Hermes

Hermes
Already attested among the Mycenaean pantheon (tablets from Cnossus in Crete, Pylos, and Thebes), the god has no original connection with the herma or cairn of stones, as was once thought. Myths about Hermes are mostly concerned with his childhood, told in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (last third of the 6th cent. bc). He was the son of Zeus and the nymph Maia, born on Mt. Cyllene in Arcadia. On the day of his birth, he left his cradle, found a tortoise which he made into a lyre, then went to Pieria where he stole 50 cows belonging to Apollo, which he led backwards to a cave where he sacrificed two and hid the others, before returning to Cyllene; finally he made up the quarrel with Apollo. Later, he invented the syrinx (pipe) and was taught divination by Apollo. Apart from these stories of his childhood, Hermes plays only a secondary part in other myths. He has no...

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