Hermes, the Messenger God

Background Information cont.

Special talents, traits, and skills of Hermes

• Two of Hermes's hero children were Autolykos, a thief who could change the shape of objects with a touch, and Aethalides, an argonaut hero who had an unfailing memory.

• Hermes was the God of omens, poetry, trade, travel, the home, thievery, luck, athletics, and language and education.
• He was also the guide of the dead.

Weaknesses of Hermes

A myth involving Hermes...

When Hermes was an infant, he went out

of his cradle and went on an adventure to Pieria,

a place in Northern Greece. He wanted to steal the

cattle from his brother Apollo. When he found the

herd, he pulled the hooves out of the cows' feet and put them back on backwards. Then, he took the herd, which were now walking backwards, into a cave. After that, he returen to Mount Cyllene.

Background Information

• Stealing things was one of Hermes's weaknesses. He just loved stealing things.
• Also, one of his weaknesses was sitting still; after all, he was the messenger god and the athletic god.

http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/K11.1.html

Hermes

• Hermes was born and he lived inside a cave on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, southern Greece.
• His parents were Zeus and Maea. Zeus was the King of the Gods and Maea was a mountain nymph.
• Since Zeus was Hermes's father, technically all of Zeus's children were Hermes's siblings.
• Hermes is unmarried.
• Some of Hermes's children were Pan, god of goat-herds and hunting; Hermaphroditos, Daimon half male, half female.

God-to-myself comparison

Symbols cont.

Symbols to represent Hermes

• Another symbol that represents Hermes is the flying sandals.
• Hermes is the messenger god and he needs a way to get from place to place so fast.
• The caduceus is also winged and helps Hermes get around so the two go well together.

• Caduceus
• The caduceus was winged and helped Hermes to travel effortlessly through the air.
• The snakes on the caduceus used to fight with each other and once they wrapped themselves around the staff and looked at each other, they stopped fighting.
• Hermes is the god of medicine, so...
• Medicine makes things (diseases and sickness) better and the caduceus made things between the snakes better.

Works cited.

“Hermes.” Mythweb. Fleet Gazelle, 2013. Web. 16 Sept. 2013.

“Hermes.” Encyclopedia Mythica. Encyclopedia Mythica Online, 2013. Web. 16 Sept. 2013.

“Hermes, the Messenger of the Gods.” Greek-Gods.Info. Evangelia Hatzitsinidou, 2013. Web. 16 Sept. 2013.

“Hermes Family.” Theoi.com. Theoi Project, 2011. Web 10 Oct. 2013.

“Hermes, General Info.” Theoi.com. Theoi Project, 2011. Web 10 Oct. 2013.

If I were to compare Hermes to myself, I would say that we are both messengers in a sense. Hermes is the messenger god and I pass messages to people and friends all the time. Family members that call me often leave me a message to tell my family, good or bad. Also, Hermes is the athelete god and I swim, run, and do marching band, which all are athletic activities.

Connection to the Odyssey

When Odysseus was at Calypso's island, Zeus told Hermes to send a message to Calypso. Hermes traveled across the ocean to Calypso's island. Zeus's message was to send Odysseus home. Calypso normally does not let people go, but since it was a message from Zeus, she had to abide and she set Odysseus free. If it was not for Hermes, Odysseus may not have escaped from Calypso's island.

Hermes, the Messenger God