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Home , Hermes, Maia

Lecture outline Fri April 13: /, , /, /Mars Ch. 8, pp. 177-199. This lecture focuses on Hermes. We will return to the other gods in this chapter in a subsequent lecture. Overview of Hermes -a god of making one thing into another -of bringing something from one place to another (as a thief, merchant) name Mercury -> English words 'merchant', 'merchandise' -of bringing information from one place to another by using words (as a messenger) English word 'hermeneutic' having to do with the study of interpretation Greek word herma = 'stone heap' especially one that is a trail marker. p. 178 . A boundary marker with the head of Hermes and an erect 'keep out or else' (415 BCE destruction of the herms in Athens, interpreted as a provocation to disrupt the Athenian military expedition against ) Birth of Hermes + (in her cave) -> Hermes p. 179 'Maia's infant was clever -- a swindler, a robber, a liar, rustler of cattle, fast talker, burglar and a cracker of safes' 'by noon he was twanging the ' 'before the evening had come he had stolen Phoebus [= 's] cattle' inventing the lyre 'he stumbled upon a tortoise' 'how fair your face, how nimble your feet, what fun at a party ...You'll be safer inside the house' ... 'with a gouge of sharp grey steel he scooped out the tortoise's entrails' [=organs] 'as fast as a passing thought traverses the breast of a thinker, one whom repeated problems keep forcing to alter his plans as fast as the beams of vision flash from the viewer's eye, so fast did Hermes combine his thought with his action'

'He sang the story of Zeus, son of and fair-sandaled Maia' Theft of Apollo's cattle 'a juicy steak would be pleasant' p. 181 at , he 'picked out and drove away fifty moving head [of cattle] from the cow pens' 'reversing the hoofprints' direction' 'he wove himself sandals of wicker' 'invented the kindling of fire'

p. 182 'carved it into twelve portions' (but did not take one for himself) 'the fat and the meat he brought to the cavern' 'At dawn he ran back to the shining crest of ' [= the mountain where Maia's cave is] 'jumped right into his cradle' 'I shall pick whatever career may offer most promise' (doesn't want to stay with Maia in the cave; wants them both to come out of the cave and enjoy the benefits of ) p. 185 'he looked like a newborn baby .... In fact he was carefully watching'

'if you insist, I will take a terrible oath and swear that I myself am not guilty' note: saying that you will swear an oath is not the same as actually swearing an oath.

p. 187 'I am ready to take a great oath'

p. 188 'He [Hermes] lifted his voice in a in a song with a sweet and melodious voice, of the start of created things, of immortal gods and the earth, its face first covered with darkness, how they first came into being and how each was given his share. First of the gods he honored , mother of the , who inspired the son of Maia. In their order of generation, the glorious son of Zeus expounded the birth of each one honoring every immortal and plucking the lyre in his arms. ...

[Apollo responds to Hermes' song]

This beautiful music I hear, whose like has never been sounded by any mortal man, or immortal who dwells on Olympus, what sort of art is this? what charm for incurable sorrow? what path presenting three choices, joy, sleep, or sweetness of love? I too am the faithful servant of the Muses who dwell on Olympus, whose greatest delight is the dance and the shining pathway of song, the intricate joy of rhythm, the passionate thunder of pipes. But none of these arts of the feast have ever so shaken my heart.

The hymn presents the transaction of Hermes inventing the lyre and giving it to Apollo as payback for the stolen cattle as a reconciliation of opposing social forces through the sharing of traditional song: Hermes is the lower-class being who makes things through physical labor; Apollo is the upper-class being who owns cattle and is close to powerful Zeus. Apollo was going to throw Hermes down to , the deepest part of the , which would have been a a replay of Zeus fighting the . Instead though, because Hermes invented the lyre and handed it over to Apollo, the shared song reduces their potential conflict. As Powell suggests (p. 190) 'As gods opposite in interests but belonging to the same family were reconciled in the poem, so should the aristoi [= Greek for 'the best ones] and the kakoi [Greek for 'the worst ones'] look past their differences to seek a common political interest, the poem seems to say'

Hermes, slayer of [= Argeiophontes] p. 179 Zeus + , 's deduction of what happened, Io transformed into a cow, guarded by Argos Hermes puts Argos' 100 eyes to sleep to kill him and free Io Hermes escorter of souls to the underworld (=psychopompus)

Hermes and the view from the heavens Around 240 BCE, Eratosthenes, scholar from Cyrene in North Africa and head of the library at Alexandria, wrote a poem in which Hermes gazes down at the earth and his lyre makes sounds that coincide with the cosmic music of the spheres. He sees a view of earth that until recently humans had only dreamed of seeing. The earth is divided into zones: fiery at the equator, temperate above and below that, and icy poles to the north and south “two [zones] were blacker than dark-gleaming blue, one was powdery and reddish as though from fire, … and there are two encircling the poles on each side always icy.”

Eratosthenes himself used technologies of measurement to calculate the circumference of the earth to a remarkably accurate degree. In the poem, which survives only in fragments, Hermes' divine cosmic viewpoint sets an exact precedent for Eratosthenes' human ability to see the cosmos in his mind's eye and to interpret its dimensions and meaning.

Sample questions

1 “Maia bore him on the fourth day of the month. He was born at dawn, by midday he was playing the lyre.” To whom does this quote refer? a) b) Hermes c) Apollo d) Hephaestus

2. Who killed the hundred-eyed Argus? a) b) the c) Hermes d) Hera e)

3. ‘I ... swear that I myself am not guilty, nor have I seen any other who was driving your cattle away – whatever “cattle” may be, for I know of them only by hearsay.’ In this excerpt from a Homeric Hymn, who is speaking? a) b) Apollo c) Pan d) Hermes

4. 'I may have seen -- I really can't tell you for certain -- what looked like a little moppet tending his spreading-horned heifers. He carried a great long stick and skipped from one side to the other, as he drove them along from behind, but he himself facing backwards' who is being described? a) Hermes b) Phaethon c) Argus d) Io e) Hyacinthus

5. You are a petty thief in ancient Athens. The most appropriate god to whom you should pray for success is: a) Apollo b) c) Hermes d) Dionysus

6. The first lyre was made from: a) A rock b) A sea shell c) A tortoise shell d) A reed

7. Which god carries the ? a) Dionysus b) Hermes c) Apollo d) Hephaestus