Hermathena (composite of Hermes and Athena)

It was natural to see these two deities unified or fused as one form: the Greek god Hermes presided over eloquence, the goddess Athena over crafts and the sciences.

[1] In early Greek poetry and myth, Hermes and Athena share or 'double' each other's functions, and some of their powers are alternate and related versions of the same quality.

Atticus had obtained a rare herm of Athena from Athens for Cicero's Tusculanum (Tusculum villa) in 67–65 BC.

[5] It was common during the Roman period for the elite to collect herms and terminal figures as garden ornaments and interior decorations for their villas and palaces.

[6] During the Renaissance, a number of artists, for example Rubens and Vincenzo Cartari, portrayed Hermathena in art either as two gods acting in conjunction, or as a single deity with the attributes of the other, for example Athene holding the caduceus, which was a symbol of Hermes.