Hermes Homeric Hymn to Hermes Hermes a child

Hermes Homeric Hymn to Hermes

Hermes “a child of many a wile and cunning counsel, a robber, a driver of cattle, a bringer of dreams, a watcher of the night, a thief at the gates…” [beg. of Homeric Hymn to Hermes, p. 191] • Etymology: herma, heap of stones, boundary marker, connection with herm • Protector of boundaries (cult) • Crosser of boundaries (myth): how can we explain this contradiction? • Messenger, herald (staff, caduceus, kerykeion), traveller (petasos, traveller’s hat) • Pychopompos, “conductor of souls” (underworld) • Thieves

Assorted Herms (boundary markers with head of Hermes – or others – and phallus)

Homeric Hymns • Attributed to Homer, but actually date from widely different periods, some as late as 5 th c. BCE • Original performative context is often religious festival celebrating god praised in the hymn • Originally act as prelude to performance of another poem, sometimes epic • What is a hymn? What does it aim to do? • Why does mythical narrative appear in hymns? • Hymn to particular god asserts claims and honors of that god, how he/she obtained them • What happens when myth in the hymn conflicts with other versions? (e. g. in Hermes hymn: fire, sacrificial portions, invention of lyre – other myths credit different gods with these)

Context of Homeric Hymn to Hermes? • Some suggest the Hermaia, festival of Hermes, competition for adolescent boys • Can you think how this Hymn and its themes could be appropriate for such a competition?

Status of Hermes and Maia • Maia visited secretly by Zeus, does not live on Olympus with other gods • What does Hermes want for himself and his mother? • What is Hermes’ status in relation to the rest of the gods? • “We two are not to suffer remaining here, to be alone of all the deathless gods to be unapproached with sacrifice and prayer, as you command. It is better to spend time with immortals… than to be homekeepers in a dismal cave. And for honor, I too will have my dues of sacrifice, just like Apollo” (pp. 190 -191)

Hermes’ desire for honor and status among the other gods • “We two are not to suffer remaining here, to be alone of all the deathless gods to be unapproached with sacrifice and prayer, as you command. It is better to spend time with immortals… than to be homekeepers in a dismal cave. And for honor, I too will have my dues of sacrifice, just like Apollo” (pp. 190191)

L. Mt. Cyllene. R. Map of Arcadia

Birth of Hermes • “a child of many a wile and cunning counsel, a robber, a driver of cattle, a bringer of dreams, a watcher of the night, a thief at the gates…” • Hermes is always and already Hermes, problem of depicting gods and concept of the childhood of a god. • Instant maturation: “Born in the dawn, by midday he played the lyre and in the evening stole the cattle of Apollo the Far-darter” (p. 188) (other versions of the myth have him steal the cattle when he is an adult)

Tortoise and chelys (tortoise) lyre

Hermes, lyre, and song • What is Hermes’ first song about? • Cf. “improvising his chant as he played like lads improvising taunts” – connection with adolescent competition • What is Hermes’ second song about and what is its function? What has he created here and what does it remind you of?

Hermes’ second song (p. 195) (the first is about his own birth – p. 189): how each god got his portion (where have we seen this before? ) “He sang the renown of the deathless gods, and dark Gaia, how all things were in the beginning and how each god got his portion. ”

Cattle stealing • Cattle-rustling and maturation as Indo-European and ancient Greek theme (we will also meet Cattle of the Sun later, with Heracles) • Anthropological parallels in Modern Crete, animal theft, meat eating, creating alliance with victim of theft, and “coming out on the branch” (next slide). What does “hunger for meat” really mean? • Why does Hermes divide up the meat as he does? Does he eat the meat? What institution does he create here?

Hermes leading Apollo’s cattle (how old is he here? )

Apollo arrives at the cave of Maia to confront Hermes lies in his cradle, wrapped in blankets. Zeus steps forward to intervene over their dispute.

Herzfeld, Poetics of Manhood in a Cretan Village, of livestock stealing in modern Crete • “The first attempts (to steal animals), often ending in varying degrees of ignominy, give way to a more concerted campaign of aggression, directed against those whose reputation recommends them as useful allies. In these more serious attempts the younger man tries to provoke his victim to retaliation… Raid and counterraid eventually lead third parties to intervene. Although this was his objective, the young aggressor initially resist all attempts to mediate, as does the older shepherd. Both are obliged to make a brave show of contempt for each other, and both eventually submit on the ostensible grounds that they are doing a “favor” to the mediators. …From the moment of agreement, the principals address each other as “friend” and are morally bound never to raid from each other again. More than that, they are supposed to help each other…

Passages from M. Herzfeld, “Stealing to befriend”, The Poetics of Manhood, 1985 • “One evening, there was another person from this part of our village here, he was older, he was three years ahead of me in age. Now, as were chatting, he says to me, “Why don’t we go steal some animal or other? To eat? ”…And I took a sheep with its lamb, and [then also] another sheep…And we slaughtered the lamb on the spot…and roasted it on the spit” [p. 164 -5]

Herzfeld cont’d • “The next day, the man who owned them came here to the village and was asking about them. Well, that was my first theft, and they even got them back from us, eh! • Well, we did manage to eat the lamb [before we were found out. ] But when he took the sheep away, he just told my father that I should go the next year to get one [from him], he’d give me a lamb. And I did go and he did make a gift of it to me!…Perhaps, let’s say, because he wanted things fixed up good and proper, so I wouldn’t go stealing from him again. As he’ll have said, “The boy’s coming out on the branch now…Now he’s growing up, and he’s coming out, and I’d better give him a lamb so he won’t come this way again…” • It was just as he foresaw, so to speak: on account of the lamb he gave me, we later became friends.