Tracking Hermes, Pursuing Mercury

by: Miller, J.F. Clay, J.S.

Description
Of all the divinities of classical antiquity, the Greek Hermes (Mercury in his Roman alter ego) is the most versatile, enigmatic, complex, and ambiguous. The runt of the Olympian litter, he is the god of lies and tricks, yet is also kindly towards mankind and a bringer of luck. His functions embrace both the marking of boundaries and their transgression, but also extend to commerce, lucre, and theft, as well as rhetoric and practical jokes. In another guise, he plays the role of mediator between all realms of human and divine activity, embracing heaven, earth, and the netherworld.

Pursuing this elusive divinity requires a truly multidisciplinary approach, reflecting his prismatic nature, and the twenty contributions to this volume draw on a wide range of fields to achieve this, from Greek and Roman literature (epic, lyric, and drama), epigraphy, cult, and religion, to vase painting and sculpture. In offering an overview of the myriad aspects of Hermes/Mercury-including his origins, patronage of the gymnasium, and relation to other trickster figures-the volume attempts to track the god's footprints across the many domains in which he partakes. Moreover, in keeping with his deep connection to exchange, commerce, and dialogue, it aims to exemplify and further encourage discourse between Latinists and Hellenists, as well as between scholars of literary and material cultures.

Table of Contents
Frontmatter
List of Figures
List of Abbreviations
List of Contributors
1: Introduction, Jenny Strauss Clay and John F. Miller
Section I. Son, Father, Brother
2: Like Mother, Like Son? Hermes and Maia in Text and Image, H. Alan Shapiro
3: Hermes among Pan and the Nymphs on Fourth-Century Votive Reliefs, Carolyn M. Laferrière
4: Hermes and Heracles, Jennifer Larson
Section II. Trickster
5: Hide and Go Seek: Hermes in Homer, Jenny Strauss Clay
6: Hermes Iambicus, Andrea Capra and Cecilia Nobili
Section III. Comic
7: The God and his Double: Hermes as Character and Speaking Statue in Greek Comedy, Simone Beta
8: Hermes/Mercury: God of Comedy?, Erin K. Moodie
Section IV. Erotic
9: Hermes in Love: The Erotic Career of a Mercurial Character, Joseph Farrell
10: Lascivus Puer: Cupid, Hermes, and Hymns in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Micah Young Myers
Section V. Mediator
11: Horace's Mercury and Mercurial Horace, S. J. Harrison
12: Crossing the Borders: Vergil's Intertextual Mercury, Sergio Casali
Section VI. Commerce and Exchange
13: Mercury and Materialism: Images of Mercury and the Tabernae of Pompeii, Duncan E. MacRae
14: Did Mercury Build the Ship of Aeneas?, Thomas Biggs
Section VII. Greek Religion and Cult
15: Communicating with the Divine: Herms in Attic Vase Painting, Hélène Collard
16: Hermes as Visible in Votive Inscriptions, Jenny Wallensten
17: Hermes, Kyllene, Samothrace, and the Sea, Sandra Blakely
Section VIII. Egypt
18: The Greek Magical Hymn to Hermes: Syncretism or Disguise? The Hellenization of Thoth in Graeco-Egyptian Magical Literature, Ljuba Merlina Bortolani
19: Hermes and the Figs: On P.Oxy.17.2084, Athanassios Vergados
Section IX. Cosmic
20: Rethinking Hermes: Cosmic Justice and Proportional Distributions, Nicola Reggiani
21: Great Hermes: Three Ways towards Stardom, Henk Versnel
Endmatter
Index

Tracking Hermes, Pursuing Mercury

by: Miller, J.F. Clay, J.S.

• ISBN-13: 9780198777342 / 978-0-19-877734-2
• ISBN-03: 0198777345 / 0-19-877734-5
• Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2019