The Trickster carrying the Ecstatic Force.
Hermes carrying the infant Dionysos to the Nymphs of Mount Nysa, fragment of marble vase, Roman Imperial Hadrianic Period.
Ἕκτη Φθίνοντος/ Ἕκτη μετ’εἰκάδας, XXV day From today’s sunset: twenty-fifth day of Poseideon. Since for today there are no other religious prescriptions, apart from the daily ones, we honor Hermes in His sacred day.
(Hermes confiding the infant Dionysos to the Nymphs- above her, her name: MAINAΣ. From Attica, 470-450BCE (circa), found near Naples, Italy. Now in the British Museum…)
“I believe Mercury or Hermes really meant the morning breeze… He was so swift that he was the messenger of Jupiter, and he is always represented with wings on his cap and sandals; but as the wind not only makes music, but blows things away unawares, so Mercury came to be viewed not only as the god of fair speech, but as a terrible thief, and the god of thieves.”
— Aunt Charlotte’s Stories of Greek History by Charlotte M. Yonge (via heckyeahhermes)
“Then wise Zeus was glad and made them both friends. And Hermes loved the son of Leto continually, even as he does now, when he had given the lyre as token to the Far-shooter, who played it skilfully, holding it upon his arm. But for himself Hermes found out another cunning art and made himself the pipes whose sound is heard afar.”
—
Homeric Hymns 4, [503], translated by H.G. Evelyn-White
So basically what I’m gathering here is that Hermes and Apollo are bros, and they have jam sessions.
One of my favorite entries from theoi.com is about the Cyclopes:
They’re describing how terrifying the Cyclopes and the forge are. The first adorable thing about this is that apparently when the water nymphs were kids, if they were naughty, their mother pretended to call the Cyclopes to come get them… and then Hermes would come out all smudged up with ashes, pretending to be a Cyclops so he can chase the kid around and tease her. Omg he’s like a ridiculous uncle it’s adorable XD
But that shit doesn’t work on Artemis!!! At the tender age of three, meeting these scary giants for the first time at her step-brother’s forge, she just yanks out a fistful of his chest hair and says “LISTEN UP BUDDY, I WANT A BOW AND YOU BETTER MAKE A GOOD ONE”
I don’t have anything anyone else doesn’t have except maybe experience.
Yes, myths often conflict. Teasing out which parts to believe, which parts to disagree with, which to take on faith, and which to take literally is part of the process.
The myths should not be understood as entirely literal. A thing need not be fact in order to be true. The myths are true because they tell us something about ourselves. Whether or not they ever really happened is almost irrelevant.
Troy was a real place. We have archaeological proof of that. The Trojan war probably really happened. Maybe Odysseus really fought in it, and maybe it really took him a long time to get home. Maybe he even really fought monsters.
It doesn’t matter. What matters about that story is what it can tell us about people, past and present. What we can learn from it.
Hermes 