UREECE. According to the common Greek leg end Hermes was the son of Zeus and Main. who bore him on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. Imme diately after his birth he went forth and stole the cattle of Apollo. dragging them backward to his cave. When amused he stoutly denied the theft even before Zeus, and when convicted suc ceeded in pacifying his brother by the gift of the lyre, which he had been led to invent from dis covering a tortoise-shell in which only the dried sinews remained. In the Odyssey and later, Hermes is the messenger of the her- ') aid (si;pc;), of supernatural swiftness, often 1 with wings on his shoes and cap, and carrying + a magic rod (the later caduceus, q.v.). With this rod lie ('harms men to sleep and wakes them. Ile also appears in the latest stages of and throughout classical antiquity as Hermes Psyehopompos, who conducts the mails of the dead to the lower world, where he intrnsts them to Charon, who ferries them over the Styx. Ile was also the herdsman's god, being especially worshiped to secure increase of the flocks. And from this function perhaps arises connection with the rain and calf. both of which are associated with him in cult and art. Travelers looked to him for guidance and help on their journeys, and traders venerated hint as one who could increase their gains, for he was the god of good luck and He was also the patron of thieves: perhaps originally of cattle-raiders. lie was also honored in the pahrstra and gymnasium, where his statues were erected. as the guardian and favorer of manly sports. In later t hues he ap pears frequently as a god of eloquence and per suasion.
l'erlimps his most CS/1111110T1 appearanee in the Greek world. certainly in Attica. was as the god of roads, and Square pillars, called iweaor, were common as guide•posts and bound• are marks. They usually bore the head of the god, and a phallus. and on them. as a sacred
place. food was sometimes left for needy derers. The pillar seems the essential and inal sign of the god, and perhaps even earlier the god \vim.: present in cairns or heaps of stones, which were called )u rintra. The worship nl liermes therefore shows a mixture of elements in which conceptions f a heavenly god are billed with worship of rude stones. The name has not satisfactorily explained. for ifs logical identity with Sari mlP1S or Snrrma, the dog of the gods of Indian mythology. is by no means certain. and any other in the conception is hard to see. It is possible that epiza, a or is at. the basis of the name, and that the pile of stones in the pasture Or on the road is the dwelling place of the grid NVII0 proteets the herds and the wayfarer. Many of his functions, however. agree well with the theory of Roscher, that Hermes is a wind-god. This explains his position as swift messenger of the gods, and as guide of the souls, for mind and soul are closely connected in the primitive con ceptions. The variety and apparent lack of con nection in his functions would find easy explana tion in the union of divinities originally separate.
In art the types of Hermes show a marked change in the course of time. At first he is a bearded man. with the 'petasus' or broad-brimmed hat, winged shoes, and his herald's staff. Later the type becomes distinctly youthful and vigor ous, sometimes with short-girded tunic and cloak, hut with the figure often nude, or but lightly draped. The most famous extant statue of Hermes is the beautiful figure at Olympia, repre senting the god holding the infant Dionysus, the work of Praxiteles. See illustration with PoLY CUT(' S.