Blog week 2 - Origins

This week was mainly about origin stories, so as my theme I have decided to reflect on the origins of Hermes and his parenting.  The Homeric hymn to Hermes is one of the most important sources for this; with this poem being one of the latest written it is generally the least respected.  Shelmerdine states in her book of translations of the Homeric hymns that there is no solid evidence but a study of the language used points toward a late 6^th century composition, possibly in Boiotia (Shelmerdine: 1995 91). The poem has a light-hearted theme and shows how, by trickery, rather than by physical might Hermes was able to become an Olympian.  Another story that shows this being achieved by physical strength is the myths surrounding Herakles, though this took him much longer than Hermes, showing perhaps that trickery is the quicker route to success.  Also interestingly explained to us by Hyde, that these trickster gods from around the globe are also shown to have pushed the boundaries of culture, as well as just generally being mischievous.  For example Hermes invents the lyre on his initial journey to steal Apollo’s herd of cows, he was then able to apologise to Apollo by giving him this lyre for him to play and still gain acceptance into the pantheon of Olympian gods (Shelmerdine 1995: 95).  Hyde has stated in his book ‘Trickster Makes this World’ that this shows a clever approach to the problem of hunger with trickster type characters in mythology.  Whereas, for example, Prometheus attempts to trick Zeus into picking the wrong sacrifice (he wraps the nice part of the meat in the intestines, which the ancient Greeks did not eat). Prometheus is later punished ironically for this folly by having his liver eaten everyday, which could represent hunger returning every day (Hyde 2008: 34-38).

http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanPrometheus.html

Hermes does not want to enter this state and instead shares the sacrifices out evenly, therefore becomes divine and avoids hunger pains this way.  This also shows that Hermes has avoided the classic trickster style of being caught, such as Prometheus.  Another example given by Hyde is that of Loki, who turned himself into a salmon to escape the other Norse gods.  He then made a net whilst he was wondering how he might be caught. The other gods then found this net, though it was burnt, they were able to make their own and they eventually went on to capture Loki with it (Hyde 2008: 18).  Hermes does not fall foul to this archetype; he actually becomes indispensible to the other gods as a messenger and especially to Zeus as his herald and voice (Price & Kearns 2004: 253).

Bibliography

Hyde, L, ‘Trickster Makes this World: How Disruptive Imagination Creates Culture’, Canongate Books, 2008

Price, S & Kearns, E, ‘Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth & Religion’, Oxford University, 2004

Shelmerdine, S, ‘The Homeric Hymns’, Focus Publishing, 1995