Hermes is the son of Maia & Zeus. You could have called Him a precocious child, for on the day He was born He invented the lyre using a tortoise shell & by nightfall He'd rustled his brother Apollo's immortal cattle.
Hermes is best known as the messenger for the gods, but He was ever so much more than that. Hermes is a god of boundaries & of the travelers who cross them......a god of athletes, shepherds, a messenger between the gods & mortals, of cowherds, orators, thieves, poets. merchants, a guide for the dead to the Underworld & a bringer of dreams to mortals.
Hermes rules over divination, dreams, commerce, literature, poetry, music, inventions, weights & measures, any type of crossing over, the afterlife, writing, changes in fortune, land travel, cleverness, messages, boundaries, the Underworld, fire, boxing, racing & good luck.
Hermes is linked to the elements Air & Fire. Animals sacred to Him are tortoises, serpents & roosters. His symbols include staff & purses.
Hermes is depicted as wearing a broad-brimmed hat or a winged cap, winged sandals & carrying a staff with serpents coiled around it. He is bearded & wears the clothes of a shepherd, worker or traveler.
Subject: Greek Gods : Hermes 
Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:13 am