Hermes - Mythology.

Hermes - Mythology. Greek The winged messenger of the Greek gods; son of Zeus and Maia (1). Hermes is also associated with fertility, and is god of flocks, roads, trading, and thieves. Hermes was the inventor of the lyre and the guide of souls on the way to Hades. He was the father of many, including Autolycus, Daphnis, and Hermaphroditus. In Roman mythology, he is known as Mercury. Archaic artists portrayed Hermes as a bearded man wearing a broad-brimmed hat and winged sandals, and carrying a herald's staff. From the fifth century b.c. on, artisans showed him as a nude and beardless young man, typical of an accomplished athlete. The earliest center of Hermes' cult was Arcadia, where he was worshiped as a god of fertility with phallic images called hermae (hermai). These were heaps of stones set up by the ancient Greeks to mark boundaries or distances along roads. With the development of artistic taste, in the fifth century b.c. these crude piles became pillars crowned with the head of Hermes. In cities the hermae were erected at street corners and at the doors of houses. The Childhood of Hermes Hermes, son of Zeus and Maia, was born in a cave in Mount Cyllene, in Arcadia. He grew miraculously fast, and soon after his birth he was able to walk out of the cave, kill a tortoise, and make the first lyre from its shell. To complete the lyre, Hermes needed strings. He stole a herd of cows belonging to Apollo by making them walk backward so that their tracks would lead Apollo in the wrong direction. He killed the cows and made strings for the lyre from their guts. When Apollo finally discovered the thief (now back in his cradle), he brought Hermes before his father, Zeus. Zeus was more amused than angry at his infant son, and when Hermes produced the lyre and played it, even Apollo was charmed and offered the rest of his flock to Hermes in return for it. Apollo also gave Hermes his Caduceus, a herald's staff of gold. Hades instructed Hermes to lay the golden staff on the eyes of the dying and lead them gently to the realm of the dead. Some accounts say that Apollo taught Hermes how to prophesy, Artemis taught him to hunt, and Pan taught him to play the pipes. Hermes was undoubtedly a favorite with the gods.