1122: 2p

Notes on Hermes

I. Hermes and Boundaries

A. Hermes’ name

1. Greek Hermeias

2. Clearly from herma, cairn (pile of stones that marks a boundary)

3. Makes him god of boundaries

B. Hermes’ various functions

1. All have to do with boundaries in some way

2. A herald (Gr. kerux, which can also be translated “courier” or

“messenger”) crosses boundaries on official business

a) and are unbelievably important in non-literate cultures like

the Archaic Greek culture that gives us almost all of classical

myth, because they would have had to have professional skill at

memorization

b) that skill, in turn, makes them like the bards, which will be

essential understanding the Homeric Hymn to Hermes and also

certain important aspects of the Odyssey

c) and it also gives them a special relation to the truth,

because a herald would have had a really amazing ability to lie

and get away with it

3. The psychopomp (guide of souls) crosses the boundary between

life and death

4. The holder of the kerykeion (later called the caduceus just

through mispronunciation) controls the boundary between sleep and

waking

5. The god of thieves has power over the boundaries around

people’s houses.

II. Hermes the Trickster

A. The figure of the trickster is found in many mythologies: a character

who uses his or her wits to win fame

1. One way to look at the trickster is as a character who controls

and manipulates boundaries: especially the boundary between true and

false

2. On this understanding, Hermes and Odysseus are both tricksters,

because of their travel, their wits, and their lying

B. When Odysseus enters the house of Alkinoos, the Phaiakians are just

pouring the last libation of the day, to Hermes. Why?

1. Because Hermes controls sleep

2. Because Hermes, god of thieves, controls boundaries you want

others to keep away from

3. Because Odysseus is crossing their boundary at this moment!

4. It’s the bard’s way of making the Hermes/Odysseus/trickster

connection

C. Suggested viewing: “The Adventurs of Baron Munchausen” directed

by Terry Gilliam

1. A wonderful version of an 18 th century story of a trickster, using

movie magic to negotiate the boundaries

III. The Homeric Hymn to Hermes

A. In this hymn, the anonymous bards have created a meditation on the

meaning of the trickster hero, and his relation to kleos, epic glory

1. Hermes has a problem, because he’s been born far from Olympus

2. But as the child of Zeus and Maia, he should be an Olympian

3. He’s a god of tricks, and of the dark, but that’s not what

Olympus is about

4. and Apollo is the best example: Apollo is himself, as the god of

music and of the lyre, the god of kleos

B. The master-stroke is probably having Hermes invent the lyre

1. Which is highly analogous to having Odysseus take over the telling

of his story

2. and shows that some of the bards, at least, recognized that they

were pretty much just making stuff up when they sang their epics