Tracking Hermes Pursuing Mercury John F Miller All Chapter

Tracking Hermes, Pursuing Mercury
John F. Miller
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/tracking-hermes-pursuing-mercury-john-f-miller/
Title Pages

John F. Miller and Jenny Strauss Clay
Print publication date: 2019

Print ISBN-13: 9780198777342
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: March 2019
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198777342.001.0001
Title Pages
John F. Miller, Jenny Strauss Clay
(p.i) Tracking Hermes, Pursuing Mercury (p.ii)
(p.iii) Tracking Hermes, Pursuing Mercury
(p.iv) Copyright Page
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,

United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.

It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research,
scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade
mark of
Page 1 of 2
Title Pages
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
© Oxford University Press 2019
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
First Edition published in 2019
Impression: 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as
expressly permitted
by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate
reprographics
rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the
scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University
Press, at the
address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press

198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018957369
ISBN 978–0–19–877734–2
Printed and bound by

CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith

and
for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the
materials
contained in any third party website referenced in this work.
Page 2 of 2
Acknowledgements


Print ISBN-13: 9780198777342
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198777342.001.0001
(p.v) Acknowledgements
After discussing the project of a collaborative interdisciplinary approach to

Hermes and Mercury for many years, we were fortunate finally to bring together
a group of scholars for the conference ‘Tracking Hermes/Mercury’ at the
University of Virginia in March of 2014. The papers delivered at that symposium
form the basis of the present volume. We are grateful in the first instance for the
funding that made the conference possible—from the Dean of the College of Arts
and Sciences, the Ancient History Fund, the McIntire Department of Art, and the
Department of Classics—to the Classics staff, Shelly Rojas and Glenda Notman,
for making arrangements and going well beyond the call of duty during the
conference; to our graduate students and colleagues for so generously helping
to host visitors for the event. For chairing sessions and other intellectual
contributions to the symposium we are particularly grateful to Anna Stelow,
Tyler Jo Smith, Kelly Shannon, Jon Mikalson, Gregory Hays, Coulter George,
John Dobbins, Jane Crawford, Stéphanie Paul, Deborah Boedeker, and Shane
Black.
Many have assisted in bringing this book to fruition. Anonymous referees at two
stages helped with shaping the volume and with many other useful suggestions.
At Oxford University Press, Charlotte Loveridge encouraged the project from the
start and saw us through the initial stages; Georgina Leighton expertly and
patiently stewarded the book to publication. Our two editorial assistants, Megan
Bowen and Matthew Pincus, helped mightily with preparation of the copy. Above
all, we thank the contributors to the volume for their stimulating scholarship and
their collegial spirit.
John F. Miller, Jenny Strauss Clay (p.vi)
Page 1 of 2
Acknowledgements
Page 2 of 2
List of Figures


Print ISBN-13: 9780198777342
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198777342.001.0001
(p.xi) List of Figures

2.1. Athenian black-figure hydria. Hermes and Maia. c.520 BCE. Paris,
Petit Palais 310. 14
Photo © Petit Palais/Roger-Viollet.
2.2. Detail of the hydria in Fig. 2.1: lion. 16
2.3. Detail of the hydria in Fig. 2.1: goat. 17
2.4. Athenian black-figure lekythos. Chariot of Apollo, with Hermes. c.500
BCE. Yale University Art Gallery 1913.111. 18
Photo: Museum, courtesy of Susan B. Matheson.
2.5. View of the lekythos in Fig. 2.4: Maia (?). 19
Photo: Museum, courtesy of Susan B. Matheson.
2.6. Athenian black-figure neck-amphora. Apollo between Dionysos/
Thyone and Hermes/Maia. c.520 BCE. San Simeon, Hearst Castle inv.
5563. 20
Photo by Victoria Garagliano/© Hearst Castle®/CA State Parks.
2.7. Athenian red-figure amphora. Detail of Hermes and Maia. c.510 BCE.
Munich, Antikensammlungen 2304. 23
After Knauss (2012) 166. By permission of the Staatliche
Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, Munich.
2.8. Athenian black-figure volute-krater (“François Vase”). Detail of
chariot of Hermes and Maia, with the Moirai. c.570 BCE. Florence,
Museo Nazionale Archaeologico 4209. 25
Photo courtesy of the National Archaeological Museum of Florence.
3.1. Votive relief dedicated to the Nymphs, from the Cave to the Nymphs
(Vari Cave) on Mount Hymettos, white marble, 52 × 36 cm, 340–330 BCE.
Athens, National Archaeological Museum, NM 2011. 32
Page 1 of 4
List of Figures
Source: DAI. Photographer: Hermann Wagner. DAI-Neg.-No.: D-DAI-ATH-

NM 4419.
3.2. Votive relief dedicated to the Nymphs by Eukleides, Eukles, and
Lakrates, from the Cave to the Nymphs (Vari Cave) on Mount Hymettos,
white marble, 40 × 50 cm, 340–330 BCE. Athens, National Archaeological
Museum, NM 2008. 35
Source: DAI. Photographer: Elmar Gehnen. DAI-Neg.-No.: D-DAI-
ATH-1995/2197.
3.3. Ithyphallic herm, of Attic manufacture but found on Siphnos, marble,
66 × 13 cm, c.520 BCE. Athens, National Archaeological Museum, NM
3728. 36
Photo: Bridgeman-Giraudon/Art Resource, NY.
(p.xii) 3.4. Votive relief dedicated to the Nymphs, found on the Quirinal
Hill in Rome, marble, 175 × 85 cm, c.400–390 BCE. Berlin,
Antikensammlung, SK 709 a. 41
Photo: bpk Berlin/Antikensammlung/Jürgen Liepe/Art Resource, NY.
3.5. Votive relief dedicated to Pan and the Nymphs by Telephanes, from
the Cave of Pan on Mount Parnes, white marble, 43 × 47 cm, 310–290
BCE. Athens, National Archaeological Museum, NM 1448. 42
National Archaeological Museum, Athens. © Hellenic Ministry of Culture
and Sports/Archaeological Receipts Fund.
3.6. Votive relief dedicated to the Nymphs by Telephanes, Nikeratos, and
Demophilos, found in the Cave of Pan and the Nymphs on Mount Penteli,
white marble, 53 × 75 cm, 360–350 BCE. Athens, National Archaeological
Museum, NM 4465, 4465a. 45
Source: DAI. Photographer: Eva-Maria Czakó. DAI-Neg.-No.: D-DAI-ATH-
NM 4756.
4.1. East pediment of the Siphnian Treasury, detail. 53
Photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
4.2. Orientalizing vase from Megara Hyblaea. 54
Musée du Louvre, Paris, France. Photo: Tony Querrec.© RMN-Grand
Palais/Art Resource, NY.
4.3. Apollo and Heracles on the Boston Pyxis. 56
Photo © 2018 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
4.4. Comparison of the “Theft from Apollo” theme in myths of Hermes and
Heracles. 59
13.1. The lararium at the end of the counter of the thermopolium at i.8.8,
Pompeii. Mercury is the far left of the five deities in the image. 198
Photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
13.2. The left doorpost of the taberna (“the taberna of Marcus Vecilius
Verecundus”) at ix.7.7, Pompeii. Mercury steps right from a small temple.
202
Photo: Alinari/Art Resource, NY.
Page 2 of 4
List of Figures
13.3. A painted image to the right of the door of the taberna at ix.12.6,
Pompeii. An ithyphallic Mercury runs left towards the entrance. 204
Museo Archeologico Nazionale. © Vanni Archive/Art Resource, NY.
14.1. Scene from the Tabula Iliaca. Musei Capitolini, Rome. 218
Source: DAI. Photographer: R. Sansaini. DAI-Neg.-No.: D-DAI–Rom
57.974.
14.2. Scene from the Tabula Iliaca. Musei Capitolini, Rome. 219
Source: DAI. Photographer: R. Sansaini. DAI-Neg.-No.: D-DAI–Rom
57.975.
15.1. Attic black-figure column-krater, 520–510 BCE. London, British
Museum B362. 230
Photo: © Trustees of the British Museum.
(p.xiii) 15.2. Attic black-figure lekythos, c.480 BCE. Louvain-la-Neuve,
Musée universitaire AC118. 231
Photo: Jean-Pierre Bougnet © UCL-Musée de Louvain-la-Neuve.
15.3. Attic red-figure column-krater, Orchard Painter, 470–460 BCE.
Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale 81295 (H3369). 232
Photo reproduced by permission of the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività
Culturali e del Turismo – Museo Archeologico di Napoli.
15.4. Attic black-figure amphora, 500–480 BCE. Würzburg, Martin von
Wagner Museum 233. 233
© Martin von Wagner Museum der Universität Würzburg, photo: P.
Neckermann, respectively E. Oehrlein.
15.5. Attic black-figure olpe, Dot-Ivy Group, 500–490 BCE. Paris, Musée
du Louvre F325. 234
Photo: © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée du Louvre)/Stéphane Maréchalle.
15.6. Attic red-figure pelike, Geras Painter, c.490 BCE. Paris, Bibliothèque
nationale de France 397. 235
Photo: Serge Oboukhoff © BnF–CNRS–Maison Archéologie & Ethnologie,
René Ginouvès.
15.7. Attic red-figure lekythos, Icarus Painter, 470–460 BCE. Nicholson
Museum, The University of Sydney. NM51.14. 236
Photo: Nicholson Museum, The University of Sydney.
15.8. Attic red-figure cup, Ambrosios Painter, 510–500 BCE. London,
Sotheby’s 14.12.1995, no. 84. 238
Photo after Sotheby’s, London, sale catalogue (14.12.1995): 45, no. 84.
17.1. Samothracian herm. 275
Illustration by David Diener, after photo published by Charles
Champoiseau, “Note sur des antiquités trouvés dans l’île de Samothrace,”
Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-
Lettres, 36e année, N. 1, 1892: 24. ©Académie des inscriptions et Belles-
Lettres, used by kind permission.
Page 3 of 4
List of Figures
17.2. Samothracian herm, published by Fernand Chapouthier, Les

Dioscures au service d’une déesse, E. de Boccard 1935: 176, figure 16.
276
© Editions de Boccard, used by kind permission.
17.3. Detail, silver cantharos from the Berthouville treasure, mid-first
century CE. 278
Photo: Tahnee Cracchiola, courtesy Département des Monnaies,
médailles et antiques, Bibliothèque nationale de France. Height 15.8 cm,
Diameter 13.3 cm, Weight 852 grams. Paris, BnF, 56.9.
17.4. Silver cantharos from the Berthouville treasure, mid-first century
CE. 279
médailles et antiques, Bibliothèque nationale de France. Height 15.8 cm,
(p.xiv) 17.5. Detail, silver cantharos from the Berthouville treasure, mid-
first century CE. 280
médailles et antiques, Bibliothèque nationale de France. Height 16 cm,
17.6. Silver cantharos from the Berthouville treasure, mid-first century
CE. 281
médailles et antiques, Bibliothèque nationale de France. Height 16 cm,
17.7. Drachm of Ainos with head of Hermes. Greek, late classical period,
about 357–342/1 BCE; Ainos mint, Thrace; silver. 19 mm dia., weight 3.99
gm. Die Axis: 12. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Theodora Wilbour Fund in
memory of Zoë Wilbour, 61.1189. 286
Photo © 2018 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Whilst every effort has been made to secure permission to reproduce the
illustrations, we may have failed in a few cases to trace the copyright holders. If
contacted, the publisher will be pleased to rectify any omissions at the earliest
opportunity.
Page 4 of 4
List of Abbreviations


Print ISBN-13: 9780198777342
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198777342.001.0001
(p.xv) List of Abbreviations

AA
Archäologischer Anzeiger
ABL
Haspels, C. H. E. 1936.Attic Black-figured Lekythoi. Paris.
ABSA
Annual of the British School in Athens
ABV
Beazley, J. D. 1956. Attic Black-figure Vase-painters. Oxford.
ACD
Acta classica Universitatis Scientiarum Debreceniensis
AD
Αρχαιλογικόν Δελτίον. Athens.
AE
Εφημερίς Αρχαιολογική. Athens.
ΑΕΜΘ
Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στη Μακεδονία και Θράκη
Aevum(ant)
Aevum Antiquum
AJA
American Journal of Archaeology
AJP
American Journal of Philology
AK
Antike Kunst
Alabanda
McCabe, D. F. 1996. Alabanda Inscriptions. Texts and List. “The
Princeton Project on the Inscriptions of Anatolia.” The Institute for
Page 1 of 11
Advanced Study, Princeton. 1991. Packard Humanities Institute CD

#7.
AM
Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische
Abteilung
ANRW
Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt
APF
Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete
ARG
Archiv für Religionsgeschichte
ARV2
Beazley, J. D. 1963. Attic Red-figure Vase-painters. Oxford.
ASAtene
Annuario della Scuola archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni italiane
in Oriente
Asklepieion
Peek, W. 1969. Inschriften aus dem Asklepieion von Epidauros
(Abhandlungen der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu
Leipzig, Philologisch-Historische Klasse, Band 60, Heft 2). Berlin.
BABesch
Bulletin antieke beschaving: Annual Papers on Classical Archaeology
BAPD
Beazley Archive Pottery Database
BCH
Bulletin de correspondance hellénique
BdI
Bullettino dell’instituto di corrispondenza archeologica
BE
Bulletin épigraphique. Paris.
(p.xvi) BICS
Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of
London
BIFAO
Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale de Caire
BNJ
Brill’s New Jacoby
BNP
Brill’s New Pauly
BoD
Book of the Dead: for the quoted chapters, found in the papyrus of
Ani, see C. Carrier, Le Livre des morts de l’Égypte ancienne. Paris
2009.
BPEC
Page 2 of 11
Bollettino del comitato per la preparazione dell’edizione nazionale dei

classici greci e latini
CCAG
Catalogus Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum
CCCA
Corpus Cultus Cybelae Attidisque
Chios
McCabe, D. F. 1991. Chios Inscriptions. Texts and List. “The Princeton
Project on the Inscriptions of Anatolia.” The Institute for Advanced
Study, Princeton (1986). Packard Humanities Institute CD #6.
CIG
Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum
CIL
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
CCJ
Cambridge Classical Journal
CJ
Classical Journal
ClAnt
Classical Antiquity
CP
Classical Philology
CPG
Corpus Paroemiagraphorum Graecorum
CQ
Classical Quarterly
CRAI
Comptes rendue/Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres
CVA
Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum
CW
Classical World
DAA
Raubitschek, A. E. 1949. Dedications from the Athenian Akropolis. A
Catalogue of the Inscriptions of the Sixth and Fifth Centuries BC.
With the collaboration of Lilian H. Jeffery. Cambridge, MA.
DELG
Chantraine, P. 1968–70. Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue
grecque: Histoire des mots. Paris.
DM
Jorro, F. A. and F. R. Adrados 1985. Diccionario micénico. Madrid.
DTA
Wünsch, R., ed. 1897. Defixionum tabellae. Berlin.
EA
Page 3 of 11
Epigraphica Anatolica: Zeitschrift für Epigraphik und historische

Geographie Anatoliens
EAH
Encyclopedia of Ancient History. 2012. Eds. R. S. Bagnall, K.
Brodersen, C. B. Champion, A. Erskine, and S. R. Huebner. Malden,
MA.
(p.xvii) EAM
Rizakes, T. and G. Touratsoglou. 1985. Epigraphes Anō Makedonias
(Elimeia, Eordaia, Notia Lynkēstis, Orestis). Tomos A', Katalogos
epigraphōn. Athens.
EBGR
Chaniotis, A., ed. “Epigraphic Bulletin for Greek Religion” (annually
in Kernos).
EG
Kaibel, G. 1848–59. Epigrammata Graeca ex lapidibus conlecta.
Berlin.
EJA
European Journal of Archaeology
EKM
Gounaropoulou, L. and M. B. Hatzopoulos. 1998. Epigraphes Katō
Makedonias (metaxy tou Vermiou orous kai tou Axiou potamou).
Teuchos Aʹ. Epigraphes Veroias. Athens.
EuGeStA
European Network on Gender Studies in Antiquity (Journal Eugesta)
Fayum I
Bernand, É. 1975. Recueil des inscriptions grecques du Fayoum. Vol.
I. La “Méris” d’ Hérakleidès. Leiden.
FGrHist
Jacoby, F. Fragmente der griechischen Historiker.
FHG
Müller, K. Fragmenta historicorum graecorum.
G&R
Greece & Rome
GRBS
Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies
Halikarnassos
McCabe, D. F. 1991. Halikarnassos Inscriptions. Texts and List. “The
Advanced Study. Princeton.
HSCP
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
IAegThrace
Page 4 of 11
Loukopoulou, L., M. Gabriella Parissaki, S. Psoma, and A.Zournatzi.

2005. Epigraphes tēs Thrakēs tou Aigaiou: metaxy tōn potamōn
Nestou kai Hevrou (nomoi Xanthēs, Rhodopēs kai Hevrou). Athens.
IApollonia
Cabanes, P. and N. Ceka. 1997. Corpus des inscriptions grecques
d’Illyrie méridionale et d’Épire 1.2 Inscriptions d’Épidamne-
Dyrrhachion et d’Apollonia. Vol. 2a. Inscriptions d’Apollonia d’Illyrie.
Études épigraphiques, 2. Athens.
IByzantion
Lajtar, A. 2000. Die Inschriften von Byzantion (Inschriften
griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien, 58). Bonn.
ICilicie
Dagron, G. and D. Feissel. 1987. Inscriptions de Cilicie. Paris.
ICos
Segre, M. 1993. Iscrizioni di Cos (Monografie della Scuola
Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente, 6). Rome.
ICret.
Guarducci, M. Inscriptiones Creticae (Rome 1935–50).
ICS
Illinois Classical Studies
ID
Durrbach, F. et al., eds. 1926–72. Inscriptions de Délos. 7 vols. Paris.
(p.xviii) IEphesos
Wankel, H., et al. 1979–84. Die Inschriften von Ephesos. 8 vols. With a
Supplement (Inschriften griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien, 11,1–
17,4). Bonn.
IErythrai
Engelmann, H. and R. Merkelbach. 1972–3. Die Inschriften von
Erythrai und Klazomenai. 2 vols. Inschriften griechischer Städte aus
Kleinasien 1–2. Bonn.
IEstremOrient
Canali De Rossi, F. 2004. Iscrizioni dello estremo oriente greco. Un
repertorio (Inschriften griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien, 65). Bonn.
IG
Inscriptiones Graecae
IGBulg
Mihailov, G. 1958–70, 1997. Inscriptiones graecae in Bulgaria
repertae. 5 vols. Sofia.
IGLSyria
Jalabert, L. et al. 1929–2009. Inscriptions grecques et latines de la
Syrie. Paris.
IGR
Cagnat, R. et al., eds. 1911–27. Inscriptiones graecae ad res romanas
pertinentes. Paris.
Page 5 of 11
IGSK
Inschriften griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien (Bonn 1972–)
IIasos
Blümel, W. 1985. Die Inschriften von Iasos. Vol. 2 (Inschriften
griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien, 28,2). Bonn.
IJNA
International Journal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater
Exploration
IKnidos
Blümel, W. 1992. Die Inschriften von Knidos I IGSK Vol. 41. Bonn.
IKosM
Maiuri, A., ed. 1925. Nuova silloge epigrafica di Rodi e Cos.
ILampsakos
Frisch, P. 1978. Die Inschriften von Lampsakos (Inschriften
ILouvre
Bernand, E. 1992. Inscriptions grecques d’Égypte et de Nubie au
Musée du Louvre. Paris.
IMTKyzPropontIns
Barth, M. and J. Stauber. 1996. Inschriften Mysia & Troas [IMT].
Leopold Wenger Institut. Universität München. Version of 25.8.1993
(Ibycus). Packard Humanities Institute CD #7.—Mysia, “Kyzikene,
Propontisinseln,” nos. 1301–94.
IMylasa
Blümel, W. 1987–8. Die Inschriften von Mylasa. 2 vols. (Inschriften
griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien, 34–5). Bonn.
INysa
McCabe, D. F. 1991. Nysa Inscriptions. Texts and List. “The Princeton
Project on the Inscriptions of Anatolia.” The Institute for Advanced
Study, Princeton.
IosPE I2
Latyshev, B. 1916. Inscriptiones antiquae orae septentrionalis Ponti
Euxini graecae et latinae. Vol. 1, 2nd ed. Inscriptiones Tyriae, Olbiae,
Chersonesi Tauricae. St. Petersburg.
IPergamon
Fränkel, M. 1890–5. Die Inschriften von Pergamon. 2 vols.
(Altertümer von Pergamon, 8,1–2). Berlin.
(p.xix) IPerge
Sahin, S. 1999 and 2004. Die Inschriften von Perge. 2 vols.
(Inschriften griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien, 54 and 61). Bonn.
IPriene
Hiller von Gaertringen, F. 1906. Inschriften von Priene. Berlin.
IPrusa
Page 6 of 11
Corsten, T. 1991–3. Die Inschriften von Prusa ad Olympum. 2 vols.

(Inschriften griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien, 39–40). Bonn.
IRhegion
D’Amore, L. 2007. Iscrizioni greche d’Italia: Reggio Calabria. Rome.
IRhodian Peraia
Blümel, W. 1991. Die Inschriften der Rhodischen Peraia (Inschriften
IScM
Pippidi, D. M. 1983. Inscriptiones Daciae et Scythiae Minoris
antiquae. Series altera: Inscriptiones Scythiae Minoris graecae et
latinae. Vol. 1. Inscriptiones Histriae et vicinia. Bucharest.
ISinope
French, D. 2004. The Inscriptions of Sinope. Vol. 1. Bonn.
IStratonikeia
Çetin, Ş. Die Inschriften von Stratonikeia. Vol. I, Panamara
(Inschriften griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien, 21). Bonn.
IThespies
Roesch, P. 2007–9. Les Inscriptions de Thespies (IThesp), Fasc. I–XII,
Concordances. Eds. G. Argoud, A. Schachter, and G. Vottéro (Histoire
et Sources des Mondes Antiques). Lyon.
IThess.
Decourt, J.-C. 1995. Inscriptions de Thessalie. Vol. 1. Les cités de la
vallée de l’Énipeus. Études épigraphiques, 3. Athens.
JbRGZM
Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz
JDAI
Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts
JHS
Journal of Hellenic Studies
JRS
Journal of Roman Studies
JPh
Journal of Philosophy
LCS
Trendall, A. D. 1967. The Red-figured Vases of Lucania, Campania and
Sicily. Oxford.
LdÄ
Helck, W. and E. Otto, eds. Lexikon der Ägyptologie. 7 vols.
Wiesbaden 1972–92.
LDAB
Leuven Database of Ancient Books (http://www.trismegistos.org/ldab/)
LfgrE
Lexicon des frühgriechischen Epos
LGG
Page 7 of 11
Leitz, C., ed. Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter und

Götterbezeichnungen. 6 vols. OLA 110–16, 129. Leuven 2002–3.
LIMC
Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae
Lindos II
Blinkenberg, C. 1941. Lindos. Fouilles et recherches, 1902–1914. Vol.
II, Inscriptions. 2 vols. Copenhagen and Berlin.
LSAG
Jeffery, L. H. 1961. The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece. Oxford.
LSAM
Sokolowski, F. 1955. Lois sacrées de l’Asie Mineure. Paris.
(p.xx) LSJ
Liddell-Scott-Jones Greek-English Lexicon
M-P3
Mertens-Pack 3, Catalogue des papyrus littéraires grecs et latins.
Liège. Accessible at promethee.philo.ulg.ac.be/cedopal/index.htm.
MAMA 8
Calder, W. M. and J. M. R. Cormack. 1962. Monuments from Lycaonia,
the Pisido-Phrygian Borderland, Aphrodisias (Monumenta Asiae
Minoris Antiqua, 8). Manchester.
Marb. Jahrb.
Marburger Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft
MD
Materiali e discussioni per l’analisi dei testi classici
MDAI(A)
Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische
Abteilung
MEFRA
Mélanges de l’École française de Rome. Antiquité
MHNH
Revista internacional de investigación sobre magia y astrología
antiguas
Milet I 7
Knackfuss, H. and A. Rehm. 1924. Milet, Ergebnisse der
Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen seit dem Jahre 1899. Band I,
Heft 7: Der Südmarkt und die benachbarten Bauanlagen. Berlin.
Milet I 9
Gerkan, A. von and F. Krischen. 1928. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen
und Untersuchungen seit dem Jahre 1899. Bd 1, Heft 9: Thermen und
Palaestren. Berlin.
MMAI
Monuments et mémoires publiés par l’Académie des inscriptions et
belles-lettres
NGCT
Page 8 of 11
Jordan, D. “New Greek Curse Tablets (1985–2000),” GRBS 41 (2000)

5–46.
NSc
Notizie degli scavi di antichità
NSER
Maiuri, A. 1925. Nuova silloge epigrafica di Rodi e Cos. Florence.
NSupplEpR
Pugliese Carratelli, G. “Nuovo supplemento epigrafico rodio.”
ASAtene 33–4, N.S. 17–18 (1955–6) 157–81.
OLD
Oxford Latin Dictionary
OpAthRom
Opuscula: Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome
P&P
Past & Present
PAH
Fiorelli, G., ed. 1860. Pompeianarum Antiquitatum Historia.
Para
Beazley, J. D. 1971. Paralipomena. Additions to Attic Black-figure and
Red-figure Vase-painters. Oxford.
PCG
Poetae Comici Graeci
PCPhS
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society
PGM
Papyri Graecae Magicae. Die griechischen Zauberpapyri I–II (eds. K.
Preisendanz et al. Revised by A. Henrichs, Stuttgart 1973–4).
(p.xxi) PLLS
Papers of the Liverpool Latin Society
PraktAkadAth
Πρακτικά Ακαδημία Αθηνών. Athens.
PSI
Papiri della Società Italiana
QS
Quaderni di storia
QUCC
Quaderni urbinati di cultura classica
RA
Revue archéologique
RAAN
Rendiconti della Accademia di Archeologia, Lettere e Belle Arti
RAC
Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum
RE
Page 9 of 11
Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie der Classischen

Altertumswissenschaft
REA
Revue des études anciennes
REG
Revue des études grecques
RFIC
Rivista di filologia e di istruzione classica
RhM
Rheinisches Museum für Philologie
Rhodian Peraia
McCabe, D. F. 1996. Rhodian Peraia Inscriptions. Texts and List. “The
Advanced Study, Princeton (1991). Packard Humanities Institute CD
#7.
RHR
Revue de l’histoire des religions
RIC2
The Roman Imperial Coinage, 2nd rev. ed.
RömMitt
Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische
Abteilung
RPC
Roman Provincial Coinage
RRC
Roman Republican Coinage
RSP
Rivista di studi pompeiani
RVAp II
Trendall, A. D. and A. Cambitoglou 1982. The Red-figured Vases of
Apulia. Late Apulian. Oxford.
Salamine
Pouilloux, J., P. Roesch, and J. Marcillet-Jaubert. 1987. Salamine de
Chypre, XIII. Testimonia Salaminia, 2. Corpus épigraphique. Paris.
SCI
Scripta Classica Israelica
SCO
Studi classici e orientali
SEG
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum (eds. J. J. E. Hondius et al.
1923–71, continued by H. W. Pleket et alii, Amsterdam 1976–)
SEL
Studi epigrafici e linguistici sul Vicino Oriente antico
SemRom
Page 10 of 11
Seminari romani di cultura greca

SGD
Jordan, D. “A Survey of Greek Defixiones Not Included in the Special
Corpora,” GRBS 26 (1985) 151–97.
(p.xxii) SGO
Merkelbach, R. and J. Stauber. 1998–2004. Steinepigramme aus dem
griechischen Osten. 5 vols. Munich and Leipzig.
SIFC
Studi Italiani di filologia classica
SSI
Social Science Information
StudStor
Studi storici: rivista trimestrale dell’Istituto Gramsci
TAM
Tituli Asiae Minoris. Vienna 1901–1989.
TAPA
Transactions of the American Philological Association
Thèbes à Syène
Bernand, A. 1989. De Thèbes à Syène. Paris.
ThesCRA
Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum
Tit. Calymnii
Segre, M. 1952. “Tituli Calymnii.” ASAtene 22–3, N.S. 6–7, (1944–5)
1–248.
Tit.Cam.Suppl.
Pugliese Carratelli, G. “Tituli Camirenses. Supplementum.” ASAtene
30–2, N.S. 14–16 (1952–4) 211–46.
TvD
Ruppel, W. 1930. Der Tempel von Dakke, III: Die griechischen und
lateinischen Inschriften von Dakke. Cairo.
WJA
Würzburger Jahrbücher für die Altertumswissenschaft
WS
Wiener Studien: Zeitschrift für Klassische Philologie, Patristik und
lateinische Tradition
ZPE
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
Page 11 of 11
List of Contributors


Print ISBN-13: 9780198777342
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198777342.001.0001
(p.xxiii) List of Contributors

Simone Beta, Associate Professor of Classical Philology at the

University of Siena.
Thomas Biggs, Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of
Georgia.
Sandra Blakely, Associate Professor of Classics at Emory University.
Ljuba Merlina Bortolani, Akademische Mitarbeiterin at Heidelberg
University.
Andrea Capra, Associate Professor (Reader) of Classics at Durham
University.
Sergio Casali, Associate Professor at the University of Rome ‘Tor
Vergata.’
Jenny Strauss Clay, William R. Kenan Professor of Classics Emerita
at the University of Virginia.
Hélène Collard, Postdoctoral Researcher F.R.S.–FNRS (Belgian
National Fund of Research) at the University of Liège.
Joseph Farrell, Professor of Classical Studies and Mark K. and
Esther W. Watkins Professor in the Humanities at the University of
Pennsylvania.
S. J. Harrison, Professor of Latin Literature and Fellow and Tutor in
Classics at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford.
Carolyn M. Laferrière, Postdoctoral Associate in Ancient and
Premodern Cultures and Civilizations, with ARCHAIA, at Yale
University.
Jennifer Larson, Professor of Classics at Kent State University.
Duncan E. MacRae, Assistant Professor of Classics at the University
of California, Berkeley.
Page 1 of 2
List of Contributors
John F. Miller, Arthur F. and Marian W. Stocker Professor of Classics

at the University of Virginia.
Erin K. Moodie, Assistant Professor of Classics at Purdue University.
Micah Young Myers, Assistant Professor of Classics at Kenyon
College.
Cecilia Nobili, Research Fellow at the University of Milan.
Nicola Reggiani, Ricercatore di Papirologia at the University di
Parma.
(p.xxiv) H. A. Shapiro, W. H. Collins Vickers Professor of
Archaeology Emeritus at Johns Hopkins University.
Athanassios Vergados, Reader in Greek at Newcastle University.
Henk Versnel, Professor of Ancient History Emeritus at Leiden
University.
Jenny Wallensten, Director of the Swedish Institute at Athens.
Page 2 of 2
Introduction


Print ISBN-13: 9780198777342
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198777342.001.0001
Introduction
Jenny Strauss Clay
John F. Miller
DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198777342.003.0001
Abstract and Keywords

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.
Keywords: Hermes, Mercury, Homeric Hymn, thief, child
The present volume grew out of a conference, “Tracking Hermes/Mercury,” held

at the University of Virginia in the Spring of 2014. It consists of twenty original
contributions, and brings together a wide range of disciplines, including Greek
and Roman literature (epic, lyric, and drama), epigraphy, cult and religion, vase
painting, and sculpture. Such an interdisciplinary approach is not only
appropriate, but essential in investigating such a multi-faceted and elusive
character. Moreover, in dealing with this patron divinity of exchange, commerce,
and dialogue, we hope ourselves to encourage dialogue between Latinists and
Hellenists as well as scholars of literary and material cultures. Pursuing this
elusive divinity requires multiple skills and multiple approaches.
Page 1 of 11
Introduction
Of all the divinities of classical antiquity, the Greek Hermes (Mercury in his
Roman alter ego) is the most versatile, enigmatic, complex, and ambiguous. The
runt of the Olympian litter, he is the god of lies and tricks, yet is also kindly to
mankind and a bringer of luck; his functions embrace both the marking of
boundaries and their transgression, as well as commerce, lucre and theft,
rhetoric, and practical jokes; he also plays the role of mediator between all
realms of human and divine activity, embracing heaven, earth, and the
Netherworld. His assimilation to the Egyptian Thoth and Hermes Trismegistus,
the diffusion of his cult beyond Greece and Rome, and his role in late antique
and medieval allegory demonstrate how his multifarious aspects continuously
evolved and changed in different periods and environments. While we do not
pretend to cover exhaustively the myriad aspects of Hermes/Mercury—origins,
patronage of the gymnasium, relation to the other trickster figures—
nevertheless, we hope at least to track the god’s footprints in many domains that
reflect his variegated nature.
Despite his appeal and iconic presence in marketing everything from flowers to
silk scarves, the figure of Hermes/Mercury has been understudied, although
recent work—including commentaries on the Homeric Hymn to Hermes by A.
Vergados (2012) and N. Richardson (2010), as well as D. Jaillard’s study (p.2)
(Configurations d’Hermès. Une ‘théogonie hermaïque,’ 2007), Chapter 4 in H.
Versnel’s Coping with the Gods (2011), and Jenny Strauss Clay’s chapter on the
Homeric Hymn to Hermes in Politics of Olympus: Gods and Men in the Major
Homeric Hymns (1989)—has focused attention on this many-faceted figure.
Older studies on disparate aspects of the god include N. O. Brown, Hermes the
Thief (1947), L. Kahn’s structuralist interpretation (Hermès passe, 1978), P.
Zanker (1965) on iconography, and B. Combet Farnoux, Mercure romain (1980),
as well as individual articles on specific manifestations of the god—e.g. as an
avatar of Augustus (P. A. Miller 1991). But up to now there has been no attempt
to discuss in a coherent manner the surprising variety of his literary, cultic, and
artistic manifestations. Our volume is a beginning and, in bringing together
scholars with varied approaches from different disciplines, it will, we hope, offer
a model for future investigations.
Here we preview the volume by pinpointing some important aspects of Hermes

and Mercury as suggested by our nine groupings of papers that organize the
book. In doing so, for the most part we use the Homeric Hymn to Hermes as a
touchstone text, undoubtedly the most sustained—and comic—presentation of
this complex and endlessly fascinating figure whom we will pursue in his many
manifestations. Our aim is to invite consideration of how the papers in each
cluster are, so to speak, in dialogue with one another against the background of
the god’s manifold dimensions as adumbrated in the Hymn. Along the way, other
connections among the chapters will emerge.
Page 2 of 11
Introduction
The Homeric Hymn begins from Hermes’ birth in a shadowy cave on remote
Cyllene, fruit of Zeus’ secret affair with the nymph Maia (13–16):
καὶ τότ’ ἐγείνατο παῖδα πολύτροπον, αἱμυλομήτην,

ληϊστῆρ’, ἐλατῆρα βοῶν, ἡγήτορ’ ὀνείρων,
νυκτὸς ὀπωπητῆρα, πυληδόκον, ὃς τάχ’ ἔμελλεν
ἀμφανέειν κλυτὰ ἔργα μετ’ ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσιν.
And then she bore a child, polytropic, with deceptive cunning,

A thief, cattle rustler, leader of dreams,
A nocturnal spy, lurking at gates, who soon was going to
Reveal famous deeds among the immortal gods.
Mention of the god’s parentage here is more than the usual opening hymnic
gambit, for Maia and Zeus are the chief characters in the featured story, along
with Hermes’ older brother Apollo. This narrative is very much a family affair.
The infant divinity’s ultimate goal is, from his lowly beginning in that Arcadian
cave, to reclaim his patrimony and to be acknowledged as a child of Zeus,
worthy of joining the august company of the gods on Olympus and acquiring the
prerogatives appropriate to his status. His mother figures importantly in an
intimate scene where she upbraids the truant for his nocturnal mischief and he
in turn responds by boldly announcing that his behavior aims to improve (p.3)
conditions for them both. Foremost among the precocious deity’s “famous
deeds” on the day of his birth is the theft of Apollo’s cattle, which precipitates
the Hymn’s crisis, only finally resolved by Zeus, as both the ruling arbiter of
Olympus and the boys’ father. He orders his two “beautiful children” (397) to
settle their dispute, and in the end, once the two are reconciled, “lord Apollo
showed his love for the son of Maia with every sort of affection, and the son of
Kronos added his favor.”
The papers in Part I reflect and expand upon these familial relationships. The
Hymn’s sympathetic portrayal of Maia—otherwise an obscure figure in ancient
literature and art—forms the background for H. A. Shapiro’s reading of Hermes’
mother on ancient vases, where the company of Hermes helps to identify her. He
pours a libation in her presence, no doubt as a preliminary to leaving home, and
his beardless condition marks him out as young. The animals in such scenes,
recalling the sphere of influence granted to Hermes at the end of the Hymn
(569–71), Shapiro suggests may derive from an association with Maia as
resident of rustic Arcadia. Elsewhere Apollo plays the cithara for his brother
Hermes while the woman holding his signature kerykeion must be his mother.
Hermes’ stately demeanor in escorting his mother to the wedding of Peleus and
Thetis on the François Vase is sharply at variance with the mischievous child of
the Homeric Hymn, as is the presence of Maia at such a high-profile event
among the major divinities—in the Hymn she shuns the company of the blessed
gods, staying in the dark cave where she and Zeus made love (5–7).
Page 3 of 11
Introduction
The Hymn’s central conflict, arising from Hermes’ theft of Apollo’s cattle,
Jennifer Larson insightfully maps onto the myth of Heracles attempting to wrest
away Apollo’s tripod. These two younger sons of Zeus only gradually gain
acknowledgement as Olympian divinities, after each challenges his older sibling
Apollo by trying to steal from him, and their confrontation is eventually mediated
by Zeus. In both cases the younger brother must restore the stolen property,
reconcile with his fraternal adversary, and continue in a subordinate rank to
Apollo. Larson concludes that this remarkable nexus of similarities (among other
things) suggests that the composer of the Hymn to Hermes was reacting to the
myth of Heracles and Apollo’s tripod.
Hermes as the father of Pan is examined by Carolyn Laferrière in the context of

late classical reliefs dedicated to Pan and the Nymphs. In the Homeric Hymn to
Pan the nymphs who dance in Pan’s company sing a song in honor of his father
Hermes, which depicts Hermes’ legitimizing presentation of the goatish son to
his fellow immortals. Against such a horizon of expectation, viewers would
comprehend the visual theology of the Attic reliefs, in particular the connection
of both Hermes and Pan with the cult of the Nymphs and how both father and
son serve as mediators between mortal worshippers and the Nymphs. The
otherwise surprising appearance of Hermes in the reliefs thus makes perfect
sense.
(p.4) Hermes’ role as a trickster figure at the heart of the Homeric Hymn is
well represented in the two papers in Part II. The god’s polytropic nature, his
thievish character and interest in profit, seductive rhetoric, and inventiveness
are already on display in Homer. Likewise, his philanthropic side as well as his
all too human concern with eating and other bodily functions find a place in his
Homeric appearances. Jenny Strauss Clay first analyzes Hermes’ role in the
Iliad, especially Priam’s encounter with the god in Book 24. Like a psychopomp,
he escorts the old king through the Trojan no-man’s-land to Achilles’
encampment, thus demonstrating his ability to cross boundaries and penetrate
forbidden territory, as he does in his Hymn, as well as his inclination for
nocturnal adventures. But the bulk of her paper explores the affinities between
Hermes and Odysseus in the Odyssey; both the god and the hero share the
epithet polytropos, and Odysseus resembles his patron in his craftiness, whether
in making his raft or tricking the Cyclops, as well as in his deceptive speech that
charms his listeners. The interest Hermes shows for meat in the Hymn finds a
correspondence in Odysseus’ devotion to his belly; both of them, moreover, are
bent on profit. And if the hymnic Hermes manages to smuggle his way into
Olympus, his avatar Odysseus smuggles his way into the affections of the
Phaeacians and achieves his more terrestrial nostos.
The contribution by Andrea Capra and Cecilia Nobili also exploits the Homeric
Hymn to document an archaeology of iambus and Hermes as its first
practitioner. The various songs Hermes sings in the course of the Hymn and the
Page 4 of 11
Introduction
allusions to their sympotic setting provide archetypes of what will become the
iambic genre with its competitive, provocative, humorous, and sometimes erotic
character. The pleasure and charm of Hermes’ performances correspond to the
desired features of sympotic poetry, as does his playful banter and occasional
scurrilous behavior. The poet Hipponax constructs his iambic persona as an
intimate and almost as an embodiment of Hermes’ traits; the poet’s prayer to the
god with its jocular word play incorporates a Hermetic interest in cloaks and
gain. Combining high and low and sometimes using parodic language, the
iambist seems to imitate Hermes’ own range, which extends from self-serving
theogony to youthful exchanges of insult. When Hipponax is reborn in his
Callimachean guise, he has shed his more obstreperous Hermetic features. As
Capra and Nobili note, the decline of iambus coincides with the eclipse of Old
Comedy.
Their observations lead into the next part (III), which focuses on the role of
Hermes in comedy, where he exhibits many of the features of the iambic Hermes
as well as those that he enacts in the Homeric Hymn. In outlining the varied
manifestations of Hermes in Old Comedy, Simone Beta attests to the continuities
in his presentation on the comic stage, both as a character in the plot and,
intriguingly, in his possible role as a talking statue, the Herms that dotted the
Athenian landscape and were familiar to the audience in the theater (p.5) of
Dionysus. The well-known traits of the god are on display even in some of our
more fragmentary texts: his lowly status among the Olympians, his role as door-
keeper and glutton, god of luck and thievery, of verbal tricks and mediation, as
well as his earthier features on view in his images. Prominent in Aristophanes’
Peace, Hermes plays the doorman of Olympus, easily bribed by the offer of meat,
and hence the crucial mediator between heaven and earth in liberating
imprisoned Peace (Hermes the body-snatcher!) to dwell among mankind. In
Wealth Hermes, who himself is often enough considered a giver of wealth and
prosperity, is literally brought down to earth by the distress of the Olympian
gods and his own hunger when Plutos regains his sight and therefore ceases to
act capriciously. Intriguingly, Beta explores the various possibilities of staging
Herms in comedy, where on occasion they seem to play a comic oracular role,
perhaps to be connected with the god’s relation to the Bee oracle in the Homeric
Hymn.
In the following contribution, Erin K. Moodie extends the discussion of comedy

to the Roman Mercury and gives special emphasis to the metatheatrical
character of the god on both the Greek and the Roman comic stage. Again, we
encounter the god’s lowly pose and mercenary character, especially in his
adoption of the character of the servus deorum in the both Old and New Comedy.
Additional complexity and humor arise from his disguised role as the clever
slave in the Amphitryon, who acts as go-between for his master, Jupiter, and
which plays upon multiple conventions of Roman comedy. By addressing the
audience directly and shattering theatrical illusion and conventions in various
Page 5 of 11
Introduction
ways, Hermes/Mercury acts as mediator between the play and its audience and
breaks through the so-called “fourth wall”—as is fully appropriate to the
notorious penetrator of limits and transgressor of boundaries. Moodie
persuasively concludes that we should view Hermes/Mercury on the comic stage
as more than a trickster figure; through his affinity for metatheatrical plays and
ploys, he may be taken as an embodiment of the comic genre.
The next two papers (Part IV) explore the erotic side of Hermes/Mercury and
come to some unexpected conclusions. In light of the ubiquity of ithyphallic
herms in the ancient world, it might be surprising, as Joseph Farrell points out in
his contribution “Hermes in Love,” how relatively rarely the literary evidence
deals with the god’s erotic escapades. To be sure, the Homeric Hymn alludes to
his invention of the lyre as the daitos hetaira, the (female) companion of the
feast, who both adorned and performed a variety of services at the symposium;
the double entendre is further elaborated when Hermes gives his older brother a
music lesson, instructing Apollo in the importance of a gentle caress rather than
a rough touch that will make the instrument screech. But in general the god is
less successful in love than the other Olympians. More often than not, he plays
the pimp or go-between, facilitating (p.6) their affairs, rather than promoting
his own. Similarly, the Hesiodic Hermes endows Pandora with his own
characteristic traits—deceptive speech, a penchant for theft, hunger, and greed
—although he himself infrequently plays the successful seducer. Food and gain
seem to drive his desires rather than sex. Farrell catalogues his erotic
adventures from Homer to Martianus Capellus, and traces his evolution from
infant trickster to mainly benign intermediary, especially in relations between
the sexes, to his final transmogrification as the god of Reason and Learning.
Micah Young Myers’ paper, “Lascivius Puer: Cupid, Hermes, and Hymns in
Ovid’s Metamorphoses,” forms a perfect complement to Farrell’s survey by first
examining Ovid’s use of the hymnic tradition in the Homeric Hymns and
elsewhere and then zeroing in on Ovid’s intertextual exploitation of the Homeric
Hymn to Hermes as well as Alcaeus’ fragmentary Hymn to the same god, as
Horace already had in Odes 1.10. Myers explores the assimilation of Mercury to
his Cupid in the Daphne episode of Metamorphoses 1, showing how both
divinities as naughty children compete with their more august older brother, and
how Cupid’s appropriation of Apollo’s bow resonates with the traditional hymnic
motif of Hermes’ theft. In Amores 1.1 and Fasti 5, a mercurial Cupid and a
cupidinous Mercury further reveal Ovid’s syncretism, which has some
counterparts in the iconographic tradition and which, inevitably, in the Augustan
period, has political resonances.
The most vivid expression of that political dimension is seen in Horace’s Odes
1.2, when the poet images Octavian the future Augustus as incarnation of
Mercury, on whom he calls to rescue the fractured Roman world. Elsewhere,
however, as S. J. Harrison shows in detail, Horace presents Mercury chiefly as a
Page 6 of 11
Introduction
personal protector—indeed, as the divinity who saved him at the Battle of

Philippi, in which Horace fought against the forces of Octavian, as well as on
another momentous occasion. The lyric poet projects a particular affinity
between himself and the inventor of the lyre. On the other hand, Mercury’s more
elevated associations like the lyre and his guiding of souls to the Underworld are
counterbalanced in Horace’s poetry by more humble roles, such as erotic
enabler and patron of money-making—the latter most conspicuous in the Satires.
Mapping these characteristics in the Horatian oeuvre, Harrison suggests,
reflects the trajectory of both the poet’s life and his literary career.
The second paper in Part V (Mediator), by Sergio Casali, explores Mercury’s

appearances in Virgil’s Aeneid, where he three times intervenes in the episode at
Carthage. Jupiter sends him in the first instance to arrange for a hospitable
welcome for Aeneas and his men, but then for a second time to remind the
delaying Trojan hero of his mission, a message reinforced by a third visit at
Mercury’s own initiative. Dispatch of the messenger-god richly recalls similar
scenes in Greek epic, and Casali underscores the appropriateness of the god of
boundary-crossings to be so deeply implicated in such (p.7) intertextuality. The
Vergilian Mercury finds counterparts not only in the Hermes of Homer and
Apollonius, but in the latter’s Eros and Thetis, and in Athena in the Odyssey.
Particularly complex is the dynamic in Mercury’s third visitation, to Aeneas in a
dream. In urging the hero to leave Carthage, he seems to reveal his trait as a
liar when he claims that Dido is plotting against him. But, Casali argues, the
intertexts that align Dido with the murderous Medea and the vengeful Aeetes
suggest that Mercury is actually telling the truth as regards the dangerousness
of the jilted Carthaginian queen.
The representations of Mercury were heavily Hellenized in all spheres of Roman

culture. Horace’s hymn to Mercury (Odes 1.10), for instance, enumerates roles
familiar from the Hellenic tradition, while the divinity appears in Virgil’s Aeneid
basically like the envoy Hermes seen in Greek epic. Yet Mercury’s most
distinctive Roman association was with trade and commerce. Hermes embodied
exchange as far back as the Homeric Hymn, but the specific connection with
mercantile activity seems to be the principal characteristic of his Roman
counterpart. The collegium of merchants oversaw Mercury’s annual festival on
the Ides of May, the anniversary of his temple’s dedication on the Aventine Hill
in 495 BCE. Such commercial connections explain his place in the lectisternia of
399 and 217 BCE, respectively, alongside Neptune (= sea transport) and Ceres
(= trade in grain). In Roman art Mercury typically carries a money bag
suggestive of business transactions. In Plautus’ Amphitryon, set in Thebes, the
trickster messenger-god common in Greek culture identifies himself to the
audience in the first instance as the Roman patron of business. In Horace’s
Satires, too, Mercury is prominently figured in commercial terms.
Page 7 of 11
Introduction
The papers in Part VI deal with Mercury’s affiliations with commerce. Duncan E.
MacRae offers a fresh reading of the images of Mercury found at the shops of
Pompeii. Not the focus of cult activity, these depictions were part of the lived
religion of the city. The images draw on classical and Hellenistic modes of
representing the god but are squarely oriented toward the Roman divinity’s
relation to commerce—in fact, they materialize him as such. Mercury appears on
the façades of Pompeii’s commercial properties more frequently than any other
deity. His presence there, as well as sometimes at the counter inside—and
depicted in motion—mirrors the action of the shopper visiting the taberna, and
so links the human experience of shopping with the god of business. In his
phallic form, Mercury also protects the shop.
Thomas Biggs considers Mercury’s expanding roles beyond commerce in the

historical circumstances of Rome’s first great war against Carthage, specifically
the god’s connection with Rome’s ascendance in the maritime realm during that
conflict. Biggs’ point of departure is the early epic poet Naevius’ account (known
from Servius) of Mercury building a ship for Aeneas. Comparison with hints at
such a non-Virgilian Mercury in later literature and art suggests that in Naevius’
Bellum Punicum the god actually led Aeneas on his sea-voyage from Troy to Italy.
This maritime Mercury is furthermore (p.8) expressive of the positive valuation
of Rome’s sea power in the wake of its victory over Carthage, before elite
attitudes modulated toward a denunciation of maritime trade in the subsequent
era.
Our Part VII focuses on some aspects of Hermes in relation to religion and cult.
No discussion of Hermes can avoid the question of the meaning of the ubiquitous
herms that dotted the Greek landscape. In her contribution, “Communicating
with the Divine: Herms in Attic Vase Painting,” Hélène Collard approaches her
subject via vase painting and notes the high frequency of depictions of herms
and their many occurrences with human subjects, often in the context of ritual
scenes such as sacrifice. On this basis, she argues that the large number of
herms on Attic vase painting does not reflect the popularity of cult of Hermes,
but rather symbolizes the god’s role as intermediary and messenger, not only
between the gods and human beings, but also as the divinity that conveys and
communicates the prayers and desires of mortals to the gods. Collard’s
discussion brings out the pervasive importance of this mediating aspect of the
god not only in literature, but also in visual media.
Jenny Wallensten’s “Hermes as Visible in Votive Inscriptions” surveys the

substantial number of votive dedications to Hermes from the archaic through
the Hellenistic periods. These inscriptions embrace a wide range of dedicators
from all social strata, with a high frequency of dedications connected with
commerce, the protection of travelers and magistrates, and with the gymnasium
of which Hermes was a patron (although this function does not appear in the
Homeric Hymn), often in conjunction with Heracles. Striking is the absence of
Page 8 of 11
Introduction
dedications by women, although there are traces of Hermes’ connection to

Aphrodite. Hermes’ bestriding the boundaries between god and mortal, already
prominent in the Iliad and central to the Homeric Hymn, emerges in an
intriguing fashion in the Hellenistic period where mortal rulers are identified as
a New Hermes.
In the Odyssey, Hermes flies off to Calypso’s island to convey Zeus’ orders; he
also shows up on Circe’s island to provide protective magic against the nymph’s
wiles. Sandra Blakeley argues that Hermes, the god from Cyllene in landlocked
Arcadia, has an unexpected connection with another island, Samothrace, and
with its mysteries that promised protection for sailors. Untangling a complex
knot of cultic, archaeological, and literary evidence, Blakely links the Cyllenian
god to other local ithyphallic divinities of the north-eastern Aegean, including
Priapus, whose cults focused on ensuring safety at sea. Thus the god who is
traditionally identified with exchange and the protection of travelers becomes a
guardian of maritime commerce and promises his devotees safe passage.
Two contributions (Part VIII) deal with papyrus materials from Egypt, involving
hymns associated with Hermes, and once again attest to his multiple facets. In
both cases, the authors question conventional wisdom. Ljuba (p.9) Merlina
Bortolani’s “The Greek Magical Hymn to Hermes: Syncretism or Disguise? The
Hellenization of Thoth in Graeco-Egyptian Magical Literature” examines a
hexametrical hymn from the collection of Greek magical papyri of which several
versions are preserved. The invocation, with its lengthy list of the god’s
attributes, has been related to Gnostic or Hermetic religio-philosophic circles in
late Roman Egypt. But Bortolani’s analysis reveals instead that the hymn reflects
the syncretism characteristic of an earlier period in which features of the
Egyptian Thoth and the Greek Hermes were combined to assimilate traditional
Egyptian religious lore to a Hellenized population.
Athanassios Vergados’ piece on “Hermes and the Figs” takes on a parodic

encomium of the fig in the hymnic style that was rescued from the dust bins of
Oxyrhychus. Both Hermes and his Egyptian avatar Thoth had long associations
with figs and honey, much as Athena had with the olive. Vergados demonstrates
that this hymn of praise of the fig, far from being a naïve schoolboy exercise as
is usually thought, reveals an acquaintance with the rhetorical practices of the
encomium and quite possibly a knowledge of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. The
composition manages to incorporate many aspects of the god and may in fact
refer to a tradition alluded to in the Hymn: the practice of competition in song,
especially of praise, that was the hallmark of the Greek symposium.
In our two final contributions (Part IX), the infant trickster god who was born in
a remote cave, who at first is even unsure of his divine status, and who must
finagle his way to Olympus, reveals unexpected cosmic dimensions. First, Nicola
Reggiani in “Rethinking Hermes” argues that over-emphasis on Hermes’ role as
Page 9 of 11
Introduction
herder and fertility god has overshadowed the centrality of his function as
distributor of shares (moirai) and hence his involvement with Fate (Moira) and
prophecy that he seeks to acquire from Apollo. These also relate to the god’s
mediating and communicating prerogatives as facilitator and suppressor of
speech, as symbolized by his scepter. These factors contribute, according to
Reggiani, to the god’s engagement with both human and cosmic justice.
In a wide-ranging discussion, Henk Versnel’s “Great Hermes” traces Hermes’

surprising trajectory (largely in the post-classical period) from his lowly origins
to mighty Lord and Master of the universe. Versnel attributes the ascent of the
quondam runt of the Olympian litter to several converging factors: first, the
elevation of local or secondary divinities in the context of a shift in religious
mentalities evident in so-called confession inscriptions, where the god is
implored to forgive or thanked for forgiving various transgressions. Second,
Hermes participates in a general inflationary trend of hymnic praise in the
Hellenistic period. Finally, the same period bears witness to the growing
influence of Hermes Chthonios, who evolved from the god’s role as divine
messenger, and is especially prominent in magical and curse texts.
(p.10) Tracking Hermes from the naughty babe in his cradle to awesome
kosmokrator, from shadowy Cyllene to Hellenized Egypt and Augustan Rome,
requires us to follow a zig-zag path, tracing continuities that cross generic and
temporal boundaries, but also to encounter detours and byways and the
transformations of our wayward god who easily adjusts to new settings and
easily morphs into Mercury and Thoth. The contributions in the present volume
by no means exhaust his enigmatic yet captivating tracks, but we hope we have
erected signposts for further pursuits.
Bibliography
Bibliography references:
Brown, N. O. 1947. Hermes the Thief: The Evolution of a Myth. Madison.
Combet Farnoux, B. 1980. Mercure romain: Le culte public de Mercure et la

fonction mercantile à Rome de la République archaïque à l’époque augustéenne.
Rome.
Jaillard, D. 2007. Configurations d’Hermès. Une ‘théogonie hermaïque.’ Liège.
Kahn, L. 1978. Hermès passe ou les ambiguités de la communication. Paris.
Miller, P. A. 1991. “Horace, Mercury, and Augustus, or the Poetic Ego of Odes 1–
3.” AJP 112: 365–88.
Richardson, N. 2010. Three Homeric Hymns: To Apollo, Hermes, and Aphrodite.

Cambridge.
Page 10 of 11
Introduction
Strauss Clay, J. 1989. The Politics of Olympus: Gods and Men in the Major
Homeric Hymns. Princeton. 2nd ed. Bristol 2016.
Vergados, A. 2012. The “Homeric Hymn to Hermes.” Introduction, Text and

Commentary. Berlin.
Versnel, H. 2011. Coping with the Gods: Wayward Readings in Greek Theology.
Leiden.
Zanker, P. 1965. Wandel der Hermesgestalt in der attischen Vasenmalerei. Bonn.
Page 11 of 11
Like Mother, Like Son?


Print ISBN-13: 9780198777342
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198777342.001.0001

Hermes and Maia in Text and Image
H. Alan Shapiro
DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198777342.003.0002
Abstract and Keywords

The chapter explores the relationship between Hermes and his mother Maia in
literary texts, primarily the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, and in Attic vase-painting
of the sixth century BCE. It is suggested that some puzzling aspects of the vases,
such as the prevalence of various animals, can be understood with reference to
elements of the Hymn, and that at least one much-discussed vase can be
reinterpreted in the light of this relationship. The unique depiction of Hermes
and Maia on the François Vase of c.570 anticipates some of what is found later in
both poetry and painting.
Keywords: Maia, Herakles, Alkmene, kriophoros, cave, chariot, procession
1. Introduction: A Hydria in Paris

One of the most unusual Attic black-figure vases in the entire corpus is a small
hydria (only about ten inches tall) in the collections of the Petit Palais in Paris
(Figs. 2.1–3). The vase traveled a few years ago to the J. Paul Getty Museum for
the landmark exhibition on special techniques in Attic pottery called “The Colors
of Clay.”1 Among the several techniques that make this vase special is the
application of a creamy white slip to the whole body, an experiment that began
in the period of our hydria, the penultimate decade of the sixth century.2
Furthermore, there is a modeled lion’s head at the top end of the vertical handle
and a mold-made clay appliqué of a palmette at the lower end of this handle,
Page 1 of 18
features that suggest the potter was inspired by vessels in precious metals,
silver or bronze.3
Of special interest is the fact

that, while Hermes himself is
ubiquitous on Greek vases, this
is one of a tiny number that
show him with his mother Maia,
whom the painter has clearly
labeled with an inscription that
runs vertically alongside her at
the left, behind her back. (The
inscription naming Hermes is
similarly placed.) Maia is
elegantly dressed in red and
black, with a red wreath
gathering her hair into a
krobylos. She is also bejeweled,
befitting a daughter of Atlas
and one of the Pleiades.4 The
use of “second white,” whiter
white than (p.14) the creamy
ground, to highlight her face
and neck, hands and feet, is
Fig. 2.1. Athenian black-figure hydria.
another special technique.5
Hermes and Maia. c.520 BCE. Paris, Petit
Hermes’ appearance is more
Palais 310.
unexpected: a beardless youth,
when the god is almost always
bearded on black-figure vases;
and wearing the “civilian dress”
of a striped himation over a thin
chiton. He sports a red wreath like that of his mother. There are no winged boots
or winged cap or short chitoniskos, all typical features of Hermes’ iconography
in this period.6 Only the kerykeion is a standard attribute. Maia holds out a
wreath in her left hand, while Hermes reaches out a phiale as if to pour a
libation.
The other inscription of note on the vase is an unusual kalos-inscription—kalos

Karystios—unusual because the name occurs on only one other vase, an
alabastron in Six’s technique attributed to the painter Psiax.7 Thus we have two
contemporary vases in unusual, experimental techniques, both (p.15) praising
a youth whose name suggests he could be a visitor to Athens from Euboean
Karystos. In fact the alabastron was found at Eretria on the same island.
Page 2 of 18
Can the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, whose unknown date cannot be too far from
that of these two vases,8 help us better understand the unique scene on the
hydria in the Petit Palais? There is no narrative here, such as Hermes’ theft of
Apollo’s cattle (which, as we shall see, did interest the vase-painters), but I think
there are hints. Hermes’ unusual beardlessness is surely meant to underline his
role as young son, or Maiados, as the Hymn several times expresses it (1, 73, et
al.). His outfit would have conveyed to the viewer that this mother and son,
though divine, could be models for any aristocratic Athenian family. And the
relationship of Maia and Hermes in the Hymn is remarkably “human”—that is,
they talk to each other in a manner that would be easily recognizable in many
contemporary families. I am thinking in particular of the scene in which Maia
first reproaches her son for sneaking home late at night and he then teases her
about staying cooped up in a dark cave when she could be partying with the
other gods on Mt. Olympos, as the gregarious Hermes likes to do (155–72; cf. 5–
6). Or the fact that Hermes’ first performance on the newly invented lyre takes
the form of a sly hymn in praise of the clandestine affair of his mother and father
(52–62). Since the pouring of a libation from a phiale often marks a departure
from home,9 we might imagine that Hermes is taking leave of his mother for that
very reason, to return to Olympos and resume the messenger duties implied in
the kerykeion. The wreath in Maia’s hand could be a parting gift, even
something she made herself.10
Fig. 2.2. Detail of the hydria in Fig. 2.1:

lion.
Page 3 of 18
The much debated verses at the Photo © Petit Palais/Roger-Viollet.

very end of the Hymn seem to
say that, in compensation for
yielding his invention, the chelis
lyre, to Apollo, Hermes will be
master of a whole range of
animals: wild ones like the lion
and domestic ones such as the
ram and the goat, and many
more (567–73).11 The first three
are the very animals depicted
on our vase: a big, fierce lion
painted under the vertical
handle (Fig. 2.2) and a small,
friendly one modeled at the top
of this handle, as if peering into
the jug (Fig. 2.1), a slender ram
walking slowly beneath one of
the horizontal handles (its head
barely visible at the right in Fig.
2.1);12 and a billy goat with long
antlers and beard in similar
stately movement beneath the
other horizontal handle (Fig. Fig. 2.3. Detail of the hydria in Fig. 2.1:
2.3). Could it be (p.16) that goat.
Hermes’ mastery over the Photo © Petit Palais/Roger-Viollet.
animal kingdom came at least in
part through his mother, a
goddess inhabiting a cave on
Mt. Kyllene in Arkadia, a region
associated with pastures and the animal kingdom more generally?13
2. Tracking Maia and Hermes

Of the few vases that depict Hermes with a woman who is likely to be Maia, even
if unlabeled, there is a marked correlation with one or another of these animals.
Thus, on an amphora by the Swing Painter, Hermes, carrying a ram
(“kriophoros”), moves off to the left but turns to look back at a woman who (p.
17) I think must be his mother.14 On a somewhat later neck-amphora, we see a
different version of the god taking his leave of his mother, who holds out a fruit
to him—perhaps provisions for the road?15 The ram stands between them, and it
is unclear if he is going or staying behind. But it is clear that they are a
threesome, part of an extended family. We can make an instructive comparison
with the scene on the other side of the vase, Peleus delivering the infant Achilles
to Chiron, with a white dog in roughly the spot occupied by the ram on the other
Page 4 of 18
side. The dog is a hint at the bond that will develop between Chiron and Achilles,
as the future hero is initiated into the art of hunting. Chiron, like Maia, is a
denizen of a mountain cave.
The notion that Hermes derived his mastery over wild animals from his mother
leads me to a new interpretation of an enigmatic vase in the collection at Yale
University (Figs. 2.4–5).16 On this black-figure lekythos of about 500, (p.18)
Apollo drives a chariot drawn by no fewer than four different beasts: lion,
panther, boar, and perhaps a wolf. Scholars have tried to connect the scene with
the myths of heroes, Admetos or Kadmos, who were said to have yoked strange
combinations of beasts to a chariot.17 But the characters here seem to (p.19)
be all divinities: Apollo and his sister Artemis, Hermes, and, at the right, a
female who has sometimes been called Leto, to complete the “Delian Triad” with
her twin offspring. But I am struck by this goddess’s gestures, gently (p.20)
reaching out to the wild beasts with one hand, as if to calm them and bring them
to order, and signaling to Hermes and Apollo with the other, outstretched hand.
Could she be Maia, who magically soothes the beasts at the behest of her son, so
that his brother Apollo may show his own prowess in driving such a bizarre
variation on the usual quadriga?
Page 5 of 18
The labeled Maia on the Petit Fig. 2.4. Athenian black-figure lekythos.
Palais hydria with which we Chariot of Apollo, with Hermes. c.500
started (Fig. 2.1) is one of only BCE. Yale University Art Gallery
two certain depictions in Attic 1913.111.
art—we shall come (p.21) to Photo: Museum, courtesy of Susan B.
the other presently—and the Matheson.
small corpus I have just
presented comprises most of
the “probables.” There are a
few more, where the presence
of animals is not a clue, but the
context suggests we may be
dealing with Hermes and his
mother. A black-figure hydria in
Berlin depicts Apollo playing his
kithara for Hermes and a
woman who I believe is Maia.18
Apollo’s entourage of Muses, as
well as Dionysos, accompanies
them. Not by accident, the
shoulder of the vase includes
Hermes observing Herakles
wrestle the Nemean Lion. A
contemporary neck-amphora at
the Hearst Castle in San
Simeon is once again focused
on Apollo Kitharoidos, here
accompanied by a bull (Fig.
2.6).19 He is framed by pairs of
male and female divinities—the
males are clearly Dionysos and
Hermes, but who are the
females? I would like to think Fig. 2.5. View of the lekythos in Fig. 2.4:
that each god is with his Maia (?).
mother. Dionysos’ mother Photo: Museum, courtesy of Susan B.
Semele was, of course, Matheson.
incinerated before the god’s
birth. But she later became a
goddess on Olympos with the
new name Thyone.20 Unusually, here, Maia holds her son’s kerykeion.
Page 6 of 18
3. Hermes, Herakles, and

Family
A handsome and unusual hydria
in the British Museum belongs
to a significant group of images
in both black- and red-figure of
Herakles reclining like a
banqueter and attended by the
goddess Athena.21 I believe the
scenes are set on earth, not
Olympos, and show a kind of
prelude to the hero’s ascent to
Mt. Olympos, as he rests from
his earthly labors and prepares
for his apotheosis under the
watchful eye of his divine
sponsor. What sets this version
apart is the presence of
Alkmene, Herakles’ mother,
who appears only here. Though
Maia is not present, her son
Fig. 2.6. Athenian black-figure neck-
Hermes is, beside Athena. And
amphora. Apollo between Dionysos/
Maia might be the extra
Thyone and Hermes/Maia. c.520 BCE.
goddess on another version of
San Simeon, Hearst Castle inv. 5563.
this subject, on a neck-amphora
Photo by Victoria Garagliano/©
once on the German art
Hearst Castle®/CA State Parks.
market.22 Yet another example
of the banqueting Herakles
attended by Athena decorates a
fine, recently published hydria
at Fordham University.23 Hermes and Iolaos frame the scene. The subsidiary
scene on the (p.22) shoulder complements the theme by showing the first of
Herakles’ labors, wrestling the Nemean Lion. Hermes and Iolaos are once again
present, but, unusually, a symmetrical pair of women follows the action with
keen interest. One wonders if they could be the mothers of the hero (Alkmene)
and of the god (Maia). The gathering of the gods on Olympos, or
Götterversammlung, on yet another black-figure hydria shows Athena presenting
her protégé Herakles to Hermes and a goddess who could well be the latter’s
mother.24
This cluster of images may shed some light on what may be the only attestation
of the worship of Maia in Attika. The well-known fourth-century inscription
commonly referred to as the Salaminoi decree contains long lists of cults for
which the genos of the Salaminioi was responsible.25 At Porthmos, near Sounion,
are mentioned sacrifices to Herakles and members of his family: Iolaos, his
Page 7 of 18
nephew and frequent sidekick, and his mother Alkmene (lines 84–6). In the midst
of these is listed a sacrifice to Maia (line 86). A few scholars, especially Martin
Nilsson, have been puzzled by the inclusion of Hermes’ mother amidst the family
of Herakles and proposed to read maia with lower-case “m,” an unspecified
nurse.26 But the iconography going back to the sixth century suggests that
Hermes (and probably his mother) had an especially close association with
Herakles and his family,27 to which the cluster of sacrifices alludes. Hermes and
Herakles recline together like boon companions,28 and Hermes often serves as
an escort to the hero on his journey to Olympos. We may be reminded of the
famous cup signed by Sosias, on which Hermes Kriophoros, along with Athena
and a goddess who may be Artemis, accompany an especially modest Herakles
as he crosses the threshold of Olympos and greets the divine father he has never
met.29
A most unusual pot attributed to a painter known for his (perhaps inadvertent)
sense of humor is the large amphora by the Nikoxenos Painter in Munich, which
most likely has a unique depiction of Hermes and his mother (Fig. 2.7).30 At first
glance, we might have thought that both sides of the vase comprise one big
Götterversammlung, a popular motif in this period toward the very end of the
sixth century, as for example on the Sosias cup just mentioned.31 But then we
notice that Hermes appears on both sides of the amphora, which is not a slip the
painters are apt to make, so a different reading (p.23) is needed. I believe the
one side shows an abbreviated Götterversammlung: Zeus and Hera attended by
Iris; Athena and Poseidon; and Hermes just arriving with a jaunty wave of the
hand. Of even greater interest is the juxtaposition at the far left of the other side
of the vase: Hermes holding the syrinx, his own invention, together with a
goddess who must be his mother (Fig. 2.7). A majestic Apollo kitharoidos in the
middle of the scene underlines the contrast between the rustic instrument of the
one, Hermes, and the noble instrument of his elder brother. Dionysos and a
maenad holding krotala (another humble instrument) fill out the scene, further
evidence that the setting is on earth, not Olympos. Hermes is without his
kerykeion here, but by the time he has arrived on Olympos, on the other side of
the vase, he has retrieved it, and also wears a proper winged traveling cap,
instead of the absurdly small petasos that makes him look like a bit of a mama’s
boy.32
Page 8 of 18
(p.24) 4. Hermes the Cattle

Thief
The comical petasos provides a
nice link to a small group of
amusing vases that certainly
include Maia and also bring us
back to the Hymn to Hermes,
namely, scenes of Baby Hermes’
theft of Apollo’s cattle. In Attic
vase-painting there are only a
few certain examples of the
story, most completely told on a
cup by the Brygos Painter of
about 490 to 480.33 Hermes,
sitting upright in his wicker crib
that looks like a liknon, or
winnowing basket, wears a
petasos that is, if anything, too
large and grown-up for a baby.
Perhaps that is the joke of the
Nikoxenos Painter and Oltos,
that the grown-up, bearded god
is still wearing the same
petasos he wore as a baby.
Even better known than the

Attic cup is a Caeretan (that is,
Etruscan) hydria of about 530–
30 with the baby Hermes as Fig. 2.7. Athenian red-figure amphora.
34 Detail of Hermes and Maia. c.510 BCE.
cattle thief. As the young god
feigns sleep or ignorance, a Munich, Antikensammlungen 2304.
lively debate ensues above him: After Knauss (2012) 166. By
Apollo remonstrating to Maia permission of the Staatliche
and a bearded male who is most Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek,
likely her lover Zeus.35 Munich.
5. Maia’s Entry into Greek Art

When we look for the earliest
secure depiction of Maia in
Greek art, it may come as no surprise that it appears on a famous Attic vase that
is known for a whole laundry list of “firsts,” namely, the François Vase in
Florence. This volute-krater is dated to about 570 BCE and signed by Ergotimos
as potter and Kleitias as painter.36 Among the long row of chariots bringing the
Olympian gods to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis is one in which Hermes
escorts his mother, both of them labeled (Fig. 2.8). Clearly Kleitias did not know
Page 9 of 18
the tradition that Maia shunned the company of the other gods out of shame that
she was carrying on an illicit affair with Zeus, who would make regular secret
visits to her cave (Hymn to Hermes 6–7). The pairing of mother and son might
seem like an obvious one, since neither of them has a steady partner like most of
the pairs in the other cars: Zeus and Hera, Poseidon and Amphitrite, Doris and
Nereus, or even that other illicit couple, Aphrodite and Ares.37 We might (p.25)
even think that Hermes has coaxed his mother from her cave for this special
occasion, the most glittering wedding in antiquity.38
Some forty-five years ago, the

British Museum’s acquisition of
the great dinos signed by
Sophilos, made about a decade
before the François Vase, gave
clear evidence that Kleitias was
not the first to make this
wedding the subject of an
especially ambitious
composition.39 His departures
from Sophilos’ cast of
characters, evident in ways
both striking and subtle Fig. 2.8. Athenian black-figure volute-
throughout the two friezes, is krater (“François Vase”). Detail of chariot
perhaps nowhere more of Hermes and Maia, with the Moirai. c.
revealing than in the treatment 570 BCE. Florence, Museo Nazionale
of Hermes.40 Sophilos had Archaeologico 4209.
paired Hermes with his brother Photo courtesy of the National
Apollo, the latter depicted as Archaeological Museum of Florence.
(p.26) kitharoidos, Hermes in
his short chitoniskos and jaunty
cap. The contrast is so glaring
that it is almost as if Hermes is simply acting as charioteer for his far more
distinguished elder brother, whose music will entertain the gods assembled at
the feast (Iliad 24.62–3).
Kleitias’ version is altogether different, presenting a dignified Hermes with long,

elaborately coiffed hair and long robes, a fitting escort for his equally elegant
mother. This unique pairing of mother and son has another meaning as well. The
larger scene is all about motherhood, about a goddess, Thetis, who will bear the
greatest of the heroes, Achilles, something both painters, Sophilos and Kleitias,
were keenly aware of, though they treat the motif differently. Leto, for example,
is up front, on foot, on the Sophilos dinos, along with other motherly figures like
Demeter and Chariklo, the wife of Chiron.41 We do not, unfortunately, know
where, or even if, Leto was included on the François Vase, because a number of
inscriptions are lost.42 At the very rear of the divine procession on both vases is
Page 10 of 18
Okeanos with his consort Tethys.43 Perhaps Kleitias also had in mind that Maia
and Hermes, whose chariot is immediately ahead of this pair, are descendants of
Okeanos, since Pleione, the mother of Maia and the other Pleiades, was a
daughter of Ocean.44
Hermes and Maia are singled out in yet another way as important figures on the
François Vase (Fig. 2.8): their chariot is accompanied by the Moirai (Fates), a
direct reference to the coming birth of Achilles and the fateful saga of Troy.45 As
is well known, Achilles the warrior appears several times elsewhere on the
François Vase—presiding over the funeral games of Patroklos; ambushing the
hapless Troilos; and twice as a corpse, rescued from the fray by Ajax, the most
explicit references to his moira.46 The Moirai are here, surprisingly, four in
number, and there is nothing in their dress or appearance to characterize them
as individuals or explain the presence of a fourth.47 Perhaps, as Erika Simon has
(p.27) suggested, the fourth is actually their mother Themis, as we learn from
Hesiod.48 Themis had been given a place of honor by Sophilos, near the head of
the procession,49 and she should not be absent from the François Vase, even if
Kleitias failed to inscribe her name.
That the juxtaposition of Hermes and his mother with the Moirai is not
accidental is confirmed by another, much smaller vase attributed to Kleitias, a
deep cup or skyphos that survives now only in a few fragments but was once a
handsome dedication to Athena on the Akropolis.50 The subject was most likely
the Birth of Athena—she can be seen on one of the fragments emerging from the
(no longer preserved) head of Zeus. Alongside what must have been the central
group depicting the birth stands Hermes, followed by the Moirai. This may be
the earliest surviving depiction of the Birth of Athena,51 but the Moirai will not
become a regular element in the scene. It seems that Kleitias had a special
interest in them. Hermes, on the other hand, will become a regular presence at
the birth.52 As noted earlier, one of the other earliest depictions of Athena’s birth
from the head of Zeus is on the well-known Tyrrhenian amphora that bears the
unique inscription ΗΕΡΜΕΣ ΕΙΜΙ ΚΥΛΛΕΝΙΟΣ: “I am Hermes of Kyllene,” the
mountain of his origin in Arkadia.53
Before leaving the Kleitias fragments from the Akropolis, we may note an
interesting detail. A fragment from the other side of the cup,54 with a row of
youths and women holding hands, can be understood with reference to the
better preserved frieze on the François Vase showing (as I believe) the arrival of
Theseus and the Athenian youths and maidens on Crete.55 In other words,
Kleitias must have depicted this rare story more than once. The link between
Athena, on one side of the cup, and the heroic deed of her Athenian protégé par
excellence, on the other, would have been apparent to the ancient viewer and
certainly to the dedicator of the vase on the Akropolis. Hermes, who will spread
the word of these two great events, and the Moirai, who place them in a cosmic
Page 11 of 18
framework, suggest a newly crystallizing identity of the Athenians in the last

years of Solon’s lifetime and those of the rise of the tyrant Peisistratos.56
In conclusion, we have seen that the Hymn to Hermes transforms a goddess who
had been not much more than a mere name in the epic tradition of genealogical
poetry (Theogony 938; Ehoiai fr. 118 M-W) into a vivid and (p.28) highly
sympathetic maternal figure. Indeed, the relationship of mother and son is
portrayed with a psychological insight that is only slightly less compelling than
the mother–daughter relationship at the core of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter.
While it cannot be said that Greek artists ever rendered Maia with the nuance
and vibrancy of the poet of the Hymn, they did rescue her from obscurity in
Hesiod and complete absence from Homer. And they did so starting roughly a
half-century before the composition of the Hymn to Hermes. Thanks to the
genius of Kleitias, Maia assumes her rightful place in the company of the
Olympian gods, escorted by her son (Fig. 2.8). Hermes is an especially dignified
figure. He has changed out of his “work clothes,” a short garment that facilitates
running and flying, into a sumptuously embroidered long cloak. To be sure, their
chariot is toward the back of the procession, at a discreet distance from Zeus,
Maia’s secret lover, and his vengeful wife. If, as seems likely, Apollo and Leto are
in a now badly damaged chariot,57 then we have two instances of mother and
son sharing a car. Just as Apollo’s filial piety is expressed in several stories
(Tityos, the Niobids), so too Hermes is presented here as the model son. The
mischievous trickster and incorrigible truant may be the invention of a later age
and of a poet of exceptional wit and grace.
Bibliography
Bibliography references:
Babelon, E. 1914. “La déesse Maia.” RA 24: 182–90.
Bell, E. E. 1977. “The Attic Black-figured Vases at the Hearst Monument, San
Simeon.” Diss. Berkeley.
Böhr, E. 1982. Der Schaukel Maler. Mainz.
Brommer, R. 1961. “Die Geburt der Athena.” JbRGZM 8: 66–83.
Burke, S. M. and J. J. Pollitt. 1975. Greek Vases at Yale. New Haven.
Cambitoglou, A. 1968. The Brygos Painter. Sydney.
Cavaliere, B. and J. Udell. 2012. Ancient Mediterranean Art. The William D. and
Jane Walsh Collection at Fordham University. New York.
Page 12 of 18
Clay, J. S. 2016. “Visualizing Divinity: The Reception of the Homeric Hymns in

Greek Vase Painting.” In A. Faulkner, A. Vergados, and A. Schwab, eds. The
Reception of the Homeric Hymns. Oxford. 41–50.
Cohen, B. 2006. The Colors of Clay, Exh. cat. J. Paul Getty Museum. Malibu.
Ferguson, W. S. 1938. “The Salaminioi of Heptaphylai and Sounion.” Hesperia 7:

1–74.
Frontisi-Ducroux, F. and F. Lissarrague. 2009. “Char, marriage et mixitié: Une

métaphore visuelle.” In D. Yatromanolakis, ed. An Archaeology of
Representations. Athens. 87–97.
(p.29) Gantz, T. 1993. Early Greek Myth. Baltimore.
Giuliani, L. 2003. Bild und Mythos. Munich.
Graef, B. and E. Langlotz. 1925–33. Die antiken Vasen von der Akropolis zu
Athen. Berlin.
Haspels, C. H. E. 1936. Attic Black-figured Lekythoi. Paris.
Hedreen, G. 2011. “Bild, Mythos, and Ritual: Choral Dance in Theseus’ Cretan
Adventure on the François Vase.” Hesperia 80: 491–510.
Hedreen, G. 2016. The Image of the Artist in Archaic and Classical Greece.
Cambridge.
Hemelrijk, J. 1984. Caeretan Hydriae. Mainz.
Himmelmann, N. 1980. Über Hirtengenre in der antiken Kunst. Opladen.
Hirayama, T. 2010. Kleitias and Attic Black-figure Vases in the Sixth Century B.C.
Tokyo.
Iozzo, M. 2009. “Un nuovo dinos da Chiusi con le nozze di Peleus e Thetis.” In E.
M. Moormann and V. Stissi, eds. Shapes and Images. Studies on Attic Black
Figure and Related Topics in Honour of Herman A. G. Brijder. Leuven. 63–85.
Isler-Kerényi, C. 2007. Dionysos in Archaic Greece: An Understanding through

Images. Leiden.
Knauss, F. 2012. Die unsterblichen Götter Griechenlands. Exh. cat.

Antikensammlungen. Munich.
Kreutzer, B. 2013. “Myth as Case Study and the Hero as Exemplum.” In Shapiro,
Iozzo, Lezzi-Hafter 2013. 105–17.
Page 13 of 18
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Heikki punasteli serkun tunnustuksesta. Oliko hänellä sitten niin
pitkät sääret.
Kumpainenkin pojista tahtoi soutaa, näyttääkseen sedälle, mutta

enemmän vielä Laila-serkulle taitoaan. Olipa vähällä tulla riita
kiivaaksi.
— No, no, venskulit Heikki saa soutaa ensin, komensi setä ja

Heikki alkoi vedellä voimiensa perästä. Vene solui ruohikon läpi
salmelle.
Oli jo ilta, ja rannoilla kalahteli yösyöntiin lasketun karjan kellot,

nuottamiesten äänekäs puhelu ja lintujen iltavirsi. Pojista oli kaikki
niin kaunista, että puhelu unohtui. Setä oli ollut kovin hyvä, kun otti
heidät tänne ja vielä koko kesäksi.
Verkon laskusta palattua istuttiin illalliselle, ja Laila emännöi taas

reippaasti ja istuen serkkuja vastapäätä lennätteli heille kysymyksiä,
joihin varsinkin hienoutta tavoittelevan Heikin oli vaikea vastata.
Siihen lisäksi täti vielä kyseli äidin asioista ja setäkin lasketteli
sukkeluuksiaan.
Veljekset saivat nyt mennä nukkumaan, ja setä tuli kohta kamariin,

kun he olivat jo vuoteissaan.
— Onko äiti opettanut teille, pojat, iltarukousta? kysyi hän.
Olihan äiti opettanut, mutta pojat olivat jättäneet jo kokonaan sen

käyttämisen ja ihmettelivät sitä, että setä tuli nyt sitä heiltä
vaatimaan.
— Se on hyvä tapa, ja kun minä olen nyt teillä myöskin isänä,

opetan sen teille.
Ja muutamin sanoin opasti hän poikia, miten oli koruttomasti
lähestyttävä Korkeinta.
Setä poistui toivoteltuaan hyvää yötä ja pojat jäivät mietteisiinsä.

He olivat pettäneet äitiä, sanomalla hänelle, että lukivat
iltarukouksen. Ja se tuntui nyt pahalta.
— Minä kirjoitan tästä äidille, sanoi Paavo.
Heikki, vaikeni. Mitä hän mietti?
Viereisessä huoneessa nukkui Niilo ja hän kuului siellä liittävän

iltarukoukseensa toivomuksen:
— Anna hyvä Jumala ruveta jo huomenna ahvenien syömään,

sillä minä en jaksa enää odottaa juhannusta. Minä menen ongelle
siinä aivan illansuussa ison laiturin päähän.
Heikkiä se pyrki naurattamaan, mutta kuitenkin hän tunsi siinä

olevan jotain kaunista.
3.
Heikki heräsi ikkunasta tulviviin auringon säteisiin. Tuntui

suloiselta, kun ei tarvinnut nousta läksyjä valmistamaan ja sai olla
maalla. Tulisi aurinkoinen päivä. Saisi kuljeksia serkkujen kanssa
vapaana kouluhuolista. Ehtoja, jotka hän oli saanut, ei tarvitseisi
vielä edes ajatellakaan. Ihana kesä!
Sitten tuli muuan vanha ajatus, tunne, niinkuin velkaansa vaativa,

Heikki aikoi jo pistää kätensä peitteeseen, mutta se jäi kuin itsestään
pielukselle. Aurinko sieltä metsän takaa katseli niin vakavasti silmiin.
Ja jokin hänessä sanoi nyt, niinkuin aina ennenkin, ettei se ollut
oikein. Lailakin kuului siellä hyräilevän, ja ulkoa kuului monenlaisia
ääniä, kun ikkuna oli auki. Ei nyt. Ja Heikki pomposi ylös sängystä
niin reippaasti, että ihmetteli sitä itsekin.
Paavo nukkui vielä. Poskilla oli raikas puna.
Heikki tuli silmänneeksi kuvastimeen. Hänellä oli paljon kalpeampi

iho kuin Paavolla. Johtuikohan se siitä. Paavo ei varmasti ollutkaan
sellainen kuin hän ja monet muut pojat. Tuntui tällä kertaa kovin
pahalta ajatella, että hän oli sellainen.
— Hei, hei, hyvää huomenta, unikeot.
Laila tuli teetarjottimen kanssa sisään. Heikki hätkähti hieman, kun

oli vielä alusvaatteisillaan. Laila siinä ei huomannut mitään
tavallisuudesta poikkeavaa. Kotona heillä kävelivät miehet, samoin
kuin naisetkin, saunailtoina alusvaatteisillaan, ja se oli luonnollista.
Eihän maalla oltu kaupunkilaisia.
Paavokin arveli sängyssään, nousiko Lailan nähden, vai mitä

tekisi.
Tyttö sukaisi häneltä peitteen pois.
— Tokko nouset siitä. Isä sanoo, että vuoteessa ei saa loikoa, se

ei ole hyväksi.
— Mennäänkös kävelemään tänään? esitteli Heikki serkulle, joka

valkeassa talousesiliinassaan oli hyvin soma. Vaalea, runsas tukka
oli sitaistu niskasta nauhalla, ja poskilla oli raikas puna. Hän oli
avojaloin.
Heikki katseli hänen jalkojaan.

— Sinulla on sievät jalat, Laila, sanoi hän.
— Kyllä niillä näkyy joutuvan joka paikkaan, nauroi tyttö. — Jos

tarkoitat niitä kauniiksi kiitellä, niin ne ovat ainakin pohkeista liian
paksut.
Ja tyttö nosti kolttunsa helmoja niin, että pyöreät polvet näkyivät.
Heikki tunsi tytön olennosta tulvivan jotain raikasta itseensä.

Serkku oli monin verroin mainiompi kuin kaupunkitytöt.
— Tulkaa pian aamiaiselle, sanoi Laila mennessään.
Yöllä oli satanut, ja maa uhosi luomisvoimaa auringon sitä

lämmittäessä. Ilma oli tuoksuja tulvillaan. Pojat seisoivat pihamaalla
ja vetivät ahneesti henkeensä.
Pihalle ilmestyi työmiehiä. Muuan vanha vaimo kantoi pärevasua

aittaan. Eukko oli ruma, ja se sai pojat ilvehtimään. Heikki pääsi
vauhtiin ja esitteli naurettavia huomioitaan muistakin työmiehistä,
jotka liikehtivät pihalla. Hän ei huomannut setää, joka hänen
takanaan nyppi rikkaruohoja kukkapenkistä ja kuunteli.
Setä suoristausi. Hän oli paitahihasillaan ja kasvoilta virtaili hiki.

Hän oli ollut koko aamun juurikasvimaalla.
— Huomenta, pojat! Eikö Hernemaassa ole hyvää unta?
— On, on, setä, ja kaikki on täällä kaunista.
— Niinpä ei sitten saa nauraa työmiehille, eikä varsinkaan

vanhoille. Työmies on tuhatta kertaa mieluisampi katsella kuin
katukeikari, muistakaa se, pojat.
— Setä on varmaankin ollut jo varhain liikkeellä, sanoi Paavo.
— Onpa niinkin. Ei kesäaamuina henno pitkään nukkua.

Huomisaamuna herätän teidätkin jo aikaisemmin, ja sitten mennään
kalaan.
Niilo näkyi puuhaavan onkiensa kanssa eikä ottanut osaa toisten

puheisiin. Useimmiten eli hän vain omissa maailmoissaan. Nyt hän
odotti illansuussa saavansa sen ison ahvenen, jota oli Jumalalta
rukoillut.
— Kuule isä, vieläkö on pitkältä juhannukseen? kysyi hän ja

vilkaisi hieman arastellen serkkuihinsa.
— Kolmisen viikkoa, pojuseni. Ja sitten sitä jo päästään uimaan.
— Se tulee olemaan suurenmoista, sanoi Heikki, ja setä hymyili

hänen "tulee olemallaan".
Aamiaisen jälkeen otti setä pojat mukaansa kasvitarhaan.
— Tässä se työ nyt alkaa, sanoi hän. — Kyllä kai tämäkin on

Heikistä suurenmoista, kun saa vaalia näitä taimia ja nähdä niiden
joka päivä kehittyvän, vai mitä?
— On kyllä.
Kuitenkin näki, että Heikkiä peloitti hieman ryhtyessään työhön.

Sukat ja housun polvet saattaisivat tahrautua multaan.
— Ei käy, sanoi setä. — Riisukaa pois kenkänne ja sukkanne.

Nythän on kesä.
Hii, kun tuntuu somalle jalkaan lämmin ja pehmeä multa.

— Minä kirjoitan äidille, että me olemme olleet jo avojaloin, sanoi
Paavo. Äidille kirjoittamisen huoli tuli hänelle jo toistamiseen.
Lailakin tuli yhteen joukkoon, ja työ alkoi sujua suuremmalla

vauhdilla.
— Mitäs, jos annankin teille kasvitarhalohkon itsekullekin, sanoi

setä.
— Sittenpä saadaan nähdä, kenen palsta pysyy parhaimmassa
kunnossa.
Setä toimitti lohkomisen ja Laila sanoi hiljaa Paavolle:
— Minä autan sinua. Työ kyllä sujuu minun käsissäni.
Heikki mietti itsekseen, että kylläpä tässä nyt työ riittää. Muuhun ei
taida aikaa riittääkään. Setä oli kovin ankara. Eiväthän he tänne
pelkiksi työmiehiksi tulleetkaan.
Sen enempää ei kuitenkaan tällä kertaa kapinamietteet kasvaneet.

Olihan
Lailakin joukossa, ja silloin oli hauskaa.
Setä sanoi menevänsä pelloille, ja Lailakin meni auttamaan äitiä.

Pojat jäivät kahden.
— Miltä sinusta tuntuu? kysyi Paavo veljeltään.
— En minä nyt vielä osaa sanoa. Tämä kasvitarha joutaisi kyllä

minun puolestani minne hyvänsä.
— Minusta on kaikki niin hauskaa. Katsohan, miten kaunis tuokin

järvi on, kun tuuli vetää tyveneen pintaan juovia. Illalla mennään
verkon laskuun, ja Lailakin tulee mukaan, ehkäpä Niilokin.
— Minä Niilosta vähät. Sellainen arka ja hiljainen kuin jänis.
— Hyvä poika hän on.
Heikki nauroi.
— Pojat sanovat koulussa, että ei pidä tulla kovin hyväksi. Ei ole

nykyaikaista olla kovin kiltti, kertoi hän.
— Siinä he ovat varmasti väärässä. Minä ainakin uskon äitiä ja

opettajia enemmän.
— Sinähän oletkin semmoinen mammanpoika, sanoi Heikki.
— Minä tahdonkin olla, kivahti Paavo. — Sinä et välitä äidistä

mitään.
Paavo lähti pihaan odottamatta veljeään. Hän aikoi saada Niilosta

leikkitoverin itselleen.
Päivä kului illoilleen. Se oli kaunis päivä pojille. Talossa löytyi aina
jotain uutta ja ihmeteltävää. Ja huomispäivä toisi taas varmaankin
uusia ihmeellisyyksiä.
4.
Oli aamu. Lintujen viserrys kuului ulkoa. Heikki heräsi siihen, ja

samassa kuului ruokasalin kello lyövän seitsemän. Uni kaikkosi, ja
Heikki jäi loikomaan vuoteelleen. Eipä setä muistanutkaan
määräystään, että oli noustava kuudelta. Hyvä oli. Tämä loikominen
oli niin suloisia. Paavo tohisi vielä syvässä unessa.
Voi miten olisi kaunista, jos eivät pahat ajatukset tulisi. Ne olivat
taas vallanneet Heikin ja ahdistivat.
Heikillä oli aina se tunne, että joku saattaisi tuntea hänen

kasvoistaan, että hänellä oli pahoja ajatuksia. Nyt oli hänellä taas
sama tunne, että setä tahi Laila saattaisivat tulla sen tietämään, ja se
olisi silloin hirmuinen häpeä hänelle.
Hän muisti, mitä koululääkäri oli sanonut tästä hänelle.
— Kuule Heikki, se ei saa jatkua enää. Pitäähän noin ison pojan jo

jaksaa hallita pienet intohimonsa, kun tietää, että se ei ole hyvä.
Kunnon pojat eivät sitä tee ja heistä tuleekin sitten vahvoja miehiä.
Ja mitäs sitten, jos tulet sairaaksi.
Sepä se peloittikin. No, nyt sieltä tulee setä herättämään, sen

kuulee jo askeleista.
Heikki koetti peittää punastuvia kasvojaan pielukseen, mutta setä

ehti jo huomata jotain.
— Pojat pystyyn ja hyvää huomenta.
Se vaikutti kuin sähköisku. Heikki oli heti jalkeilla.
— Ei saa lojua vuoteessa, puheli setä ystävällisesti. — Kun alkaa

tulla jo isoksi mieheksi, niinkuin sinäkin Heikki, on silloin voimaa
ruumiissa, joka vaatisi tekemään tyhmyyksiä itselleen, ja siksi sitä on
hallittava. Kun saa silmät auki, niin silloin heti peseytymään ja koko
ruumis on valeltava haalealla vedellä. Silloin jäävät itsestään kaikki
käden yritykset tehdä omalle ruumiilleen pahaa.
Paavo aukoili silmiään.

— No mutta Paavali, etkös aio noustakaan, sanoi setä.
Poika hyppäsi hätäisesti sängystään, ja setä nauroi.
— Ei tässä tulipalo ole, mutta sedän pitää vaatia poikiaan

järjestykseen ja ruumiin hoitoon. Katsohan Heikki, näin on
peseydyttävä. Ei saa kastella kuin kissa käpäliään vedessä, vaan —
no, housut pois ja ilkosen alasti vain! — että koko ruumis saa
osansa. Meillä on vielä se peritty tapa käytännössä, että
silmänurkkia hieman vain huuhtaistaan. Ei, muun ruumiin on
myöskin saatava osansa varpaan kynsiä myöten.
Heikki oli hämmästynyt sedän uudesta pesuopista. Paavo kähmi

rauhallisesti alusvaatteensa tuolin kaiteelle ja odotti vuoroaan
vilkaisten setään, olisiko tällä vielä asiassa uusia puolia
valaistavana.
— Ja tänään me sitten aloitamme ulkoilmakoulun, sanoi setä.

Viime yönä on herännyt eloon lukematon joukko kukkasia, vainioille
ja metsiin, ja niitä me menemme katsomaan. Ne puhuvat meille
paljon.
Aamiaispöytä oli katettu verannalle. Laila oli siellä järjestelemässä.
— Jos ei isä olisi herättänyt, olisin minä vesikannun kanssa…

sanoi hän.
— Silloin minä olisin suuttunut, sanoi Paavo toimessaan.
— Eihän pikku nallikka osaa suuttua, sanoi Laila ja sipaisi

kädellään Paavon poskea. — Juostaan kilpaa, pojat, kellarille, jonne
minun on mentävä. Yks' kaks'!
Tyttö meni kuin lentämällä heidän edelleen, ja lyhyen hameen
helmat pomppailivat korkealle.
Heikki tavoitti Lailan, ja Paavo oli nyreissään.
— Senkin koikalesääri…
— Älä ole pahoillasi, kuiskasi Laila. — Minä autan sinua sitä

enemmän kasvitarhassa.
Paavo oli saanut saman kokoisen palstan kuin toisetkin, ja Lailan

mielestä oli siinä tapahtunut vääryys.
Aamiaisen jälkeen sanoi setä:
— Nyt saatte lapset mennä verkkoja kokemaan. Ne jätettiin

pikkuserkkujen vuoksi tänä aamuna nostamatta. Minun on mentävä
pelloille. Iltapäivällä on sitten ensimmäinen koulutunti tuolla
heinäpellolla ja niityllä.
Heikkikin unohti arvokkuutensa, jota useimmiten tapaili ja

hypähteli ilosta.
— Se tulee olemaan hiivatin hauskaa.
Laila näytti vakavana sormea.
— Et saa kiroilla. Se kuuluu rumalta.
— Anteeksi, neiti.
Heikki polvistui kurillaan ja tapaili Lailan kättä suudellakseen,

mutta saikin kädestä korvilleen.
— Jätä pois temppusi! Hyi sinua. Tosin nyt "hiivatti" ei olekaan
niitä kaikkein rumimpia, mutta minä luulen, ettei isä välitä siitäkään,
varsinkaan pikkumiesten huulilla, selitti Laila tosissaan.
Paavo kähmi Lailan lähettyvillä. Hänellä näytti olevan tytölle jotain

tärkeätä sanomista.
— Kuulehan Laila, pidätkö vähän minusta, supitti hän hiljaa,

koettaen kurkottaa suutaan lähelle tytön korvaa.
— No voi sinua ressu… pidänhän minä toki sinusta paljonkin.
Ja Laila suuteli pikkuserkkua suulle.
— Elä niin kovaa, Heikki kuulee ja hänkin tahtoisi, että pitäisit

hänestä, toimitti Paavo. — Katsohan, kun äiti on kertonut, että meillä
oli ennen pieni sisko ja se kuoli ja nyt ei ole minulla siskoa, niin minä
pitäisin siskon niin mielelläni. Ja nyt jos sinä kerran…
— Minä lupaan olla sinun siskosi, sanoi Laila ja hänen sinisissä

silmissään oli lämmin loiste.
— Mutta älä sano vain Heikille… se sitten minulle junkuttaa, pyysi

Paavo.
Lailan kirkas nauru kajahti.
— Täytyyhän minun vähän pitää Heikistäkin, hän kun on minun

serkkuni, mutta sinusta minä enemmän pidän.
— No se on hyvä. Ja suuteletko joskus vielä minua? Se oli niin

mukavaa.
— Vai oli se… no, senpä näkee… eikö sinua sitten ole kukaan
ennen suudellut? kysyi tyttö.
— Ei muut kuin äiti. Eikähän se olisi ollut sopivaakaan. Mutta

äidillä on aina niin kylmät huulet. Sinun suusi oli niin lämmin.
Paavon nallikka sai vielä iloisesti nauravalta siskolta yhden

suukon.
Sitten mentiin verkon nostoon. Paavo mietti, että olipa hyvä, ettei
Heikki ehtinyt tulla heidän sisarliittoaan sotkemaan. Hänellä oli nyt
sisko ja se oli niin… niin…
Paavo hypähteli rantatiellä tanssiaskelin. Varmaan minun nyt

täytyy koettaa olla oikein hyvä ja ahkera.
Heikilläkin pitäisi olla sisko, johtui hänen mieleensä. Omaa siskoa

ei hänen mielestään olisi oikein käynyt ajatteleminen Heikin siskona,
mutta mieli oli paha siitä, ettei veljellä ollut. Kun Heikki saisi siskon
muualta, niin hän saisi pitää Lailan kokonaan.
— Minä soudan, lupasi hän venheessä, mutta Heikkikin tahtoi.
— Jaa, mutta nyt on minun vuoroni, koskapa setäkin on luvannut

sen.
Paavo pääsi soutamaan, ja Heikki istui alahangan tuhdolla ja

vesileiniköllä kutitteli Lailan kinttuja.
— Et saa. Minä mätkäytän melalla vettä päällesi, sanoi Laila.
Heikki ei uskonut ja sai vesiryöpyn niskaansa. Syntyi vesisota,

jossa
Paavo kävi Lailaa puoltamaan ja Heikki suuttui.
Likomärkinä saatiin nostaa verkot ja palata pihaan. Sen lisäksi

vielä
Laila kiusotteli Heikkiä.
5.
Iltapäivällä mentiin sedän kanssa pellolle. Siellä ja täällä näkyi jo

apilan kukkia leinikköjen ja kurjenpolvien seassa. Setä taittoi yhden
ja näytti sitä pojille.
— Noin mehuisa kukka ja vahva varsi. Se ehtii vielä kasvaa paljon

ja se on oikein täydessä kukassaan voimakas.
Setä katseli toista, jossa oli kuihtunut varsi ja kukkanuppu oli

myöskin jo alkanut kuivettua.
— Tässä on toinen. Sen varsi on noin heikko ja siinä näkyy

kuivuneita paikkoja. Sen kukkimisesta ei ole toivoakaan. Eikö olekin
surullista? Yhdessä on tämän rehevän apilan kanssa kasvettu, saatu
sama määrä sadetta ja aurinkoa, ja nyt täytyy toisen nuutua ja
kuolla, ennenkuin on ehtinyt edes kukkaan asti. Samoin on
ihmisenkin laita. Te olette nähneet oikein vahvoja, punaposkisia
poikia ja kalpeita, sairaloisia, jotka vain harvoin osaavat olla iloisia.
Vahva jaksaa kasvaa edelleen, se saa odottaa kukintoaan, mutta
heikko nuutuu pois. Jos emme hoida hyvin ruumistamme, jota tässä
kukassa vastaa varsi, niin kukintoaika jää tulematta, tahi on vain
varjokukintoa. Ettekö tahtoisikin nuoruudessanne täyteen kukkaan?
— Tahtoisimme tietysti.
— Sen minäkin uskon. Mutta jos annamme erään voiman
nuoressa ruumiissamme viedä meidät harhaan, niin meille käy
samoin kuin tuolle kuihtuneelle kukkaselle. Sen voiman, joka on
tarkoitettu meille elämän voimaksi, voimme juoksuttaa pisara
pisaralta pois, ja mitä jää silloin meille? Kuihtunut ruumis ja sairas
sielu. Tahdottehan, rakkaat pojat, pysyä horjumatta silloin, kun
kiusaaja teitä koettaa houkuttaa huonoon tekoon omaa ruumistanne
kohtaan?
— Tahdomme varmasti.
Heikin silmissä loisteli innostuksen lämpöä, ja Paavo kuunteli

tarkkaavana. Helppo oli sedän huomata, kumpi heistä oli jo
tietämättömyydessään erehtynyt tekemään ruumiilleen pahaa.
— Se on helppoa, kun vain ensimmäisen kiusauksen voittaa ja

hoitaa oikein ruumistaan. Aamukylvystä olen jo teille puhunut, ja
voimistelu on myöskin tärkeä. Me emme täällä maalla niin usein
harjoita voimistelua, kun teemme joka päivä ruumillista työtä. Mutta
työ onkin kaikkein parhainta. Se karkoittaa pahat ajatukset.
Mentiin katsomaan ruispeltoa. Se oli tänä keväänä kehittynyt

aikaisin ja jyväneste alkoi jo kehittyä tähkissä.
— Siinä tehdään jo hedelmää. Miten onnellisina nuokkuvat

tähkäpäät. Muutamien viikkojen perästä on jyvä valmis, ja saamme
odottaa sen tuleentumista. Maa on ihana, kun se noin kasvattaa
viljan ja hedelmöittää sen. Katsotaanpa naapurinkin ruispeltoa, joka
on tuossa aidan takana.
Siellä oli korsi harvaa ja hienoa, ja tähkät näyttivät surkastuneilta.

— Katsokaapa, pojat, miten heikkoa laihoa. Maa on köyhää, siinä
ei ole ravintoaineita. Maata ei ole hoidettu ja noin on käynyt. Se ei
jaksa kantaa hedelmää. Siitä on kulutettu kaikki voima pois, aivan
kuin jos ruumiistamme sen väkivalloin kuluttaisimme. Sama tulos on
kumpaisestakin.
Pojat kuuntelivat vakavina ja ihmeissään. Tämä kaikki oli uutta

heille.
Kukaan ei ollut heille ennen puhunut niinkuin setä puhui.
Heikki tunsi itsensä hieman alakuloiseksi. Oliko hän jo

vaarallisestikin vahingoittanut ruumistaan?
Setä huomasi Heikin mielialan ja kutsui hänet hieman erilleen.
— Älä ole suruissasi siitä, mitä on jo tapahtunut. Minä näen, että

sinä tahdot sitä vasta välttää, ja silloinhan on kaikki hyvin. Vältä
ennen kaikkea yksinäisyyttä. Se on vaarallista. Silloin pahat
ajatukset saavat rauhassa tehdä tihutyötään. Ei mikään ole niin
sopiva sinun ikäisellesi kuin hyvä toveri, semmoinen kuin esimerkiksi
Laila on. Hän on oikein hyvä tyttö. Sanoppa vain, Heikki, tokko
sellaisen hyvän tytön läsnäollessa tunnet mitään huonoja ajatuksia.
Ne eivät tule kuuluvillekaan, eikö niin?
— Kyllä se niin on, myönsi Heikki.
— Sitä minäkin. Ja nyt mennään metsään. Siellä on niin paljon

opittavaa, että me saisimme pitää koko kesän aamusta iltaan
ulkoilmakoulua, emmekä sittenkään ehtisi vielä kuin pienen kurssin
käydä läpi. Nyt tahdon ennen kaikkea opettaa teitä kulkemaan
avosilmin suuren luonnon keskellä.
Mentiin metsään. Setä vei pojat lehtoon, joka kasvoi nuorta
koivikkoa. Puut olivat suoria ja alhaalta oksattomia. Ylhäällä latvojen
vihreät kruunut huojuivat hiljaa heränneessä suvituulessa.
— Tätä metsää olen itse hoitanut, kertoi setä. — Alaoksat, jotka

olivat tarpeettomia, karsittiin pois, ja heti alkoi metsää kasvaa.
Vääristyneet rungot oikenivat ja kävivät valkeiksi ja siloisiksi.
Muutamien vuosien kuluttua ovat ne jo varmaan oikein vahvoja.
Huomaatteko, mikä on syynä metsän kaunistumiseen ja nopeaan
kasvuun?
— Hoitaminen tietysti, arveli Paavo.
— Ja tarpeettomien oksien ja juurivesojen poistaminen, sanoi

Heikki.
— Niin, ja se onkin metsän hoitamista. Samoin teistäkin

ihmisvesoista täytyy poistaa sellainen, joka estää tervettä kehitystä,
ja siinä tekevät koulu ja koti samaa hoitotyötä, mitä minä olen tehnyt
tässä metsässä. Nämä puut osoittavat kiitollisuuttaan kasvamalla,
pyrkimällä aina ylöspäin, mutta monikohan teistä pojista osoittaa
vanhemmille ja opettajille kiitollisuutta kasvatustyöstä. Vanhemmat
muka vain suotta ovat niin ankaroita ja opettajat "krenaavat", niinkuin
te koulupojat sanotte, suotta teidän kanssanne. Ettekö todellakin
ajattele usein niin?
Pojat naurahtelivat. Niilo kallisti päätään ja sanoi toimekkaana:
— En ainakaan minä ole sinua krenaamisesta syyttänyt

milloinkaan.
Pitihän Niilolle nauraa.

Mentiin eteenpäin ja jonkun matkan päässä noustiin yli aidan ja
kohta tultiin metsään, josta oli puita kaadettu sieltä ja täältä, lainkaan
harkitsematta, mitä puita olisi pitänyt jättää kasvamaan.
Näky oli surullinen. Pienet taimetkin oli hakattu maahan.
— Tässä on tehty hävitystyötä, niinkuin näette, ja melkein

toivottomalta näyttää metsä, joka ennen raiskausta on varmaankin
ollut hyvin kaunis. Ihmisruumis on vielä monin verroin kalliimpi kuin
tuo metsä, ja jos yhtä ajattelemattomasti menettelemme sen kanssa,
kuin tuossa on tehty, toisin sanoen kulutamme väkivalloin sen
elämännesteitä, niin jäljet näkyvät, ne näkyvät vielä vanhanakin. Ja
nyt mennään kotiin, ja sitten saatte hiljaisuudessa miettiä, mitä olen
puhunut, sanoi setä. Jonakin kauniina päivänä katselemme lintujen
pesiä ja poikasia ja opimme niistä jotain.
Pojat kävelivät sedän rinnalla miettiväisinä, joskus sanoen sanan

huomioistaan, joita tekivät. He ymmärsivät nyt, miksi setä oli niin
ankaran säännöllinen. Hän tahtoi siten heidän parastaan. Kyllä setä
sittenkin on oikein hyvä, ajatteli Heikkikin.
6.
Pojat olivat aina kyselleet, milloin saisivat opetella ratsastamaan.

Nyt oli setä luvannut heidät viemään hevoset hakaan.
Laila tuli mukaan. Hänellä oli nuori, nopealiikkeinen liinikko. Heikki

sai ajaakseen komean raudikon, ja Paavolle oli luvattu säyseä
valakka.
— Kun minä vain pääsisin sen selkään, sanoi Paavo.

— Minä autan sinua tällä kertaa, lupasi setä ja keikautti Paavon
valakan selkään. Onnellisena jäi hän toisia odottamaan.
— Minä vain en tarvitse apua, kehasi Heikki ja teki ensimmäisen

epäonnistuneen yrityksen.
Laila nauroi.
— Onhan sinulla niin kovin pitkät sääret. Hyppää!
Se kuului jo kauniin serkun suusta melkein pahalta, ja Heikki

ponnisti uudelleen.
Raudikko heilahti hieman kärsimättömästi! ja näytti ajattelevan:

"mikähän hupelo tuokin on, kun ei pääse selkääni".
Heikki talutti hevosen kiven viereen ja onnistui vihdoinkin.
Laila oli hypähtänyt kauniisti liinikkonsa selkään ja viiletti jo pellon

veräjällä. Hän oli kovin soma. Suortuvat liehuivat vapaana ja kolttu
oli hurahtanut ylös.
Paavon valakka lönkytteli hiljalleen ja raudikkokin koetti kuljettaa

Heikkiä tasaisesti, mutta eipä sittenkään Heikki pysynyt
tasapainossa, vaan alkoi arveluttavasti kallistella ja viimein pudota
muksahti.
Laila kääntyi takaisin ja ajoi hänen luokseen. Se on hänelle

parhaiksi, koskapa kehui edeltäpäin osaavansa ajaa, ajatteli Laila.
— Nouse pian uudelleen! Äläkä ole noin happaman näköinen,

kyllä sinä pian opit.
Loppumatka sujuikin onnellisemmin. Vasikkalauma teki vain
Paavolle tepposet. Hännät pystyssä lähtivät ne pakoon hakaveräjällä
ja Paavoa rupesi naurattamaan ja niinpä hänkin muksahti alas. Ei
toki koskenut.
Palatessa ei sopinut kolmisin kulkemaan rinnakkain ja Paavo jäi

tällä kertaa jälkeen.
Laila ja Heikki puhelivat innokkaasti, ja Paavoa harmitti, ettei

saanut olla mukana. Hän sai Heikin ja Lailan kaatumaan pistämällä
kepin heidän jalkoihinsa ja nauroi kepposellaan.
— Nyt olit tuhma, sanoi Laila.
Se koski niin kovin Paavoon, että hänen piti jäädä metsään. Puun
juurella hän istui ja nyyhkytti. Toiset menivät jo kaukana.
Hänestä ei välitetty sen enempää, ei edes Lailakaan, vaikka oli

luvannut olla sisko. Hän kirjoittaa heti äidille ja pyytää, että äiti hakee
hänet pois. Sittenpähän saa Heikki pitää Lailan kokonaan.
Nyyhkytys muuttui katkeraksi itkuksi.
Toiset asettuvat siellä päivälliselle ja hänelläkin on niin nälkä.

Kukapa häntä siellä kaipaa. Hän onkin täällä aamuun asti, vilustuu ja
kuolee. Sittenpä Lailakin saa nähdä, että on ollut ilkeä hänelle. Miten
hän saattoikin olla näin turvaton.
Sieltä Laila nyt tulikin ja huhuili häntä. Tulkoon, hän ei virka

mitään. Laila tuli ja huomasi Paavon.
— Heer-ran poika, sinua nallikka, mitä sinä itket?

— Min' en ole mikään nallikka!
— No, mutta poika, sano nyt, mikä sinulle tuli?
Laila nosti vastustelevan pojan seisoalleen ja kuivasi

nenäliinallaan hänen kasvonsa.
Paavo muljautti alta kulmainsa nauravaan tyttöön.
— Tule, mennään syömään! Ja sanohan nyt, mikä sinulle tuli.

Puriko sinua pörriäinen?
— Sinä et saa nauraa minulle, usko se!
Laila kääräsi pojan pään kainaloonsa ja katsoi häntä silmiin. Se

tuntui niin suloiselta ja Paavon toinen suupieli suli jo kokonaan.
— Mitäs, kun sanoit minua tuhmaksi, sanoi hän hiljaa.
— Voi sinua, pikku hupakko!
Laila suuteli poikaa, ja silloinpa pilkahti jo pojan silmissä päivä

paistamaan.
Mentiin. Paavon käsi ei ylettynyt Lailan kaulalle ja hän sai luvan

pitää sitä tytön vyötäisellä.
— Ja sitten kun sinä menit Heikin käsikynkässä äsken, sanoi

Paavo.
Laila nauroi.
— Mutta pitäähän minun olla hyvä myöskin Heikille, sanoi hän. —

Ajattelehan, jos sinä olisit Heikki ja minä syrjäyttäisin sinut, enkä olisi

Tracking Hermes Pursuing Mercury John F Miller All Chapter

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Tracking Hermes Pursuing Mercury John F Miller All Chapter

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Tracking Hermes, Pursuing Mercury