HERMES (Ἑρμῆς). - Greek god, whose name has been derived from the piles of stones (ἐρμῶ) that were sacred to him, but others consider him pre-Hellenic and originally from Arcadia.

As for his original nature, he has been made the god of motion, of light, of mists and clouds, of dew, of twilight, of the air and of the winds, a chthonic god, a male god of the moon, god of the piles of stones. In Homer, H. already has almost all his characteristic functions; which shows his antiquity: he is the messenger of

Zeus and of the gods, and as such he has the rod (περίσκετο, caduceus) to which in ancient times magical power was attributed (in the Homeric hymn it confers wealth and well-being) and the broad-brimmed petasos; he is the god of eloquence and of inventions (the lyre, the panpipe, the flute, the discovery of fire); in a later age, when he was identified with the Egyptian god Thoth, he became a musician, the inventor of letters, of mathematics, of astronomy and of writing. He was also a god of shepherds, multiplier of the flock, deceiver, thief and protector of thieves, protector of travelers and hunters. Road signs and piles of stones at the roadsides were sacred to him, to which passers-by added a new stone. In Homer he is not winged, but hovers through the air; later he has little wings on his feet, on his shoulders or on the caduceus. He guides the souls of the dead to the Underworld (v. cronicine, DIVINITA). Late are his attributions as god of commerce, and as god of the gymnasia and palaestrae. Festivals, temples and public cults are scanty, except in Arcadia where, on Mount Cyllene, his birth was localized, but he was very popular and had a very extensive private cult.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: R. L. Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States, V, Oxford 1906, p. 1 ff.; A. Adriani, s. v. in Enc. Ital., XIV (1932), p. 244 ff.; M. Nilsson, Geschichte der griechischen Religion, I, Munich 1941, p. 471 ff.; K. Kerényi, Hermes der Seelenführer, Zurich 1944; J. Chittenden, Le maître des animaux, in Hespéria, 16 (1947), pp. 89-114.

Luisa Banti

@incollection{ec5_ermete_ermes, author = {Banti, Luisa}, title = {Ermete (ἘΡΜΗ͂Σ)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {506--507}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/ermete-ermes} }

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Hermes (Ἑρμῆς)

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