Hermes

Reading notes

• The Homeric Hymns §2.326 Hermes

  Messenger god and son of Zeus and Maia, sent by Zeus to fetch Persephone from the underworld (Hymn 2). His own hymn (4) tells how, born that same day, he invented the lyre from a tortoise-shell, stole Apollo's cattle, and struck a bargain with Apollo that made him herald of the gods.

• The Iliad §2.84 Hermes

  Messenger god, son of Zeus; he guides Priam safely through the Achaean camp to Achilles's hut in Book 24 to ransom Hector's body.

• The Odyssey §1.32 Hermes

  The messenger god, sent (unsuccessfully) to warn Aegisthus off his crime, and later sent to order Calypso to free Odysseus (Book 5).

• The Odyssey §16.464 the hill of Hermes

  A landmark above the town from which Eumaeus spots the suitors' returning ambush-ship.

• The Odyssey §24.1 Cyllenian Hermes

  Leads the suitors' spirits down to Hades with his golden wand, opening the poem's final book.