A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

tHERMES. }IERMES. 413
numerous statues of the god were erected on roads, Hermae) were extremely numerous in Greece. The
at doors and gates, from which circumstance he de- Romans identified him with Mercury. [MERCUrived a variety of surnames an.d epithets. As the RIUS.] Among the things sacred to him we may
god of commerce, he was called ar4unropos, /uAro- mentio!l the palm tree, the tortoise, the number
hanos, 7raATrycci7r7XAos, KepSe'uropos, ciyopaos, &c. four, and several kinds of fish; and the sacrifices
(Aristoph. Plut. 1155; Pollux, vii. 15; Orph. offered to him consisted of incense, honey, cakes,
Hymn. xxvii. 6; Paus. i. 15. ~ 1, ii. 9. ~. 7, iii. pigs, and especially lambs and young goats. (Paus.
I 1. ~ 8, &c.); and as commerce is the source of vii. 22. ~ 2; Aristoph. Plut. 1121, 1144 Hom.
wealth, Hermes is also the god of gain and riches, Od. xiv. 435, xix. 397; Athen. i. p. 16.)
especially of sudden and unexpected riches, such as The principal attributes of Hermes are: 1. A
are acquired by commerce. As the giver of wealth travelling hat, with a broad brim, which in later
and good luck (7rhovToUT7rs), he also presided times was adorned with two little wings; the latter,
over the game of dice, and those who played it however, are sometimes seen arisingfrom his locks,
threw an olive leaf upon the dice, and first drew his head not being covered with the hat. 2. The
this leaf. (Hom. II. vii. 183; Aristoph. Pax, staff (j~cf9os or aKci7rrpov): it is frequently men365; Eustath. ad Horn. p. 675.) We have al- tioned in the Homeric poems as the magic staff by
ready observed that Hermes was considered as the means of which he closes and opens the eyes of
inventor of sacrifices, and- hence he not only acts mortals, but no mention is made of the person or
the part of a herald at sacrifices (Aristoph. Pax, god from whom he received it, nor of the entwining
433), but is also the protector of sacrificial animals, serpents which appear in late works of art. Acand was believed in particular to increase the ferti- cording to the Homeric hymn and Apollodolus, -he
lity of sheep. (Hom. Hymn. in Mere. 567, &c., received it from Apollo; and it appears that we
II. xiv. 490, xvi. 180, &c; Hes. Theog. 444.) must distinguish two staves, which were afterwards
For this reason he was especially worshipped by united into one: first, the ordinary herald's staff
shepherds, and is mentioned in connection with (II. vii. 277, xviii. 505), and secondly, a magic
Pan and the Nymphs. (Hom. Od. xiv. 435; Eu- staff, such as other divinities also possessed. (Lustath. ad Horn. p. 1766; Aristoph. Thesnz. 977; cian, Dial. Deor. vii. 5; Virg. Aen. iv. 242, &c.)
Paus. viii. 16. ~ 1; ix. 34. ~ 2; Schol. ad Soph. The white ribbons with which the herald's staff
Philoct. ] 4, 59.) This feature in the character of was originally surrounded were changed by later
Hermes is a remnant of the ancient Arcadian re- artists into two serpents (Schol. ad Thuc. i. 53;
ligion, in which he was the fertilising god of the Macrob. Sat. i. 19; comp. Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 7;
earth, who conferred his blessings on man; and Serv. ad Aen. iv. 242, viii. 138), though the ansome other traces of this character occur in the cients themselves accounted for them either by
Homeric poems. (II. xxiv. 360, Od. viii. 335, tracing them to some feat of the god, or by regardxvi. 185, Hymn. in lMerc. 27.) ing them as symbolical representations of prudence,
Another important function of Hermes was his life, health, and the like. The staff, in later times,
being the patron of all the gymnastic games of the is further adorned with a pair of wings, expressing
Greeks. This idea seems to be of late origin, for the rapidity with which the messenger of the gods
in the Homeric poems no trace of it is found; and moved from place to place. 3. The sandals
the appearance of the god, such as it is there de- (7re'&Aa.) They were beautiful and golden, and
scribed, is very different from that which we might carried the god across land and sea with the rapiexpect in the god of the gymnastic art. But as dity of wind; but Homer no where says or sughis images were erected in so many places, and gests that they were provided with wings. The
among them, at the entrance of the gymnasia, the plastic art, on the other hand, required some outnatural result was, that he, like Heracles and the ward sign to express this quality of the god's sanDioscuri, was regarded as the protector of youths dals, and therefore formed wings at his ancles,
and gymnastic exercises and contests (Pind. Nem. whence he is called 7r'rlvoirE'8Ao, or alipes.
x. 53), and that at a later time the Greek artists (Orph. Hymn. xxvii. 4; Ov. Met. xi. 312.) In
derived their ideal of the god from the gymnasium,' addition to these attributes, Hermes sometimes
and represented him as a youth whose limbs were holds a purse in his hands. Several representations
beautifully and harmoniously developed by gym- of the god at different periods of'his life, as well as
nastic exercises. Athens seems to have been the in the discharge of his different functions, have
first place in which he was worshipped in this come down to us. (Hirt, Mythlol. Bilderb. i. p. 63,
capacity. (Pind. Pyth. ii. 10, Isthm. i. 60; Ari- &c.) [L. S.]
stoph. Plut. 1161.). The numerous descendants HERMES, a Greek rhetorician, who is menof Hermes are treated of in separate articles. It tioned in the work ad Herennium (i. 11), where
should be observed that the various functions of the he is called doctor noster, and an opinion of his is
god led some of the ancients to assume a plurality quoted. The MSS. of that passage, however, vary,
of gods of this name. Cicero (de Nat. Deor. iii. some having Hermes, and others Hermestes. Some
22) distinguishes five, and Servius (ad Aen. i. 301, critics have conjectured Hermagoras, but the opiiv. 577) four; but these numbers also include nion quoted in the work ad Herennium does not
foreign divinities, which were identified by the agree with what we know to have been the opinion
Greeks with their own Hermes. of Hermagoras. [L. S.]
The most ancient seat of his worship is Arcadia, HERMES and HERMES TRISMEGISTUS
the land of his birth, where Lycaon, the son of ('Epohis and'Epgzds TplIrTEyicraos), the reputed
Pelasgus, is said to have built to him the first author of a variety of works, some of which are
temple. (Hygin. Fab. 225.) From thence his still extant. In order to understand their origin
worship was carried to Athens, and ultimately and nature, it is necessary to cast a glance at the
spread through all Greece. The festivals celebrated philosophy of the New Platonists and its objects.
in his honour were called "Epitaca. (Dict. of Ant. The religious ideas of the Greeks were viewed as
3, v.) His temples and statues (Didt. of Ant. s. v. in some way connected with those of the Egyptiana