Who was Mercury in Roman Mythology and who was his equivalent in Greek Mythology?
The words commerce, merchandise, and merchant are related to his name. The Romans considered Mercury crafty and deceptive. They saw him as a trickster or thief. Crimmals regarded him as their protector. Because Mercury resembled the messenger god Hermes in Greek mythology, he took on many of Hermes’ myths. Mercury delivered his messages with miraculous speed because he wore winged sandals called talaria. He also wore a broad-brimmed winged hat called a petasus and carried a winged staff. The Greeks called the staff a kerykeion, from the Greek word for messenger. In Latin, the language of the Romans, the word changed to caduceus. Mercury’s caduceus had two snakes curled around it. In ancient times, most messengers and travelers wore a hat similar to Mercurys’ petasus to protect them from the sun. Mercury was honored at the Mercuralia, a festival held in May and attended primarily by traders and merchants. Mercury was known by many names in different cultures. the Greek Hermes, the Germa
In the Roman adaptation of the Greek religion, Hermes was identified with the Roman god Mercury. Hermes, in Greek mythology, is the Olympian god of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures, of invention, of commerce in general, and of the cunning of thieves and liars. Hermes was a messenger for Zeus. The reason for this was not only was he the fastest god but he was also loyal to his father, Zeus. Hermes, as an inventor of fire and many types of racing and the sport of boxing, and therefore was a patron of athletes. Hermes also served as a psychopomp, or an escort for the dead to help them find their way to the afterlife (the Underworld in the Greek myths). Hermes was the son of Zeus and the Pleiade Maia. Hermes’ symbols were the rooster and the tortoise, and he can be recognized by his purse or pouch, winged sandals, winged cap, and the herald’s staff, the kerykeion. He
