[10] In Roman mythology and religion many of Hermes's characteristics belong to Mercury,[11] a name derived from the Latin merx, meaning "merchandise," and the origin of the words "merchant" and "commerce.

"[3]: 178 The earliest form of the name Hermes (Ἑρμῆς) is the Mycenaean Greek *hermāhās,[12] written 𐀁𐀔𐁀 e-ma-a2 (e-ma-ha) in the Linear B syllabic script.

It is also possible that since the beginning he has been a deity with shamanic attributes linked to divination, reconciliation, magic, sacrifices, and initiation and contact with other planes of existence, a role of mediator between the worlds of the visible and invisible.

Two snakes coiled around a staff was also a symbol of the god Ningishzida, who, like Hermes, served as a mediator between humans and the divine (specifically, the goddess Ishtar or the supreme Ningirsu).

It was said to have the power to make people fall asleep or wake up, and also made peace between litigants, and is a visible sign of his authority, being used as a sceptre.

In the 6th century BC, Hipparchus, the son of Pisistratus, replaced the cairns that marked the midway point between each village deme at the central agora of Athens with a square or rectangular pillar of stone or bronze topped by a bust of a bearded Hermes.

[38] Hermes was known as the patron god of flocks, herds, and shepherds, an attribute possibly tied to his early origin as an aspect of Pan.

[22][39] The earliest written record of Hermes comes from Linear B inscriptions from Pylos, Thebes, and Knossos dating to the Bronze Age Mycenaean period.

This name is always recorded alongside those of several goddesses, including Potnija, Posidaeja, Diwja, Hera, Pere, and Ipemedeja, indicating that his worship was strongly connected to theirs.

This is a pattern that would continue in later periods, as worship of Hermes almost always took place within temples and sanctuaries primarily dedicated to goddesses, including Hera, Demeter, Hecate, and Despoina.

[40] In Hesiod's Works and Days, Hermes is depicted giving Pandora the gifts of lies, seductive words, and a dubious character.

In this hymn, Hermes is invoked as a god "of many shifts" (polytropos), associated with cunning and thievery, but also a bringer of dreams and a night guardian.

Hermes therefore came to be worshiped as a mediator between celestial and chthonic realms, as well as the one who facilitates interactions between mortals and the divine, often being depicted on libation vessels.

[22] Due to his mobility and his liminal nature, mediating between opposites (such as merchant/customer[22]), he was considered the god of commerce and social intercourse, the wealth brought in business, especially sudden or unexpected enrichment, travel, roads and crossroads, borders and boundary conditions or transient, the changes from the threshold, agreements and contracts, friendship, hospitality, sexual intercourse, games, data, the draw, good luck, the sacrifices and the sacrificial animals, flocks and shepherds and the fertility of land and cattle.

[22] A section of the agora in Athens became known as the Hermai, because it was filled with a large number of herms, placed there as votive offerings by merchants and others who wished to commemorate a personal success in commerce or other public affair.

[52] As early as the 4th century BC, Romans had adopted Hermes into their own religion, combining his attributes and worship with the earlier Etruscan god Turms under the name Mercury.

According to St. Augustin, the Latin name "Mercury" may be a title derived from "medio currens", in reference to Hermes's role as a mediator and messenger who moves between worlds.

[53] In art, the Roman Mercury continued the style of depictions found in earlier representations of both Hermes and Turms, a young, beardless god with winged shoes or hat, carrying the caduceus.

His role as a god of boundaries, a messenger, and a psychopomp also remained unchanged following his adoption into the Roman religion (these attributes were also similar to those in the Etruscan's worship of Turms).

[56][57] Beginning around the turn of the 1st century AD, a process began by which, in certain traditions Hermes became euhemerised – that is, interpreted as a historical, mortal figure who had become divine or elevated to godlike status in legend.

[59][60] Some Christian philosophers in the medieval and Renaissance periods believed in the existence of a "prisca theologia", a single thread of true theology that could be found uniting all religions.

Several ex-votos found in his temples revealed his role as initiator of young adulthood, among them soldiers and hunters, since war and certain forms of hunting were seen as ceremonial initiatory ordeals.

[41] The Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes,[175] which tells the story of the god's birth and his subsequent theft of Apollo's sacred cattle, invokes him as the one "of many shifts (polytropos), blandly cunning, a robber, a cattle driver, a bringer of dreams, a watcher by night, a thief at the gates, one who was soon to show forth wonderful deeds among the deathless gods.

[44] Aeschylus wrote in The Eumenides that Hermes helped Orestes kill Clytemnestra under a false identity and other stratagems,[105] and also said that he was the god of searches, and those who seek things lost or stolen.

According to Apollodorus, Hermes participated in the Gigantomachy in defense of Olympus;[181] was given the task of bringing baby Dionysus to be cared for by Ino and Athamas and later took him to be cared for by the Nysan nymphs, later called the Hyades;[182] lead Hera, Athena and Aphrodite to Paris to be judged by him in a beauty contest;[183] favored the young Heracles by giving him a sword when he finished his education;[184] and aided Perseus in fetching the head of the Gorgon Medusa.

[185] Anyte of Tegea of the 3rd century BC,[186] in the translation by Richard Aldington, wrote, I Hermes stand here at the crossroads by the wind beaten orchard, near the hoary grey coast; and I keep a resting place for weary men.

[197] Once, Hermes chased either Persephone or Hecate with the aim to rape her; but the goddess snored or roared in anger, frightening him off so that he desisted, hence her earning the name "Brimo" ("angry").

Hermes also loved young men in pederastic relationships where he bestowed or taught something related to combat, athletics, herding, poetry and music.

[201] Crocus was said to be a beloved of Hermes and was accidentally killed by the god in a game of discus when he unexpectedly stood up; as the unfortunate youth's blood dripped on the soil, the saffron flower came to be.

[257] He emphasized Hermes's central role in the practice of medieval alchemy,[258] which Jung believed to be symbolic of the psychological process he called individuation.