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Hermes (Myth)

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Stephensonia

Enoch the Red knows all about the different manifestations of Hermês.

hermes.jpg

**Hermes, Conductor of Souls with Athena, Goddess of Macrame and War

Bartholomaeus Spranger - Flemish Painter c. 1585**

Authored entries

Hermes

Hermês ("pile of marker stones"), in Greek mythology, was the god of travelers, shepherds, land travel, orators, literature, cunning, poets, athletics, weights and measures, and thieves, and the messenger from the gods to humans. Son of Zeus and a nymph named Maia, Hermes was equivalent to the Roman god Mercury and the Etruscan Turms. Hermes was born in a cave on Mount Cyllene in Peloponnesus, between Achaia and Arcadia. His origin on Mount Cyllene explains the origin of an epithet for Hermes: Hermes Cylleneius. He was also referred to as Enagonios. As a psychopomp, Hermes was known as Psychopompos ("conductor of the soul"). The Roman Mercury later absorbed the Dei Lucrii, early gods of commerce and wealth, and were referred to by that name. Hermes was also later combined with the Egyptian Anubis to form Hermanubis.

Obviously the name Hermes Trismegistus was used later by alchemists and their like to refer to a mixture-god combining elements from Hermes and the egyptian god Thoth.

The modern post office in Greece uses Hermes as its symbol.

He was called Hermod in Norse mythology.

Worship

Hermês was worshipped especially fervently by travelers, pilgrims, thieves and poets. Though temples to Hermês existed throughout Greece, Arcadia was a center of his cult. Hermoea were the festivals in his honor, also especially prevalent in Arcadia.

Hermês was a psychopomp, meaning he brought newly-dead souls to the underworld, Hades. He also brought dreams to living mortals.

In addition to the syrinx and the lyre, Hermês invented many types of racing and the entire sport of boxing. Statues of Hermês stood at stadia and gymnasiums throughout Greece.

Hermai

In very ancient Greece, before his role as protector of merchants and travelers, Hermês was a phallic god, associated with fertility, luck, roads and borders. His name comes the word herma referring to a square or rectangular pillar of stone, or bronze; a bust of Hermês' head, usually with a beard, sat on the top of the pillar, and male genitals adorned the base. The hermai were used to mark roads and borders. In Athens, they were placed outside houses for good luck.

In 415 BCE, when the Athenian fleet was about to set sail for Syracuse during the Peloponnesian War, all of the Athenian hermai were vandalized. Though it was never proven, the Athenians at the time believed it was the work of saboteurs, either from Syracuse or anti-war doves from Athens itself.PanpipesMW.jpg
Incan Wind Instrument
Similar To Panpipes

Hermês In Art

Hermês was usually portrayed wearing a broad-brimmed or winged cap, winged sandals and the herald's staff (see Gambantein in Norse mythology). He wore the garments of a traveler, worker or shepherd. He was represented by purses, roosters and turtles.

Apollo and the Birth of Hermes

Hermês was born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. The story is told in the Hymn to Hermês attributed to Homer. His mother, Maia, had been secretly impregnated by Zeus, in a secret affair. Maia wrapped the infant in blankets but Hermês escaped while she was asleep. Hermês ran to Thessaly, where Apollo was grazing his cattle. The infant Hermês stole a number of his cows and took them to a cave in the woods near Pylos, covering their tracks. In the cave, he found a tortoise and killed it, then removed the insides. He used one of the cow's intestines and the tortoise shell and made the first lyre. Apollo complained to Maia that her son had stolen his cattle, but Hermês had already replaced himself in the blankets she had wrapped him in, so Maia refused to believe Apollo's claim. Zeus intervened and claimed to have seen the events, and siding with Apollo. Hermês then began to play music on the lyre he had invented. Apollo, a god of music, fell in love with the instrument and offered to allow exchange the cattle for the lyre. Hence, Apollo became a master of the lyre and Hermês invented a kind of pipes-instrument called a syrinx.

While Hermês was stealing Apollo's cattle, a shepherd named Battus witnessed it. Hermês made him swear to keep silent; Battus didn't and Hermês turned him to stone.Later, Apollo exchanged a caduceus for a syrinx from Hermes. In Greek mythology, Syrinx (Greek Συριγξ) was a nymph who, in an attempt to escape the affections of the Greek god Pan, was transformed into water reeds. Pan cut some of the reeds and fashioned the first set of pan pipes from them, naming them syrinx in honor of her.

Adulthood

Hermês later invented the flute, which he bartered with Apollo (or Zeus) for, gaining a golden wand that Hermês used as his staff (see caduceus).Caduceus1MW.jpg
The Caduceus Staff
(Kerykeion In Greek)
The Two Snakes Wrapped Around It
Invoke DNA's Double Helix?

Hermês' Offspring

Pan

Pan was the son of Hermês and Dryope, a human princess. She was terrified of her ugly, half-goat baby so she ran away. Hermês took the baby to Mount Olympus, where gods enjoyed the child's laughter and good nature. He became a god worshipped by shepherds and woodsmen particularly.

Abderus

Abderus was a son of Hermês who was devoured by the Mares of Diomedes. He had gone to the Mares with his friend, Heracles.

Hermaphroditus

Hermaphroditus was the third son of Hermês, with Aphrodite. He was changed into a hermaphrodite by the gods, responding to the pleas of Salmacis, whose love Hermaphroditus spurned.

Herse/Aglaulus/Pandrosus

When Hermês loved Herse, a jealous Aglaulus stood between them and refused to move. Hermês changed her to stone. Cephalus was the son of Hermês and Herse. Hermês also had a son, Ceryx, with Herse's other sister, Pandrosus. With Aglaulus, Hermês was the father of Eumolpus.

Argus/Io

Zeus loved the Argive princess Io and changed her into a cow to protect her from Hera. Hera suspected his deception and asked for the cow as a present. Zeus was unable to refuse and she placed the watchman Argus to guard the cow. Hermês, at the request of Zeus, lulled Argus to sleep and rescued Io but Hera sent a gadfly to sting her as she wandered the earth in cow form. Zeus eventually changed her back to human form, and she became — through Epaphus, her son with Zeus — the ancestress of Heracles.

Other Roles

Hermês saved Odysseus from both Calypso and Circe, by convincing the first to let him go and preparing Odysseus with an herb to protect him from Circe's spells. In addition, Hermês brought Eurydice back to Hades after Orpheus lost her for a second time. He also changed the Minyades into bats. He taught the Thriae the arts of fortune-telling and divination.

King Atreus of Mycenae retook the throne from his brother, Thyestes using advice he received from the wise trickster Hermês. Thyestes agreed to give the kingdom back when the sun moved backwards in the sky, a feat that Zeus accomplished. Atreus retook the throne and banished Thyestes.

Consorts/Children

  • Aphrodite

  • Eunomia

  • Hermaphroditus
  • Peitho
  • Rhodos

  • Tyche

  • Aglaulus

  • Eumolpus

  • Herse

  • Cephalus

  • Pandrosus

  • Ceryx

  • Unknown mother

  • Abderus

  • Aethalides
  • Echion
  • Myrtilus

  • Pan

  • Unknown Sicilian nymph

  • Daphnis

English Wikipedia: Hermes Trismegistus

Hermes Trismegistus is the latin name for "Hermes the thrice-greatest" derived from ????? ? Ερμης ο Τρισμεγιστος, the Greek name of the Egyptian god Thoth (the god of wisdom and writing).

Sometimes referred to as the god, sometimes as a man contemporary to Moses, who was son of the god. According to some, the historic Moses' full name as a royal hostage was Thothmoses.

Historians have difficulty pinning down just when and where he lived, a task made no easier by the godlike powers often attributed to him by others in various documents of both history and fable. He is believed to have had several wives (a common practice in his day) and more than one son who took his name, as well as more than one grandson. This repetition of given and surname throughout the generations may at least partially account for the legend of his longevity, especially as it is believed that many of his children pursued careers as priests in the religion he started.

During the middle-ages and later, a series of scripts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, known as the Hermetica were popular.

The texts are usually referred to as the "philosophical" and "technical" hermetica. The former deals mainly with issues of philosophy, and the latter with magic, potions, etc. Among other things there are spells to magically protect objects, thus the term "Hermetically sealed".

There are ancient claims that he wrote thousands, or even tens of thousands of texts, claims usually disregarded. However, he is believed to have been a prolific writer, and by his own accounting, a body of work he called "the fourty two essential texts" contained the core work of his religious beliefs and his life philosophy. Claims have been made for the existence of all forty two pieces hidden away in a secret library but these are unsubstantiated. From time to time documents or pieces of documents are discovered said to be written in his own hand. Scientific dating techniques usually shows this to be false, that the work is a more recent copy, however some texts are dated to be of the age when he may have lived and may be authentic.

In ancient times, the texts were thought to have been written at the dawn of time, but the classical scholar Isaac Casaubon in 1614 showed that the Greek texts betrayed a vocabulary too recent to be so old. Recent research suggests some of these texts may be of pharaonic Egyptian origin, although most of the "philosophical" Hermetica can be dated to around AD 300.

During the Middle ages and the Renaissance, the hermetic scriptures enjoyed great credit and were popular among men of alchemy. The "hermetic tradition" therefore refers to alchemy, magic, astrology and related subjects.

Sequential Art & Fiction: Bacchus AKA Deadface

dhp76.jpg
Hermes VS the Eyeball Kid
The Kid is the son of Argus - the many-eyed
who has killed the more powerful Greco-Roman gods
Image is a Kirby riff on a Thor vs. the Hulk comic ages ago (1964) Eddie Campbell's comics about Bacchus feature a very nasty Hermês (the tenfingered Postmaster of the Gods in a nasty Yakuza "... someone's trying to send you a message" way. His approach to the Telchines** (The Gods of Commerce) was fresh back in the early '90s... [1]

Bacchus

As the Eddie Campbell homepage states: “[T]he following pages contain the complete listing of BACCHUS comic stories by Eddie Campbell. Running from 1987 to 1999, BACCHUS is a mythological tale of the 4000+ years old god of wine and revelry who still lives today. The original saga appeared in chunks of varying size in a busload of different places. Some of the anthologies and some of the publishers that brought pieces of the epic tale to light don´t even exist anymore. Finally, in 1995, the book found his true home at EDDIE CAMPBELL COMICS. Sadly, the story has officially ended with book 10, and the final appearance of Bacchus (meeting his creator in an Alec story) has been published in Bacchus #50. 1. Book 1: Immortality Isn't Forever 2. Book 2: The Gods Of Business 3. Book 3: Doing The Islands With Bacchus 4. Book 4: Eyeball Kid: One Man Show 5. Book 5: Earth, Water, Air, Fire 6. Book 6: 1001 Nights Of Bacchus 7. Book 7: Hermes vs. The Eyeball Kid 8. Book 8: The Picture Of Doreen Grey 9. Bacchus Color Special 10. Book 9: King Bacchus 11. Book 10: Banged Up 12. Miscellaneous Bacchus

Pomegranate

A pomegranate is a type of fruit grown on a Punica Granatum or pomegranate tree. It is believed to have originated in Persia and has been cultivated around the Mediterranean for centuries. Its genus name, Punica, is a constant reminder that the Phoenicians were the mediators in spreading its cultivation, partly for religious reasons. The plant is a glossy-leaved shrub and the fruit, between an orange and a grapefruit in size, has a thick reddish skin and many seeds. The edible parts are the brilliant red seed pulp and seeds.

The acidic juice of pomegranates is used in Indian cookery; thickened and sweetened it makes grenadine syrup, used in cocktail mixing.

In Myth

Pomegranates are a symbol of fertility because of their many seeds, yet of death because of the vivid blood red of the pulp. (See life-death-rebirth deity.) In mythology, Persephone was condemned to spend time in the Underworld every year because Hades tricked her into eating six pomegranate seeds while she was his prisoner.

The pomegranate was a symbol of the Aegean Triple Goddess who evolved into Olympian Hera, who is represented offering the pomegranate.

Astrology

It is under Mercury which would link it to Athena and her other protege Hercules and lastly to Mercury Ali.

Symbols

A pomegranate appears in the shield of the Spanish city Granada and the flag of Caribbean island Grenada. The pomegranate gave its name to the grenade for its shape, and to the garnet for its color.

Flowering time

It flowers in early summer.

Modern uses

Pomegranate
Pomegranate.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Subclass:
Rosidae
Order: Myrtales
Family: Punicaceae
Genus: Punica

| Species | | P. granatum P. proto-punica | |

Both the flowers and the rind of the fruit are strongly astringent. A decoction of them stops bleedings and purgings, and is good for the whites. A strong infusion cures ulcers in the mouth and throat and fastens teeth. A small tree growing to about 15 feet (4.6 m) with brownish bark, long, narrow, willow-like leaves and bright scarlet flowers. The fruit is the size of an orange, with a harder peel, containing sweet juice and numerous seeds embedded in pulp. Originally from Western Asia, it grows widely in tropical and sub-tropical countries.

A decoction of the bark is used for expelling tapeworm - 2 oz (56 g) of the bark is steeped in 2 pt (1.1 1) of water for 24 hours, then brought to the boil and simmered until 1 Pt (568 ml) is left. The bark of the root has similar properties. The dosage is 2 fl OZ (56 ml), but it may cause nausea. The dose may need to be repeated and followed by an enema.

A decoction of the rind of the fruit cheeks diarrhoea and dysentery and, injected into the vagina, it cheeks leucorrhoea. It is also used as a gargle for sore throats. The juice of the fruit may also be used to expel worms from the bowel. It should be diluted in equal parts with water or with twice as much Carrot juice. It is also indicated in high blood pressure and arthritis.

  1. Hermes vs the Eyeball Kid
  2. more Hermes info
  3. Alchemy's Symbols
  4. Orion (mythology)