{
  "id": "hermes",
  "type": "entity",
  "name": "Hermes",
  "summary": "Messenger of the gods, son of Zeus and the nymph Maia, born in a cave on Cyllene. On his first day, says the Homeric Hymn, he made the lyre from a tortoise and stole Apollo's cattle, then traded the lyre for the herds and a golden staff. \"Slayer of Argus\" with the golden wand, he is the one god appointed messenger to Hades, and it is he who brings Persephone back to Demeter.",
  "locale": "en",
  "tags": [
    "greek",
    "deities",
    "olympians",
    "messengers",
    "thieves",
    "herds",
    "psychopomps"
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "rel": "equivalent_of",
      "target": "thoth"
    },
    {
      "rel": "child_of",
      "target": "zeus"
    },
    {
      "rel": "equivalent_of",
      "target": "mercury"
    },
    {
      "rel": "member_of",
      "target": "twelve-olympians"
    },
    {
      "rel": "attested_in",
      "target": "theogony"
    },
    {
      "rel": "attested_in",
      "target": "homeric-hymns"
    },
    {
      "rel": "attested_in",
      "target": "odyssey"
    },
    {
      "rel": "attested_in",
      "target": "iliad"
    },
    {
      "rel": "defined_by",
      "target": "psychopomp"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "apollo"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "persephone"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "hades"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "hestia"
    }
  ],
  "questions": [
    "Who is Hermes?",
    "Who are the parents of Hermes?",
    "Where was Hermes born?",
    "How did Hermes invent the lyre?",
    "How did Hermes steal the cattle of Apollo?",
    "Why does Hermes carry a golden staff?",
    "Is Hermes the guide of the dead?",
    "Why is Hermes called the Slayer of Argus?"
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": "c1",
      "text": "Hermes is the son of Zeus and Maia: \"Maia, the daughter of Atlas, bore to Zeus glorious Hermes, the herald of the deathless gods\" (Theog. 938–939). The Hymn adds that Zeus lay with the shy nymph in her cave \"at dead of night while sweet sleep should hold white-armed Hera fast\" (HH4 1–9; HH18 1–9); Apollodorus places the birth \"in a cave of Cyllene\" (Apollod. 3.10.2).",
      "sources": [
        "hesiod-theogony",
        "homeric-hymns",
        "apollodorus-library"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.95
    },
    {
      "id": "c2",
      "text": "The Hymn's first day: \"Born with the dawning, at mid-day he played on the lyre, and in the evening he stole the cattle of far-shooting Apollo\" (HH4 17–19). He found a tortoise at the cave door, scooped it out, fixed reeds and ox-hide, \"stretched seven strings of sheep-gut\", and sang of his own begetting (HH4 20–61).",
      "sources": [
        "homeric-hymns"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.94
    },
    {
      "id": "c3",
      "text": "The theft: from Pieria he cut out fifty cows, \"reversed the marks of their hoofs, making the front behind and the hind before\", wove wicker sandals of tamarisk and myrtle, silenced an old vine-dresser at Onchestus, and drove them to the Alpheus by dawn (HH4 68–104). Apollodorus's version has him put shoes on the cows, sacrifice two and nail up their skins, and make the lyre only afterwards (Apollod. 3.10.2).",
      "sources": [
        "homeric-hymns",
        "apollodorus-library"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.93
    },
    {
      "id": "c4",
      "text": "Judged on Olympus, \"Zeus laughed out loud to see his evil-plotting child well and cunningly denying guilt about the cattle\" and bade the brothers be of one mind (HH4 322–396); Hermes then gave Apollo the lyre, received \"his shining whip\" and the keeping of herds, and swore never to steal from him, while Apollo swore friendship and gave him \"a splendid staff of riches and wealth ... of gold, with three branches\" — but not prophecy (HH4 496–540).",
      "sources": [
        "homeric-hymns"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.94
    },
    {
      "id": "c5",
      "text": "His offices come from Zeus: lord over birds of omen, lions, boars, dogs and flocks, \"also that he only should be the appointed messenger to Hades\" (HH4 568–573). So he fetches Persephone from Erebus for Demeter (HH2 335–385) and guides Heracles when he brings up the hound of Hades, \"and Hermes was my guide, and flashing-eyed Athena\" (Od. 11.623–626).",
      "sources": [
        "homeric-hymns",
        "homer-odyssey"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.94
    },
    {
      "id": "c6",
      "text": "He is \"the Slayer of Argus\" (Argeiphontes) throughout Homer and the Hymns (e.g. HH4 73, HH18 1, Od. 8.338); it was he who freed Ares from the bronze jar of the sons of Aloeus (Il. 5.385–391), and at the net he alone wished aloud to lie beside golden Aphrodite even in bonds (Od. 8.335–342).",
      "sources": [
        "homeric-hymns",
        "homer-iliad",
        "homer-odyssey"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.92
    },
    {
      "id": "c7",
      "text": "Cult and household: the Hymn to Hestia pairs the two, \"you and Hestia, the worshipful and dear\", as helpers of \"the noble actions of men\" in the house (HH29 7–13). Pausanias found on the summit of Cyllene, \"the highest mountain in Arcadia\", a dilapidated temple of Cyllenian Hermes with an eight-foot image of juniper wood (Paus. 8.17.1–2).",
      "sources": [
        "homeric-hymns",
        "pausanias-description"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.92
    }
  ],
  "takeaways": [
    "Lyre first and theft second in the Hymn; theft first and lyre second in Apollodorus — the sequence is a variant, recorded here as one.",
    "The golden staff is Apollo's gift and the lyre is Hermes's, an exchange sealed by oaths before Zeus.",
    "The Hymn says only he is messenger to Hades (HH4 572), which is the textual root of the psychopomp.",
    "Prophecy is the one thing Apollo will not give him."
  ],
  "faqs": [
    {
      "q": "Who are the parents of Hermes?",
      "claim": "c1"
    },
    {
      "q": "How did Hermes invent the lyre?",
      "claim": "c2"
    },
    {
      "q": "How did Hermes steal the cattle of Apollo?",
      "claim": "c3"
    },
    {
      "q": "Why does Hermes carry a golden staff?",
      "claim": "c4"
    },
    {
      "q": "Is Hermes the guide of the dead?",
      "claim": "c5"
    }
  ],
  "evidence_tier": "primary",
  "evidence": {
    "level": "theoretical",
    "source_types": [
      "paper"
    ]
  },
  "moat_flag": false,
  "winning_edge": "Gives the Hymn to Hermes by episode with line ranges, and shows where Apollodorus's compressed version changes the order — plus the exact line that makes Hermes the guide of the dead.",
  "confidence": 0.93,
  "last_verified": "2026-09-03",
  "media": [],
  "x": {
    "myth": {
      "pantheon": "greek",
      "kind": "deity",
      "group": "olympian",
      "domains": [
        "messages",
        "herds",
        "travel",
        "theft",
        "barter",
        "the dead",
        "dreams"
      ],
      "symbols": [
        "golden wand",
        "lyre",
        "tortoise",
        "wicker sandals",
        "pipes"
      ],
      "wikidata": "Q41484"
    }
  },
  "canonical_url": "https://mythosdata.dev/k/hermes",
  "api_url": "https://mythosdata.dev/api/k/hermes.json",
  "jsonld": {
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "name": "Hermes",
    "description": "Messenger of the gods, son of Zeus and the nymph Maia, born in a cave on Cyllene. On his first day, says the Homeric Hymn, he made the lyre from a tortoise and stole Apollo's cattle, then traded the lyre for the herds and a golden staff. \"Slayer of Argus\" with the golden wand, he is the one god appointed messenger to Hades, and it is he who brings Persephone back to Demeter.",
    "url": "https://mythosdata.dev/k/hermes",
    "license": "https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-4.0.html",
    "dateModified": "2026-09-03",
    "citation": [
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "Hesiod, Theogony — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition",
        "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0020/tlg001/tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng2.xml"
      },
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "The Homeric Hymns — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition",
        "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0013/"
      },
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca) — tr. Sir James George Frazer (Loeb, 1921), Perseus TEI edition",
        "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0548/tlg001/tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng2.xml"
      },
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "Homer, Iliad — tr. A. T. Murray (Loeb, 1924), Perseus TEI edition",
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      },
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
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        "@type": "CreativeWork",
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      }
    ],
    "@type": "Article",
    "headline": "Hermes"
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}