In the Mycenaean period The earliest written record of Hermes comes from
Linear B inscriptions from Pylos, Thebes, and Knossos dating to the Bronze Age
Mycenaean period. Here, Hermes's name is rendered as
e-ma-a (Ἑρμάhας). This name is always recorded alongside those of several goddesses, including Potnija, Posidaeja, Diwja, Hera, Pere, and Ipemedeja, indicating that his worship was strongly connected to theirs. This is a pattern that would continue in later periods, as worship of Hermes almost always took place within temples and sanctuaries primarily dedicated to goddesses, including Hera, Demeter, Hecate, and Despoina.
In the Archaic period In literary works of
Archaic Greece, Hermes is depicted both as a protector and a trickster. In
Homer's
Iliad, Hermes is called "the bringer of good luck", "guide and guardian", and "excellent in all the tricks". In
Hesiod's
Works and Days, Hermes is depicted giving
Pandora the gifts of lies, seductive words, and a dubious character. The earliest known theological or spiritual documents concerning Hermes are found in the
Homeric Hymns composed . In
Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes describes the god's birth and his theft of
Apollo's sacred cattle. In this hymn, Hermes is invoked as a god "of many shifts" (
polytropos), associated with cunning and thievery, but also a bringer of dreams and a night guardian. He is said to have invented the chelys
lyre, as well as racing and the sport of
wrestling.
In the Classical period The cult of Hermes flourished in
Attica, and many scholars writing before the discovery of the Linear B evidence considered Hermes to be a uniquely Athenian god. This region had numerous
Hermai, or pillar-like icons, dedicated to the god marking boundaries, crossroads, and entryways. These were initially stone piles, later pillars made of wood, stone, or bronze, with carved images of Hermes, a phallus, or both. In Athens, Hermes Eion came to represent the Athenian naval superiority in their defeat of the Persians, under the command of Cimon, in 475 BC. In this context, Hermes became a god associated with the Athenian empire and its expansion, and of democracy itself, as well as all of those closely associated with it, from the sailors in the navy, to the merchants who drove the economy. This led to Hermes gaining the attributes of a god of translation and interpretation, or more generally, a god of knowledge and learning. An epithet of Thoth found in the temple at
Esna, "Thoth the great, the great, the great", became applied to Hermes beginning in at least 172 BC. This lent Hermes one of his most famous later titles, (), 'thrice-greatest Hermes'. The figure of Hermes Trismegistus would later absorb a variety of other esoteric wisdom traditions and become a major component of
Hermeticism,
alchemy, and related traditions.
In the Roman period As early as the 4th century BC, Romans had adopted Hermes into their own religion, combining his attributes and worship with the earlier Etruscan god Turms under the name
Mercury. According to St. Augustin, the Latin name "Mercury" may be a title derived from "
medio currens", in reference to Hermes's role as a mediator and messenger who moves between worlds. In art, the Roman Mercury continued the style of depictions found in earlier representations of both Hermes and Turms, a young, beardless god with winged shoes or hat, carrying the caduceus. His role as a god of boundaries, a messenger, and a psychopomp also remained unchanged following his adoption into the Roman religion (these attributes were also similar to those in the Etruscan's worship of Turms). The Romans identified the Germanic god
Odin with Mercury, and there is evidence that Germanic peoples who had contact with Roman culture also accepted this identification. Odin and Mercury/Hermes share several attributes in common. For example, both are depicted carrying a staff and wearing a wide-brimmed hat, and both are travelers or wanderers. However, the reasons for this interpretation appear to go beyond superficial similarities: Both gods are connected to the dead (Mercury as psychopomp and Odin as lord of the dead in
Valhalla), both were connected to eloquent speech, and both were associated with secret knowledge. The identification of Odin as Mercury was probably also influenced by a previous association of a more Odin-like Celtic god as the "Celtic Mercurius". A further Roman Imperial-era syncretism came in the form of
Hermanubis, the result of the identification of Hermes with the Egyptian god of the dead,
Anubis. Hermes and Anubis were both psychopomps the primary attribute leading to their conflation as the same god. Hermanubis depicted with a human body and a jackal head, holding the caduceus. In addition to his function of guiding souls to the afterlife, Hermanubis represented the Egyptian priesthood the investigation of truth. Beginning around the turn of the 1st century AD, a process began by which, in certain traditions Hermes became
euhemerised – that is, interpreted as a historical, mortal figure who had become divine or elevated to godlike status in legend. Numerous books of wisdom and magic (including astrology, theosophy, and alchemy) were attributed to this "historical" Hermes, usually identified in his Alexandrian form of Hermes Trismegistus. As a collection, these works are referred to as the
Hermetica.
In the Middle Ages Though worship of Hermes had been almost fully suppressed in the Roman Empire following the
Christian persecution of paganism under Theodosius I in the 4th century AD, Hermes continued to be recognized as a mystical or prophetic figure, though a mortal one, by
Christian scholars. Early
medieval Christians such as
Augustine believed that a euhemerised Hermes Trismegistus had been an ancient pagan prophet who predicted the emergence of Christianity in his writings. Some Christian philosophers in the medieval and Renaissance periods believed in the existence of a "
prisca theologia", a single thread of true theology that could be found uniting all religions. Christian philosophers used Hermetic writings and other ancient philosophical literature to support their belief in the
prisca theologia, arguing that Hermes Trismegistus was a contemporary of Moses, or that he was the third in a line of important prophets after
Enoch and Noah. The 10th-century
Suda attempted to further Christianize the figure of Hermes, claiming that "He was called Trismegistus on account of his praise of the trinity, saying there is one divine nature in the trinity."
Temples and sacred places , 4th century BC There are only three temples known to have been specifically dedicated to Hermes during the Classical Greek period, all of them in
Arcadia. Though there are a few references in ancient literature to "numerous" temples of Hermes, this may be poetic license describing the ubiquitous herms, or other, smaller shrines to Hermes located in the temples of other deities. In most places, temples were
consecrated to Hermes in conjunction with Aphrodite, as in Attica, Arcadia, Crete, Samos and in Magna Graecia. Several ex-votos found in his temples revealed his role as initiator of young adulthood, among them soldiers and hunters, since war and certain forms of hunting were seen as ceremonial initiatory ordeals. This function of Hermes explains why some images in temples and other vessels show him as a teenager. As a patron of the
gym and
fighting, Hermes had statues in gyms and he was also worshiped in the sanctuary of the Twelve Gods in Olympia where Greeks celebrated the
Olympic Games. His statue was held there on an altar dedicated to him and Apollo together. A temple within the
Aventine was consecrated in 495 BC.
Pausanias wrote that during his time, at
Megalopolis people could see the ruins of the temple of Hermes Acacesius. In addition, the Tricrena (Τρίκρηνα, meaning Three Springs) mountains at
Pheneus were sacred to Hermes, because three springs were there and according to the legend, Hermes was washed in them, after birth, by the nymphs of the mountain. Furthermore, at
Pharae there was a water sacred to Hermes. The name of the spring was Hermes's stream and the fish in it were not caught, being considered sacred to the god. Sacrifices to Hermes involved honey, cakes, pigs, goats, and lambs. In the city of
Tanagra, it was believed that Hermes had been nursed under a wild
strawberry tree, the remains of which were held there in the shrine of Hermes
Promachus, and in the hills Phene ran three waterways that were sacred to him, because he was believed to have been bathed there at birth.
Festivals . Hermes's feast was the
Hermaia, which was celebrated with sacrifices to the god and with athletics and gymnastics, possibly having been established in the 6th century BC, but no documentation on the festival before the 4th century BC survives. However, Plato said that Socrates attended a Hermaea. Of all the festivals involving Greek games, these were the most like
initiations because participation in them was restricted to young boys and excluded adults. In Boeotia there was a fest at
Tanagra, and two temples. The first of Hermes
kriophoros (ram-bearer) who was related to the festival and the second of Hermes
promachos (champion) At
Coroneia there was a sanctuary of Hermes
epimelios(keeper of the flocks) and at
Corseia a grove with a statue of Hermes. In Attica Hermes was worshiped together with other gods, especially with the nymphs. Inscriptions from the islands indicate that there were festivals of Hermes at
Chios and
Crete, where he had the epithet
dromios (of the race-course). In
Corinth he had a temple and two bronze statues and at
Pherai an oracular shrine and a spring of Hermes
agoraios (of the market) Hermes was specially worshiped at
Pheneos where he had a temple and the games "Hermaia" were celebrated. At
Pellene there was a statue of Hermes
dolios and an old established race. At
Kyllene the statue of Hermes was a phallos. Near
Tegea there was the temple of Hermes,
Aepytus. At
Megalopolis there was a temple of Hermes Akakesios, and a second near a stadium for athletic games. The myth of the birth of Hermes is related to the mountain
Kyllene near Pheneos and the god had the surname
Kyllenios.
Pindar refers to games of Hermes at Kyllene that seem to be similar to the games of Pheneos. ==Epithets==