Crossing the Borders

All of Mercury’s three interventions in the Aeneid are engaged in a profound intertextual dialogue with Homer and Apollonius. Mercury’s first visit to Carthage (Aen. 1.297–304) echoes Athena’s intervention at Od. 13.300–2, and also the only intervention of Hermes as messenger/emissary of Zeus in the Argonautica (Arg. 3.584–8). This suggests a parallelism between Dido and Aeetes that will resurface again at Aen. 4.563–4 and 604–6. Furthermore, Jupiter’s sending of Mercury to Carthage and the god’s flight recall both Zeus’ sending of Hermes to Ogygia in the Odyssey and Aphrodite’s sending of Eros to Aea. Vergil’s fundamental model for Jupiter’s dispatch of Mercury to Aeneas (Aen. 4.219–78) is Zeus’ dispatch of Hermes to Calypso to free Odysseus at Od. 5.28–42. Finally, Mercury’s dream apparition to Aeneas (Aen. 4.553–70) is modeled on Hermes’ second visit to Priam at Il. 24.677–95.

The God and his Double

Gods are a significant presence in Greek comedies, as it is the case of Hermes, the god who plays a decisive part as the divine assistant of the “comic hero” Trygaeus in Aristophanes’ Peace and makes the audience laugh when he asks the slave Karion to give him a job in Aristophanes’ Plutus. But the presence of Hermes on the comic stage does not limit itself to these famous examples. Quite often the god is present also as a statue, and sometimes this statue behaves like a real character, because it speaks and interacts with the other characters. The chapter deals with this peculiar role of Hermes. Given the significance of classical comic theatre for a full understanding of the life of the Athenian society, the chapter is also a contribution to the study of the figure of the god and the functions he performed in classical Athens.

Introduction

This chapter positions the book within the larger discussion of Hermes and Mercury in previous scholarship, and surveys the contributions in the volume against the background of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. The volume brings together a wide range of disciplines, including Greek and Roman literature, epigraphy, cult and religion, vase painting and sculpture. The book tracks Hermes from the naughty babe in his cradle to awesome kosmokrator, from shadowy Cyllene to Hellenized Egypt and Augustan Rome, and traces continuities that cross generic and temporal boundaries, but also transformations of the wayward god, who easily adjusts to new settings and morphs into Mercury and Thoth.

Hermes and the Figs

This chapter argues that the encomium to the fig preserved on P.Oxy. 17.2084 (third century CE) is a parody of an encomium, performed at a feast in honor of Hermes as a response to another participant’s praise of Hermes as the patron of rhetoric. This chapter argues that the encomium to the fig preserved on P.Oxy. 17.2084 (third century CE) is a parody of an encomium, performed at a feast in honor of Hermes as a response to another participant’s praise of Hermes as the patron of rhetoric.

Hermes as Visible in Votive Inscriptions

The chapter presents a corpus of votive inscriptions to Hermes. Who dedicated to the god, for what reasons, and to which gods was he associated? It comments on chronological and geographical aspects and proceeds to discuss some themes visible in the collected material. First, it examines why women are not frequent among worshippers visible in votive inscriptions, in contrast to Hermes’ frequent female company in myth and cult, second, how Hermes appears as the protector of magistrates, often in the company of Aphrodite, and third, the significance of the denomination New Hermes.

Hermes Iambicus

The present chapter explores the iambic role of Hermes both within and outside iambic poetry, with a focus on the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, which can be construed as the mythical pre-history of the iambic genre, and on the fragments of Hipponax, whose predilection for Hermes calls for an explanation. In both cases, Iambic Hermes emerges as a metamorphic trickster, promoting poetic and linguistic innovation with an unprecedented emphasis on the signifier. This suggests a strong continuity between iambic poetry and its “pre-history.”

Hermes and Heracles

The similarities between the myths of Hermes (especially as presented in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes) and certain elements of the Heracles myths are substantial enough to indicate a relationship. Specifically, the myth of the struggle for Apollo’s tripod has to do with Heracles’ progress toward acceptance as an Olympian god. The composer of the Homeric Hymn was reacting in some degree to the Heracles myth.

Communicating with the Divine

Historians and archaeologists have long been interested in the Greek herm. However, several aspects of this topic can still be refined. The usual questions about these monuments bear on their origin, their signification, and their function. Many works have already addressed the question of the origin of the hermaic form, which seems rather clear today. But some uncertainties remain about the role, the signification and, in particular, about the function of herms: were they divine images, cult images of the god Hermes, or only boundary markers? By investigating iconographical evidence, this paper aims to shed new light on these questions.

Mercury and Materialism

This chapter examines images of Mercury in relation to spaces of commerce in Pompeii in light of recent theorizations of material religion. Mercury was a familiar sight for Pompeian shoppers: he was frequently present in the shops, bars, restaurants, and markets of the Campanian city, especially on the façades next to the entrances of these properties. Against interpretations of these images as simply representational, the chapter argues that they played an important role in the mediation of Mercury as god of commerce in the quotidian lives of the inhabitants of the Campanian city.

Lascivus Puer

This paper explores Ovid’s reception of hymnic traditions relating to Hermes in the Cupid–Apollo episode of Metamorphoses Book 1. Ovid’s depiction of Cupid alludes to Hermes in his quarrel with Apollo, as depicted in Alcaeus’ Hymn to Hermes and the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. Ovid’s allusions evoke the hymns’ thematic focus on theft, desire, competition, and divine prerogatives and attributes, themes that are also salient to the Metamorphoses more broadly. After exploring parallels between the Cupid–Apollo episode and the Hermes hymn tradition, I consider how Ovid, having presented a “Mercurial” Cupid, depicts an erotically motivated Mercury in subsequent episodes of Metamorphoses Books 1–2 and Fasti 5.663–92. Finally, the paper compares examples from ancient religion, art, and literature that link Eros/Cupid and Aphrodite/Venus with Hermes/Mercury, and considers ramifications of Ovid’s allusions to the Hermes hymn tradition in the Augustan context, particularly in relation to the princeps’ connections to the divine sphere.