Zeus and Hermes The father of Hermes was Zeus, but his mother was Maia, a Nymph. Hermes was born in a cave on Mt.Cyllene in Peloponnesus, between Achaia and Arcadia. Most of Hermes children are lesser known figures of Greek history, but he did father Pan "the wild nature". Pan's mother was either Penelope, wife of Odysseus or Callisto another Nymph. As with much of the lineages of Greek legend, it depends on which myths you are reading. The God Hermes was precocious, since on the day of his birth by midday, he had invented the lyre, using the shell of a tortoise and by nightfall he had rustled the immortal cattle of Apollo. For the first Olympian sacrifice, the taboos surrounding the sacred kine of Apollo had to be transgressed and the trickster God of boundaries was just the one to do it.      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. Besides that he was also a minor patron of poetry. He was worshiped throughout Greece, especially in Arcadia and festivals in his honor were called Hermoea. Being the herald of the gods, it was his duty to guide the souls of the dead down to the underworld, which is known as a psychopomp. He was also closely connected with bringing dreams to mortals. Hermes is usually depicted with a broad-brimmed hat or a winged cap, winged sandals and the heralds staff, kerykeion in Greek, or Caduceus in Latin. It was often shown as a shaft with two white ribbons, although later they were represented by serpents intertwined in a figure eight shape and the shaft often had wings attached. The clothes he donned were usually that of a traveler, or that of a workman or shepherd. Other symbols of Hermes are the cock, tortoise and the pouch.    Originally Hermes was a phallic god, being attached to fertility and good fortune, and also a patron of roads and boundaries. His name coming from herma, the plural being hermaiherm, was a square or rectangular pillar in either stone or bronze, with the head of Hermes, usually with a beard, adorning the top of the pillar and male genitals near to the base of the pillar. These were used for road and boundary markers. Also in Athens they stood outside houses to help fend off evil. In Athens of 415 BC, shortly before the Athenian fleet set sail against Syracuse during the Peloponnesian War, all the herms throughout Athens were defaced. This was attributed to people who were against the war. Their intentions were to cast bad omens on the expedition, by seeking to offend the god of travel. This has never been proven as the true reason for the mutilation of the herms. It was Hermes who liberated Io, the lover of Zeus, from the hundred-eyed giant Argus, who had been ordered by Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, to watch over her. Hermes charmed the giant with his flute, and while Argos slept, Hermes cut off his head and released Io. Hera as a gesture of thanks to her loyal servant, scattered the hundred eyes of Argos over the tail of a peacock, Hera's sacred bird. Hermes also used his ingenuity and abilities to persuade the nymph Calypso to release Odysseuss, the wandering hero, from her charms. She had kept Odysseus captive, after he was shipwrecked on her island Ogygia, promising him immortality if he married her, but Zeus sent Hermes to release Odysseus. Legend says that Calypso died of grief when Odysseus sailed away. Hermes also saved Odysseus and his men from being transformed into pigs by the goddess and sorceress Circe. He gave them a herb which resisted the spell. Hermes also guided Eurydice back down to the underworld after she had been allowed to stay for one day on earth with her husband Orpheus. Hermes was a popular subject for artists. Both painted pottery and statuary show him in various forms, but the most fashionable depicted him as a good-looking young man, with an athletic body and winged sandals and his heralds staff. His Roman counterpart Mercury inherited his attributes and there are many Roman copies of Greek artistic creations of Hermes. Hermes and the Nymphs