Hermes-Mercury

 Hermes (Mercury) : Madison and Tre's project!

-- Hermes was the diety of animals husbandry, roads, travel, hospitality, heralds, diplomacy, trade, thievery, persuasion, cunning wiles, athletics.

-- Hermes was the patron of... Hermes is the god of shepherds, land travel, merchants, weights and measures, oratory, literature, athletics and thieves, and known for his cunning and shrewdness. Most importantly, he is the messenger of the gods. Hermes is the greek equivalent of the Roman god Mercury. He is the messenger god, who is the son of jupiter. He is a guide to those on their way to Hades. Hermes fathered many children (as did many of the gods) here are their names and a brief description: Today Hermes is one of the most popular and recognizable Greek gods. His winged shoes have become a logo for many companies. He is the face of a high end clothing line bearing his name, with products such as perfume, handbags, silk scarves, and ties. He is also a star when it comes to movies and television. From Redbull commercials to episodes of Hercules to the new film Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Theif.
 * [|ANGELIA] The goddess of messages was a daughter of Hermes. ||
 * [|ELEUSIS] The goddess of the Eleusinian Mysteries. She was a daughter of Hermes and Daeira. ||
 * [|HERMAPHRODITOS] The hermaphroditic daimon, a son of Hermes and Aphrodite. His form was merged with that of the Naiad Salmakis to form a creature that was half male and half female. ||
 * OREIADES (aka DRYADES) Many of the Oreiades were said to be the daughters of Hermes and other Oreaides Nymphai. ||
 * [|PALAISTRA] The goddess of wrestling was a daughter of the athlete's god. ||
 * [|PAN] The goat-footed god of shepherds was a son of Hermes and the Nymphe Penelopeia. ||
 * [|PANES, THE] Two of the goat-footed Panes were sons of Hermes - Agreus whose mother was the Nymphe Sose and Nomios whose mother was the Nymphe Penelopeia. ||
 * [|PRIAPOS] The god of garden fertility was called the son of Hermes by one author (most sources, however, say this god was the son of Dionysos and Aphrodite). ||
 * SATYROI, THE The three Satyroi messengers of the god Dionysos were sons of Hermes and the Nymphe Iphthime. They were named Pherespondos, Lykos and Pronomos. ||

L ong ago, in a land far, far away.... there lived a King of the Gods named Zeus. Now Zeus was married to this faithful girl named Hera, but Zeus was loose and liked to fool around — a LOT! One of Zeus’ paramours was a nymph named Maia, and when the God of Lightning and Mother Night, their fireworks created a son named Hermes. Hermes grew from an infant into a little boy with astonishing speed! He quickly became bored and declared, "This place needs some mischief and I’m just the little devil to do it!" So Hermes made tracks — literally! Y’see, he stole the cattle that belonged to his brother, Apollo. Being a tricky little rascal, he fooled Apollo into thinking he’d made his getaway in the opposite direction, by attaching special "shoes" to the cows’ feet, so that they made hoof-prints that pointed backwards. Poor confused Apollo, God of the Sun, searched high and low for the cattle, until one day he heard a strange sound. Peering through the woods, he spied Hermes strumming a strange musical instrument. "Yo Hermes!" Apollo called out. "Qu’est que c’est?" "Lyre," replied Hermes. "Hey, who’re you callin’ a liar???" retorted Apollo. "No, no," choked Hermes on his chuckles, "//**IT’S**// called a lyre, O Sun-Stroked One." "Oh. Never heard of it," decreed Apollo. "That’s probably because I just invented it, O Brilliant One," explained Hermes. "Oh," enthused Apollo. "How’dja do that?" "I took a tortoise shell and strung it with the gut from one of your cows," admitted Hermes. Enraged at having been tricked, Apollo grabbed Hermes by the scruff of the neck and hauled him before Zeus to answer for his crime. At first, Hermes lied about his actions but then he couldn’t help bragging about how cleverly he’d done the deed. However, being a silver-tongued devil, Hermes proceeded to charm Apollo into dropping the charges and forgiving him. Hermes played his lyre and sang songs about what a terrific guy Apollo was and soon he softened from resenting to relenting. In fact, so flattered was he that not only did Apollo drop all the charges but he also agreed to let Hermes keep the cattle if he could have the lyre. "Kids these days..." lamented Zeus’ shaking head. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hermes knew a good thing when he saw it and concluded that he’d never go broke underestimating the intelligence of Apollo. ( Hermes later shared this little gem with P.T. Barnum — who, fortuitously, had Mercury in Gemini. ) So, Hermes made a shepherd’s pipe out of cut reeds and managed to trick—I mean trade it for Apollo’s golden shepherd staff. Hermes figured he was getting pretty good at seeing into the minds of others, so he also got Apollo to refer him to the best Personal Trainers in the arts of Prophesy and Divination. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Now that Hermes had a variety of transferable skills on his résumé, he set out to convince Zeus to take him into the Olympian Elite. Hermes opened up the Quicksilver Messenger Service and proposed to courier Zeus’ messages to the other deities and to Earth. But Zeus was a tough negotiator, and agreed to use Hermes’ services only on the strict condition that he stop stealing and telling lies. "If I catch you being your Mutable Self, I’ll fry your brains to mush!" Zeus promised. "Roger on the Mutable Mush," agreed Hermes, crossing his fingers behind his back and secretly vowing, "I’ll tell him the truth, just not the WHOLE truth...." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">When Zeus saw how well Hermes performed his new job, he expanded his portfolio to include Official Contract Negotiator, Director of the Chamber of Commerce, and Minister of Transportation. Zeus also gave Hermes a very groovy uniform — a herald’s staff with white ribbons, a round hat against the rain, and winged golden sandals to carry him as swift as the wind on his appointed rounds. "Oh rats!" griped Hermes, "I was really hoping for the ruby slippers!" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hermes could now wander freely between Olympus and Earth, but there was one more realm he was curious about — the Underworld, that dreaded place where not even Gods and Goddesses could venture unscathed. However, Pluto, Lord of the Underworld, had done some research and was impressed by Hermes’ gift of gab. "How would you like to be the Official Underworld Tour Guide?" asked Pluto one day. "Ya sure, why not?" agreed Hermes. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">So the two negotiated a special contract that gave Hermes the pompous title of PSYCHOPOMP along with free run of Hades. Hermes’ job was to operate a shuttle service for the dead who were entering Hades, and was to extend his courier service into the Underworld. He also guided back to the light of day those confused, pathetic souls who were told to "Go to Hades" and were actually stunned enough to try. Hermes was delighted with his new job and thought Hades was his idea of Heaven! <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hermes continued to play the trickster but his charm always won the affection of his Olympian family. In his more thoughtful moments, he taught them how to make fire by twirling sticks. He also helped the Three Fates construct the alphabet, and his ingenuity devised the musical scale, astronomy, weights and measures. Hermes also worked with his Personal Trainers to learn the art of divination and became known as the Patron of Magic. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hermes remained forever young.
 * //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">"What!?!? It was YOU!?!" //**