...Hermes the Greek Messenger God Hermes was the youngest son of Zeus, the king of all gods. He was born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. ("Olympian Gods", 2005-2011). Hermes was born very playful and right away Zeus loved him very much. Zeus knew he was going to have a lot of fun raising Hermes. When Hermes was only a few days old he got out of the blanket that his mother had him wrapped in and escaped from his crib. He ran off on his own very quickly. Hermes was born with the ability to run fast. He also was very smart for such a young baby. (Russell, 1992). While out on his adventure, Hermes came across a bunch of cows grazing in a field. The cows turned out to be owned by his brother Apollo. Hermes thought it would be funny to play a joke on Apollo. He decided to steal his cows. Since Hermes was so smart he decided to pad the cow’s feet and walk them backwards. He did this so Apollo would be confused and wouldn’t know which way the cows had gone. (Russell, 1992). The effort it took to pad and move all of the cows made Hermes very hungry. Hermes decided to put his clever ideas to good use again so he invented fire. He cooked and ate one of Apollo’s cows. Eating the cow definitely satisfied Hermes hunger. He decided to bring the rest of the cows’ home with him in case he got hungry again. ("Hermes", 2000-2011). While traveling home the cows were mooing in a musical way that made them sound like they were singing. Hermes saw a tortoise shell on the ground and he had another...
Words: 379 - Pages: 2
...Hermes, in addition to being god of shepherds, travelers, merchants, and thieves, is also the guardian of graves (D’Aulaire 50; Jordan 122). He is often described as one of the least important gods of Olympus (Devambez 235). He is described as a young and lively god and as someone who is graceful and swift of motion (Devambez 236; Hamilton 33).Hermes is a Machiavellian character, his shrewdness and cunning often caused trouble for others (Jordan 122). As an infant, he snuck out at night and stole a herd of Apollo’s cows, using a multitude of tricks to cover his tracks. He sacrificed two of the cows to the twelve Olympian gods, and at dawn Apollo confronted him. When Zeus ordered Hermes to bring show Apollo where the cows were hidden, Apollo was angered when he discovered two were missing. In order to placate him, Hermes gave Apollo his lyre in exchange...
Words: 806 - Pages: 4
...century is the Hermes and Infant Dionysus. When I first saw this sculpture at the Louvre in Paris, France, I immediately disregarded it because the tour guide stated that it was a replica of the original located in Olympia, Greece. I thought that it was not worth observing or critiquing, but what I failed to realize is that even the original pieces are composite statues. When ancient statues are recovered, archaeologists and art historians must use their knowledge and expertise to restore the piece to its original beauty. Many times not all the parts of the art piece are located or able to be fully restored, so the artists must add on the missing parts. A typical occurrence...
Words: 1378 - Pages: 6
...Hermes is the Greek god of commerce. Hermes was born very playful and right away Zeus loved him very much. Zeus knew he was going to have a lot of fun raising Hermes. When Hermes was only a few days old he got out of the blanket that his mother had him wrapped in and escaped from his crib. He ran off on his own very quickly. Hermes was born with the ability to run fast. He also was very smart for such a young baby. To the Greeks, mythology was a literal part of their histories. The Greeks in particular used myths to explain natural phenomena and many other occurrances. One of these gods revered by the Greeks was Hermes, the winged messenger of the gods. There are many myths associated with this god. The importance and significance affects the Greeks in many ways. Like other Greek gods, Hermes has relatives, myths, and symbols. Hermes is a god of many. He is the god of roads, mail, and travel. Hermes, known to the Romans as Mercury, was originally a fertility god, and then became the god of roads and travel. He was also known as Hermes Psychopompos, because he escorted souls to Hades. Eventually, many other fields fell under his wide jurisdiction. He became responsible for increase in the animal world, as well as being the god of commerce, manual skill, oratory and eloquence, thieves and the wind. He was even the patron of athletes, especially wrestlers, basically all activities that required skill and dexterity. He had many children by various godesses and mortals, including...
Words: 795 - Pages: 4
...Hestia Hestia is the oldest goddess/god. She is known as the Goddess of the Hearth, Home, and Family, and is also called Guardian of Elpis and The Last Olympian. Poseidon and Apollo both wanted to marry Hestia, but she refused and vowed never to marry. Demeter Demeter is the Greek goddess of the harvest and agriculture, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, the seasons, and the harvest. Zeus, being the terrible husband he was, tricked Demeter into having Persephone. Later, Hades would kidnap Persephone and marry her, but that’s another story. Hera Hera is Zeus’ first wife. She is known as the Goddess of Marriage, Home, and Family, the Patron of Women, and the Queen of Olympus. Hera has plotted against Zeus to create a better...
Words: 812 - Pages: 4
...Shanera Hankins Professor Ramsey HIST 1110-006 28 October 2014 The Iliad The epic poem The Iliad by Homer is centered around the time of the Trojan War. The poem retells the battles and fights of the Troy and Greek states amid the assault of Troy. The poem concentrates on the fights in the middle of Achilles and Agamemnon and Hera and Zeus. Achilles anger from the Iliad uses arguments from the immortals and the divine beings. In the squabble, Achilles through his outrage, went about as a delegate from the divine beings to disprove King Agamemnon's insatiable credit that helped the annihilation of Achaeans by taking hostage of the little girl of Chryses, Agamemnon had goaded the divine beings through rebellion (Tvedtnes 147). The point of this paper is to dissect and examine the exercises of the immortals and divine beings in the Iliad. The record of Greek divine beings by Homer in the Iliad focuses to the way that divine beings cooperated with Greeks from alternate points of view that reveals the conduct, state and statute of aged divine beings in overseeing group of men and lords of the old world. Hector executes Patroclus who is a quick warrior much the same as Achilles after god Apollo knocked Patroclus shield to the ground, Hector confused Patroclus for being Achilles since he was wearing Achilles' protective layer and kills him immediately. The occasion uncovers that divine beings intercede in choosing human movement. In the meantime, the war of words in the middle...
Words: 1679 - Pages: 7
... (:P) human beings have had a vast range of beliefs. They have advanced from thinking that storms are the sign of the sea God, Poseidon’s wrath to explaining it in scientific terms involving the winds and the positions of the moon. However, is everything science tells us really true? What if the Gods exist to this very day, and roam about in the guise of normal humans? What would occur, if they assembled in one single place? With their egos, different opinions and self-importance, what would happen if we added a little competition to the mix? Chaos. So here’s a little play about our all- time favorite Greek Gods, in which they all decide to take some time off their usual jobs and try something different. Scene-recruitment room. There’s a table in one corner and some chairs arranged in another. There’s a person at the table, writing something. There’s another shabbily dressed person sitting on a chair and reading something. A pretty receptionist enters the room carrying a cup of coffee which she places on the table. The man looks up, gives her a curt nod and then goes back to what he was doing. The receptionist spots the shabbily dressed guy and walks up to him. Receptionist: You here for the interview? Man looks up at her, nods and then looks back down. She peeks into the manuscript he’s reading and squeals. Receptionist: Oh my god! The Greek Gods! I absolutely LOVE them!! *looks at the title* How can you even call them crazy? Your book doesn’t make sense. Loki looks...
Words: 2135 - Pages: 9
...Polytheism Ancient Greek theology was based on polytheism, the beliefs in many Gods and Goddesses. Breaking the word down, “poly” comes from the Greek word for “many,” and “theism” from the Greek word for “God.” These divine entities tend to distinguish particular functions, and often took on human characteristics. The gods acted like humans, and had human voices. They would interact with humans, sometimes even spawning children with them. Even though the Gods were immortal, nor some of them are not all powerful. Fate is what they had to obey, which overrode all. The number of the deities would expand as the culture’s belief system developed. The Greek Gods/Goddesses directly took on human activities. The divine entities would also take on human form and personality. Man learned to accept or fear the powers of nature, such as the deities. Humans tended to see the divine entities as storms, seasons, the sun, and the moon as personal beings. However the earliest humans believed the main deities were An, Enlil, Enki, and Ninhursaga. In ancient Greece there were twelve deities that sat on top of Mount Olympus: Hermes, Poseidon, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Ares, Athena, Demeter, Aphrodite, Hestia, Hera, and Zeus, king of the gods. Under them sat Zeus' brother Hades, king of the underworld. Since its miraculous beginning in mainland Greece around 1800-1500 BCE, when Poseidon was the chief God and not Zeus, the deities were worshiped wherever Greeks lived or had a concept...
Words: 1334 - Pages: 6
...right place. I’m here to tell you about Hermes, the messenger God. Hermes was the second youngest Olympian, son of Zeus and Pleiad Madia. He was a trickster and a thief when he was first-born and sought out for mischief for fun. When he was just an infant he crawled out of his crib and went to Peira, in Northern Greece. He was going to try to steal cattle from his half-brother Apollo. He soon found the cattle and pulled off their hooves and reattached them on backwards then hid them in a cave in Mount Cecilia. Apollo soon found out...
Words: 588 - Pages: 3
... the free encyclopedia Twelve Olympians From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, the Twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon, commonly considered to be Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and either Hestia or Dionysus.[1] Hades and Persephone were sometimes included as part of the twelve Olympians (primarily due to the influence of the Eleusinian Mysteries), although in general Hades was excluded, because he resided permanently in the underworld and never visited Olympus. Contents 1 Concept 2 Membership 3 List 3.1 The major Olympians 3.2 Other Olympians 3.3 Minor residents of Mount Olympus 4 Genealogy 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References Concept The Twelve Olympians, also known as the Dodekatheon (Greek: Δωδεκάθεον from δώδεκα,[3][4] dōdeka, "twelve" and θεοί, theoi, "gods"), were the principal deities of the Greek pantheon, said to reside atop Mount Olympus. The Olympians gained their supremacy in a war of gods in which Zeus led his siblings to victory over the Titans. Fragment of a Hellenistic relief (1st century BC – 1st century AD) The concept of the "Twelve Gods" is older than depicting the Twelve Olympians carrying their attributes in any extant Greek or Roman sources.[5] The procession; from left to right, Hestia (scepter), Hermes (winged cap gods meet in council in the Homeric epics, but and staff), Aphrodite (veiled), Ares (helmet and spear)...
Words: 3807 - Pages: 16
...and sent worldwide by satellites and high-tech computers within seconds. Each event is carefully watched and recorded with a sense of history. There was no such sense of history or records when the first Games began in Ancient Greece. The first recorded champion in Greece was a sprinter, Coroebus, he was a cook in a near by Greek city called, Elis. He ran naked on a sanded course in front of thousands of spectators. The course was about 630 feet long "or one stad-from which the word stadium was derived." His victory won him a wreath of olive leaves. That was in 776 BC and this year became very important to later Greek Historians. In 300 BC all time was dated by Olympiads, a time span of four years between the games. The Olympiad began with the first recorded foot race. As far back in Greek time as anyone can remember, the human body was a very beautiful thing. "A body of a man had glory, as well as his mind, that both needed discipline, and by that such discipline men best honored Zeus." From time to time the Greeks held ceremonies of Games in honor of their god Zeus. They held these ceremonies for the areas in which they took place. These places were, Pythian, Isthmian, Nemeam, and of course, Olympian. The Olympian games go back to the time of the first people to live in the valley of Alpheas River. There in Elis, in the western Peloponnesus was Olympia, "the fairest spot in Greece." This...
Words: 5217 - Pages: 21
...Hermes Although the Gods are powerful and immortal they still need messengers to carry out their tasks for them. Hermes is the most famous messenger to the gods, particularly his father, Zeus. Although Hermes may not be a major god, he is still the god of travelers, merchants and unexpected riches. Hermes can also be associated with fertility. Along with these, he also guides souls to the underworld, is the protector of tricksters and thieves, has the power to send refreshing sleep as well as take it away. Hermes is also credited with invented, “the art of fighting, gymnastics, the cultivation of the olive tree, measures, weights, the alphabet, numbers, astronomy and music” (“Hermes”). Although Hermes may not be the most famous god and the other gods gave the orders, Hermes carried out the actual deeds....
Words: 861 - Pages: 4
...Greek Culture In ancient Greece, the polytheistic religion practiced in the form of cult practices. Different cities worshipped different gods for example: Athens had Athena; Sparta had Artemis; Corinth worshipped Aphrodite; Delphi and Delos had Apollo; Olympia had Zeus. Zeus de-throned his father Cronus and Zeus banished Cronus with the Titans that fought with Cronus. Titans were also known as the elder gods. They ruled the earth before the Olympians overthrew them. The 12 Olympians were: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Hera, Ares, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, Hermes, Artemis, and Hephaestus. The other gods were: Asclepius, Demeter, Persephone, Dionysus, Eros, Hebe, Eris, Helius, Thanatos, Pan, Nemesis, The Graces, The Muses, The Erinyes, and The Fates. The Greek religion spans a period from Minoan and Mycenean periods to the days of Hellenistic Greece and its ultimate conquest by the Roman Empire. The religious ideas developed and evolved over the course of history. By the time of the earliest major monument of Greek literature, the lliad attributed to Homer, a consensus had developed with respect to the major Olympian gods. The lliad seems to have been unaware of Dionysus, a god whose worship spread after it was written and who later became important enough to be named one of the 12 chief Olympian gods. The Olympian gods, also known as Heroes, were demigods. They were deified humans who were part of local legendary history; they also had local hero-cults, and often served...
Words: 813 - Pages: 4
...What are gods? Are they even real? Where do they come from? Were the gods born or were they created from some “godly” thing? Honestly Greek Mythology is just a bunch of stories passed on from generation to generation throughout Ancient Greece. I am going to be telling you who these gods are, how they came about and what their role is in these stories. Cronos, known as the father of the gods, who was overthrown of his kingdom known as Mount Olympus by his son Zeus, is barely talked about in these stories. The main focus is on Zeus the other 11 Olympians. 12 Olympians in total. They are Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Apollo, Demeter, Athena, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodie, Hephaestus, Hermes and Hestia. They became these 12 Olympians in a story called Zeus...
Words: 390 - Pages: 2
...List of Greek gods and goddesses This is a list of the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. Roman Mythology uses different names, calling Zeus by the name of Jupiter, and Aphrodite by the name of Venus, for example. The Roman names are often better known to English-speaking people than the Greek names. Greek name | Description | Chaos | Primeval Goddess of air, Chaos is believed to be one of the first beings to exist in the universe. Chaos is not really depicted as having a personality or physical form.[1] Chaos is the lower atmosphere which surrounded the earth. Her name Khaos means the gap, or the space between heaven and Earth.[2] Mother or Grandmother of Nyx (night), Erebus (Darkness), Aither (Light), and Hemera (day). | Erebus | God of darkness. Son of Chaos. Husband of Nyx. | Gaia | Goddess of the Earth (Mother Earth), mother of Kronos, grandmother of Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Dementer and Hestia | Nyx | Goddess of night Daughter of Chaos. Wife of Erebus and mother of Hemera (day). Goddess of Hellhounds. | Tartarus | The darkest pit in the world at the edge of the world. | Ouranos | (Father Sky) and father of the Titans. Roman name Uranus. | Thesis | Primordial God/Goddess of Creation. Thesis is sometimes thought to be a child of Chaos. Thesis is thought to have emerged with Hydros before Gaia. | Phanes | Primeval God of procreation and is referred as the primal generator of life. Phanes is Nyx's father and was the ruler of the universe before her. | The Anemois...
Words: 1361 - Pages: 6
