Mercury, also known as Mercurius, Merqurius, Mirqurios or Mircurios, is the Roman messenger god and one of the Dii Consentes, the twelve key deities of the Roman religion. He is the reincarnation of the Greek god Hermes.
Description[]
He is often depicted holding the caduceus in his left hand.
A diverse god, he is seen as a symbol of human unconscious and the mental world. He is equated with the Philosopher's Stone, the ultimate mystery in the field of Alchemy.
He was often accompanied by a cockerel, herald of the new day, a ram or goat, symbolizing fertility, and a tortoise, referring to Mercury's legendary invention of the lyre from a tortoise shell.
Overview[]
He is the son of the god Jupiter, and thus the brother of Mars, Vulcan, Minerva, Diana and Bellona. Besides being the messenger of the gods, he was also the god of financial gain, commerce, eloquence, messages, communication, alchemy, divination, travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery, merchants and thieves; he also serves as the guide of souls to the underworld.
As an infant, Mercury escaped the watchful eye of his half-brother, Apollo, stole his cattle, fashioned a lyre from a tortoise shell, and snuck in a nap, all before Apollo found him missing. His father, Jupiter, found the child's mischief boisterously entertaining, and awarded him the task of delivering messages for the Gods, traveling between the Heavens, Earth, and even to the depths of the Underworld.
Mercury reminds Aeneas of his mission to found the city of Rome. Mercury is assigned to escort the nymph Larunda to the underworld. Mercury, however, falls in love with Larunda and makes love to her on the way. Larunda thereby becomes mother to two children, referred to as the Lares, invisible household gods.
Often, however, Jupiter would take Mercury with him on many of his excursions to earth to be among the mortals. According to the Roman poet Ovid in his Metamorphoses, on one of these trips, the two, dressed as peasants, came to a small village where they were dismissed rudely by its inhabitants. However, they knocked on the door of the small home of Baucus and Philemon. Although extremely poor, the couple, unaware of who their guests were, shared what little food and drink they possessed with the weary travelers. They were even willing to kill their only goose. Upon revealing themselves to the old couple, Jupiter wanted to reward them; however, they only had one wish, that they would die together. Even though he destroyed the rest of the village, the king of the gods honored their wishes, but until that day arrived he made them caretakers of a temple he built on the site of their old home.