Hermes: The Greek God

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Hermes The name of my god is Hermes. He is an Olympian god of animal husbandry, roads, travel, hospitality, heralds, diplomacy, trade, thievery, language, writing, persuasion, cunning wiles, athletic contests, gymnasiums, astronomy, and astrology. He was also the personal agent and herald of Zeus, the king of the gods. Hermes was also revered under the Latin name of Mercury when the worship of the gods spread from ancient Greece to Rome. Hermes was depicted as either a handsome and athletic, beardless youth, or as an older bearded man. His attributes included the heralds wand or Kerykeion ( Latin caduceus ), winged boots, and sometimes a winged travelers cap and chlamys cloak. When the Gigantes (Giants)…show more content…
Distinguished for his intelligence since his rather abrupt birth Hermes, was very clever and was a useful god to have on your side in a pinch. Hermes left the cave on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia where he had been concealed, walked all the way to the island of Thessaly, and found Apollo’s flock unguarded. He managed to lead all the cows out, tying branches to his feet and walking backwards to make it look as though a giant had led something into the pasture but nothing out of it. He tied brooms to the cow’s tails so that they would erase their own tracks. It seems illogical to go to the trouble of tying branches to your feet and walking backwards after you’ve already made sure that your tracks will be erased…show more content…
To make sure that Hera did not become suspicious, he decided to make Hermes his messenger. And the young god, as he grew into manhood, became very useful to his father. When Hades threatened to tell Hera the truth about Hermes, who was understandably afraid of her, he agreed to serve as a messenger for the underworld as well. Occasionally, when not occupied with pleasant tasks for his father, he would also act as a guide to speed dead and dying mortals to the underworld. The cleverness he had shown as an infant grew along with his body. He built himself a workshop on Olympus and invented the alphabet, astronomy, and the scales. To muse himself, he also devised any number of card games and became an expert cheat. His other inventions were foot racing and boxing. At Olympia, his statue stand at the entrance of stadium and his statue was in every gymnasium through Greece. His name is probably derived from herma (herm), the Greek word for a heap of stones, such as was used in the country to indicate boundaries or as a landmark. There he was especially worshipped as the god of fertility, and his images were ithyphallic. Hermes was in archaic art, apart from the stylized herms, depicted as a full-grown man with beard. From the latter part of the 5th century BC he was

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