Chapter 12: Hermes
Terms/Names/Tales to know:
birth tale of Hermes: son of Zeus
and Maia (a minor goddess)
Hermes is a
liminal god - he is our
bridge between the world of the living and the world of the dead (Psychopompos,
"Guide of Souls"). He often controls behaviors
and professions that straddle good/bad aspects of the same action:
merchants/thieves/beggars.
His youthful appearance and quick development from infant to adult addresses
the metamorphosis of maturation (also see Herms,
below). His use of manipulation and persuasion marks him as a smooth social
operator, seamlessly moving from one side of an argument to another.
Elizabeth Vandiver suggests another
way of explaining how Hermes can be god of so many seemingly disparate
things (see her Teachign Company Mythology Tapes):
merchants - see Homeric Hymn for Hermes as
trader (lyre for cattle)
thieves - Hermes
himself is a thief (Norman O. Brown wrote a book called Hermes the Thief)
beggars - those
excluded from trade
cattle/cattle herders - how wealth was measured
messengers/heralds
and travelers/roads:
allows commerce to develop and thrive
liars/tricksters -
manipulation/persuasion as part of the entrepreneurial spirit?
Psychopompos -
- leads men from one dimension to another
Herms
are boundary markers found at crossroads and property lines (another
argument for seeing Hermes as concerned with liminalities, or thresholds).
They consist of a flat pillar distinguished only by a carved head atop the
pillar, and high relief male genitals protruding from the smooth base. They
thus represent fertility, productivity (commercial and otherwise), and
general good fortune. They also have an
apotropaic function (frightening away evil
spirits). See the story of the Destruction of the Herms and the devastating
effect it had on public support for the war in Athens in 414 BC.
Images:
Hermes and Athena (fresco, Batholomaeus
Spranger, 1585)
Mercury, Argus, and Io (Jacob van
Campen, 1630's)
Mercury Piping to Argus (Johann
Karl Loth, 1660)
Mercury and Argus (Rubens, 1635-1638)
Mercury
and Paris (Donato Creti, 1745)
Mercury
Appearing to Aeneas, 1757, Tiepolo
for attributes (his hat, petasus,
his sandals, talaria, and his snake-entwined staff,
caduceus):
Mercury in London
Mercury (Bronze, 1580, Giovanni de Bologna)
Mercury as model
for FTD Floral Bouquet man
Mercury,
(marble, Jean Baptiste Pigalle, 1745)
copyright
2001 Janice
Siegel,
All Rights Reserved
send comments to: Janice Siegel (jfsiege@ilstu.edu)
date this page was edited last:
08/02/2005
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