𝐍𝐚𝐦e: Hermes
𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: God of Roads, Flocks, Commerce, and Thieves
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭s: Zeus (Sky) and Maia
𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧:
It is believed that Hermes' name derives from the Greek word herma, which means "a heap of stones" or "cairn." Cairns were a common sight in the Ancient world, serving as trail- or boundary-markers. Some say that the first cairn was erected by the gods, when they cast all their stones in favour of Hermes, during his trial for slaying Argus Panoptes.
𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧:
Hermaphroditos, Pan (Wild), Philammon, Autolycus
𝐒𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐬:
Caduceus
𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐬:
Hermes was the son of Zeus and Maia, the oldest of the seven Pleiades. He was born in a cave in Mount Cyllene in Arcadia at dawn. By noon he was able to invent the lyre and play a hymn celebrating his own birth on it. That very same evening, for reasons unknown, he stole the cattle of Apollo. Afterward, he came back and innocently tucked himself up in his cradle.
To invent the lyre, Hermes killed a tortoise and scooped the flesh out of its shell. Then, honouring the Pleiades, he stretched seven strings of sheep-gut over the empty shell. Once he found out who had stolen his cattle, Apollo was so angry at Hermes that bad things might have happened if Hermes hadn't appeased Apollo with a lyre- accompanied song. In exchange for it, Apollo forgave his little brother everything and swore to be his closest friend forevermore. Some say that as a token of this promise, Apollo gifted Hermes with the latter one's most emblematic object: the caduceus.