Hermes and Aphrodite were the parents of Hermaphroditus, a beautiful youth who became a being of both sexes when the nymph Salmacis fused with him.
Hermes lay with Chione, daughter of Daedalion, on the same night as Apollo, and she bore twins — Autolycus to Hermes and Philammon to Apollo. Autolycus inherited his father's gift for thievery and deception.
Hermes fathered Pan, the goat-footed god of shepherds and wild places, by the nymph Dryope on the slopes of Arcadia. The newborn's horns and hooves so frightened his mother that she fled, but Hermes wrapped the child in a hare skin and carried him to Olympus, where the gods delighted in him.
⚠ Homeric Hymn 19 names Dryope as Pan's mother; Apollodorus gives Penelope (daughter of Dryops, not Odysseus's wife); Herodotus 2.145 names Penelope daughter of Odysseus.
Zeus secretly visited Maia in her cave on Mount Cyllene, fathering Hermes, the messenger god, who was born at dawn and invented the lyre by nightfall.
Hermes fathered Daphnis by the nymph Pimeleia in Sicily. The infant was exposed among laurel trees, giving him his name, and was raised by nymphs who tended Hermes's cattle.
Hermes fell in love with Polymele, daughter of Phylas, when he saw her dancing in the choir of Artemis. She bore him Eudoros, swift of foot, who led one of the five Myrmidon companies at Troy.
Hermes fathered Myrtilus, the charioteer of King Oenomaus. When Pelops murdered Myrtilus, the dying curse carried the weight of Hermes's divine lineage.
Hermes guided Heracles into the underworld for his twelfth labor to capture Cerberus, serving as divine escort through Hades' realm.
In the Odyssey, Hermes gave Odysseus the magical herb moly to protect him from Circe's enchantments, continuing the divine patronage Odysseus inherited through Hermes' grandson Autolycus.
Hermes aided Perseus by providing him with winged sandals and the adamantine harpe for his quest to slay Medusa.
In the Iliad, Hermes guided the aged Priam safely through the Greek camp at night to ransom the body of his son Hector from Achilles.
On Zeus's orders, Hermes slew the hundred-eyed giant Argus Panoptes who was guarding Io for Hera, earning the epithet Argeiphontes, 'Slayer of Argus.'
The twelve principal gods of the Greek pantheon who overthrew the Titans and ruled from Mount Olympus. The canonical members varied by tradition, with Hestia sometimes yielding her seat to Dionysus.
Turms, Hermes, and Mercury are the Etruscan, Greek, and Roman messenger gods — Turms appears on Etruscan mirrors with winged hat and caduceus in Greek mythological scenes, and in Tarquinian tomb paintings as psychopomp guiding the dead below.
During the Ptolemaic period, Anubis was syncretized with Hermes as Hermanubis, combining the Egyptian guide of the dead with the Greek psychopomp.
Thoth and Hermes were actively merged in Ptolemaic Egypt, their cults combining at Hermopolis to produce Hermes Trismegistus, the thrice-great god of wisdom whose teachings gave rise to the Hermetic tradition.
Hermes and Pan stole Zeus's severed sinews from the Corycian Cave where Typhon had hidden them under the guard of the she-dragon Delphyne, restoring the king of the gods to full strength.
Hermes escorted Pandora from Olympus to the home of Epimetheus, delivering Zeus's 'beautiful evil' to the Titan who lacked the foresight to refuse her.
Hermes gave Amphion a golden lyre and taught him to play, recognizing the young man's innate musical gift. With this divine instrument, Amphion later moved the stones that formed the walls of Thebes.
Hermes carried the newborn twins Amphion and Zethus from Antiope to the shepherds on Mount Cithaeron, ensuring their survival after their mother was captured.
The newborn Hermes stole Apollo's sacred cattle on the day of his birth. Apollo tracked the thief to his cradle, and the two reconciled when Hermes gave Apollo the lyre he had invented from a tortoise shell, receiving the golden caduceus in exchange.
After the infant Arcas was endangered by Lycaon's impiety, Hermes rescued the child and brought him to the Titaness Maia on Mount Cyllene to be raised in safety.
When the twin giants Otus and Ephialtes imprisoned Ares in a bronze jar for thirteen months, Hermes stole the war god out by stealth, freeing him half-dead from his confinement.
Hermes delivered the infant Dionysus to Athamas and Ino at Zeus's command, entrusting the child to their care to conceal him from Hera's jealousy.
In the Odyssey, Hermes delivered Zeus's command to Calypso on the island of Ogygia, ordering her to release Odysseus after seven years of captivity.
Hermes gave Odysseus the herb moly to resist Circe's magic on Aeaea, enabling Odysseus to confront the enchantress and free his men from their transformation into swine.
Zeus dispatched Hermes to the Underworld to bring Persephone back to Demeter. Hermes persuaded Hades to release her, and he led Persephone up from the dark to her waiting mother at Eleusis.
After Zeus rescued the unborn Dionysus from Semele's ashes and sewed the child into his thigh, Hermes carried the newborn god to the nymphs of Nysa to be raised in secret, hidden from Hera's jealous wrath.
Hermes Psychopompos led Eurydice's shade back to the Underworld after Orpheus broke the condition by looking back. As guide of souls, Hermes escorted her into the realm of the dead a final time.
Hermes fought in the Gigantomachy wearing Hades' cap of invisibility. He slew the Giant Hippolytus according to Apollodorus's account of the battle.
Zeus sent Hermes to free Io from the watchful Argus Panoptes. Hermes lulled Argus to sleep with music and stories, then slew him, earning the epithet Argeiphontes.
Hermes conducted Ixion to Olympus on Zeus's orders, escorting the mortal to dine among the gods after his purification.
After Pelops murdered Myrtilus, Hermes honored his dead son by placing him among the stars as the constellation Auriga, the charioteer. Hermes's anger at his son's murder reinforced the curse on Pelops's house.
Hermes led the three goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite to the Trojan prince Paris for the beauty contest that sparked the Trojan War.
Hermes escorted Persephone from the underworld back to her mother Demeter each spring, serving as the divine intermediary between the realms of the living and the dead.
In Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound, Zeus sent Hermes to demand Prometheus reveal the prophecy about Thetis. Prometheus defied him with contempt, calling Hermes a lackey of the gods.
In Euripides' Helen, Hermes brought the real Helen to Proteus in Egypt at Hera's command, entrusting her to the sea god's protection while a phantom took her place at Troy.
After Sisyphus tricked Persephone into releasing him from the Underworld, Hermes was sent to drag the cunning king back to the realm of the dead, ending his second escape from death.
Hermes was sent by Zeus to recover the golden dog that Pandareus had stolen from a Cretan temple and entrusted to Tantalus. When questioned, Tantalus denied having the dog, adding perjury to his offenses against the gods.
In the final book of the Odyssey, Hermes Psychopompos takes up his golden wand and summons the shades of the slain suitors, leading them gibbering down the dark ways to the asphodel meadow where the dead dwell.
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