Hermes

Arlene Allan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351012218
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia antica

Hermes redresses the gap in modern English scholarship on this fascinating and complex god, presenting its readers with an introduction to Hermes' social, religious and political importance through discussions of his myths, iconography and worship. It also brings together in one place an integrated survey of his reception and interpretation in contemporaneous neighbouring cultures in antiquity as well as discussion of his reception in the post-classical periods up to the present day. This volume is an invaluable resource for anyone wanting to explore the many facets of Hermes' myth, worship and reception.

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KEY THEMES

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1

TALENTS

Every god in the Greek pantheon seems to possess some innate quality (or qualities), such as certain talents or abilities, which render them a ‘natural’ fit for the offices they come to hold in Zeus’ cosmos. In order to appreciate Hermes’ various roles in the pantheon, it is best to begin by identifying the particular talents possessed and displayed by him from birth so that we can better understand how each enables him to perform certain tasks under the leadership of his father.

MÊTIS

First and foremost, it is clear from the first hours of his life that Hermes has inherited something from his father in a far different form than any of Zeus’ other progeny, and that is a quality of mind which the Greeks called ‘mêtis’, usually translated as ‘cunning intelligence’. According to Hesiod, Zeus himself acquired this highly desirable mental capacity when he ingested his first wife, who was named Mêtis, to prevent her from giving birth to a son who was prophesied to overthrow him as he had overthrown his own father (Theogony 886–900). The child with which Maia was pregnant when swallowed turned out to be female and was subsequently born from the head of Zeus as the goddess of cleverness named Athena; her form of ‘cunning intelligence’ manifested itself in wise and prudent decision-making.¹

Hermes’ inherited mêtis displayed itself in a very different but no less important manner: rather than being associated with wisdom, Hermes’ ‘cunning intelligence’ was more akin to that which we would call ‘clever’, ‘shrewd’ or ‘sharp’ thinking and near-spontaneous creativity. As those adjectives suggest, there is just a hint that Hermes’ sort of mêtis may have an element of sneakiness or mischievousness about it, in keeping with the ‘cunning’ side of the term’s definition. It is this aspect of Hermes’ mêtis that informs at least four of the poetic epithets we encounter for the god. Two of these emphasise his versatility, being constructed of an adjective, meaning either ‘varied’ or ‘multi-faceted’ (poikilo-), and one meaning ‘many’ (poly-); when added to a noun these are, respectively, poikilomêtis, ‘of multi-faceted mêtis’, and polytropes, ‘of many turnings’ or ‘of many means’. Neither of these terms in itself holds a negative connotation; however, the fact that they are able to suggest a degree of unpredictability about the entity so named invites a certain level of caution, especially when that entity is a god.

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The other two terms are decidedly more negative in describing the nature of Hermes, and given the circumstances within which they arise, that may not be too surprising. Both first appear in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, one in the voice of the narrator (413), the other from the mouth of Apollo, a god who, at the moment he utters them, is simultaneously confused and over-awed by his ‘little brother’ (436). The first of these is klepsiphrôn, which has the sense of ‘dissembling’, but here its more literal sense of ‘cheating or darkening (klepsi-) one’s understanding or thoughts (phrôn)’ is most appropriate: Hermes has just boggled Apollo’s mind by causing the very vines with which his big brother hoped to bind him to take root and entwine around the cattle: Apollo is ‘filled with wonder’ (thaumasen) at the marvellous sight (414). Clearly, having one’s thoughts befuddled can be a less than desirable quality to find in a god to whom one may be turning for assistance – unless of course you are praying that he use this particular talent against someone else in the process of assisting you! The second epithet is Mêkhaniôtês, meaning (among other things) ‘Contriver’ or ‘Maker of Designs’ (i.e., plots), and this title Apollo uses immediately upon first seeing and hearing Hermes’ newly invented lyre. It is this epithet, in particular, that lends itself to the translation ‘Trickster’ and which more closely associates Hermes with other such figures in world mythology, perhaps even suggesting in the minds of some that he was the replacement for Prometheus, the Greek’s original trickster figure.²

Hermes’ association with cleverness and craft is not limited to poetic epithets and activities. He is also known to have received cult under the title Dolios, ‘Hermes of Crafts’ or ‘Hermes of Wiles: Tricky Hermes’. We know of this cult title from Pausanias, who, passing through Achaia on the way to the town of Pellene, came across a road-side Herm after the style of Hipparchos, which the locals addressed as Dolios (‘Crafty’ or ‘Wily’) when they prayed. Pausanias further notes that this particular Herm has a craved cap on his head and is believed to be ever ‘prepared to bring to pass the prayers of men’ (7.27.1). Such a cult title may be unique to this particular Herm, as neither Pausanias nor any other author mentions the worship of the god under this divine epiklesis at any other location. One suspects that there was a story to go with this Herm and its location, one which explained why he was honoured by this title at this spot; however, Pausanias either was not aware of it or decided not to pass it on to his readers. For our purposes, what this single instance of Hermes with this epiklesis demonstrates is the ‘diversity in sameness’ in the worship of the gods who resided on Olympos from one region of ancient Greece to another: Hermes manifested himself in different ways to different people in different areas, but he was still Hermes, son of Zeus and Maia and member of the ruling pantheon of gods.

STEALTH

In addition to his quickness of mind, Hermes has an innate ability to get things done without drawing attention to himself and without arousing the suspicions of those with whom he does engage. He displays this particular talent when he loosens his swaddling clothes and escapes from his home without attracting his mother’s attention. Shortly thereafter he slips back inside and leaves a second time, still without Maia’s notice. He then makes his way to Pieria to find Apollo’s sacred cows. Once he locates them, Hermes easily evades the four keen-eyed hounds whose job it was to guard the herd, and makes off with all fifty of his brother’s cows (Hymn to Hermes 4.140ff.). After driving them to his desired destination and completing what he had planned to do with them, Hermes then conceals the cows in a cave and takes himself back home, attracting the notice of neither god nor man nor beast. Thereafter he lets himself into the house by ‘turning sideways and going in through the foyer’s keyhole like a late summer’s breeze, even as a mist’ (145–7).

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Hermes’ ability to move through space in a stealthy manner can be just as evident in his manner of speaking. This too is put on display almost as soon as he leaves the house. When setting out to get Apollo’s cows, Hermes unexpectedly spies a tortoise and (while plotting its death and conversion into a lyre) talks it into accompanying him indoors without raising any suspicion whatsoever (26–40). Later, when he is seen by an old man near Onchestos as he is driving the cows from Pieria to the banks of the River Alpheios, Hermes warns the man against telling anyone what he has seen in words that have a riddling quality to them, but which contain a threat couched in a promise of benefit that is itself all too clear (90–3). The next morning when Apollo finds Hermes at home and charges him with being a cattle-thief, the young god offers to swear an oath in an attempt to misdirect his brother. His clever way with words is further on display when, after leading his brother back to Olympos so that the case can be put before their father, Zeus, rather than arguing for his own innocence, Hermes defends himself by showing how poorly Apollo has made his case against him.³

In light of just these few highlights from the Hymn it should come as no surprise that the same set of epithets and cult titles which serve to acknowledge Hermes’ mêtis are equally as appropriate for expressing this aspect of Hermes’ innate talents. But in addition to these, the Hymn gives Hermes other epithets specifically related to his stealthy theft of Apollo’s cows. One of these is quite simply the word for ‘robber’ (or ‘thief’ or ‘rustler’): Phêlêtês; another identifies him as the one who has charge over those who engage in these activities: it names Hermes the ‘Leader to Thieves’ (Arkhos Phêlêtêon). Perhaps because of his action against two of Apollo’s cows, Hermes is also named Bouphonos, ‘Killer of Oxen’, although technically Hermes does not kill any male cattle in the Hymn. To the best of our knowledge, none of these epithets becomes a title for the god in cult; the closest we get to these ideas in the worship of Hermes is, as we have already noted, the epiklesis, ‘Dolios’.

CREATIVITY

Hermes’ craftiness comes into play in other areas as well. Taking his creative potential in the most literal sense, Hermes certainly follows in his father’s footsteps when it comes to his response to a particularly young, attractive and long-lived nymph or mortal female who has ‘caught his eye’. Zeus and Hermes are by far the most prolific with regard to the generation of descendants from the appropriation of the body of a female: and often each uses a degree of stealth to achieve his ends. Although initially viewed as a violation of a man’s property, mortal families could and did take pride in having an immortal ancestor, often claiming a special authority to rule because of the divine connection. This was particularly true of descendants of the Zeus and his brother, Poseidon; however, to a slightly lesser degree, the same claim could be made for the families who had their descent line enhanced by ‘visits’ from Zeus’ own divine sons.

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Hermes is reported to have been the father of several such lines (some of which will be of significance to later discussions), spread across the territories of ancient Greece, from the farthest northern reaches of Thessaly to the southern tip of the Peloponnese, and from the eastern coast of Boiotia to the western coast of Messenia. In addition to daughters, which the sources seldom discussed in any detail unless they come to play some significant role in a story, Hermes is recorded as producing over twenty sons by Greek females and a further nine on ‘foreign’ soil. The majority of these boys matured to become the leaders of their region or city, especially when their mother was a female of high social standing. Perhaps the most famous of these was Keryx, professed to be a son of Aglauros, herself a daughter of the Athenian King Kekrops (according to Pausanias, 1.38.3), and the founding father of the Kerykes line, who had the hereditary tasks of providing the torchbearers for the Eleusinian Mysteries and of officiating at the festival’s sacrifice(s). However, the Eleusinians themselves seem to have had a different version of Hermes’ relationship with their people, making him the father of Eleusis, after whom the town where the Mysteries were introduced was named. Pausanias (1.38.7) records this version as well, and it is the one which Pseudo-Hyginus preferred to report (Fabulae 275). Also at Athens in Attica, according to his Fabulae 160, Hermes was reputed to be the father of Kephalos, whom he begat with Kreousa, the daughter of Erechtheus, son of the Athenians’ autochthonous ancestor. Despite his pedigree, however, Kephalos does not seem to have generated any lasting legacy.⁴

In Boiotia, Hermes forced his affections on a certain nymph to produce the great hunter, Orion; in the neighbouring land of Lokris, he fathered a son by the name of Abderos, who would become an intimate of Herakles according to Apollodoros (Bibliotheke 2.97). Northeast of Boiotia, in Phthia, Hermes produced a number of boys who, as young men, joined the famous voyage of Jason to find the...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Hermes
• Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Series Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• List of Ancient Authors
• List of Abbreviations and Conventions
• Map of the Peloponnese and Isthmus of Corinth
• Genealogical Table
• Why Hermes?
• Introducing Hermes
• Key Themes
• Hermes Afterwards
• Further Reading
• Bibliography
• Index