Hermes a golden staff. Apollo is just, as he was the God of heavenly distance, who propelled or endangered from afar; the deity who made men conscious of their own fault and cleansed them of it. Many dread Apollo, as he is also the God of medicine and healing. At his mercy, he has the power to bring forth plague and disease with his arrow. Apollo is the God of truth, as he cannot tell a lie. Hermes uses his clever mind to fool others for his own amusement and lacks responsibility as well as these traits that Apollo has. Apollo’s well-rounded strengths and abilities embody what I consider to be “God-like” capabilities. Through his metis and power, he is able to produce clarification, amends, certainty, and a new civil stability of justice. Apollo is more deity like than Hermes because he is well rounded with his abilities and powers. He recognizes his strength and only uses it when necessary hence his