CLAS104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Homeric Hymns, Hermaphroditus, Herma
15 Apr 2020
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Hermes (mercury: attributes: traveller"s cap (petasus), herald"s wand (caduceus), winged boots(talaria) Character: essence, mobility and mental agility, boundaries. Character: essence, concerns, divine messenger: as such he helps heroes eg. helps odysseus escape the wiles of circe cf. Iris, who is also a messenger in iliad. Stories (homeric hymn to hermes: birth - invents the lyre (mental mobility), steals apollo"s cattle (thief), lies cleverly to defend himself (trickster), reconciled to apollo his opposite. Stories (homeric hymn to hermes: birth, salmacis & hermaphroditus: when hermaphroditus (whose name explains his parentage) resisted the indolent nymph she hid until he entered her waters, then she clung until they were joined and became one.
