Mercury’s affair with the beautiful Venus produced an androgynous child known as Hermaphroditos. Like their father, the Lares served as guardians of the crossroads.Īs the Roman version of Hermes, Mercury was known for his other lovers too. According to Ovid’s Fasti, Mercury and Larunda had two children-nameless deities known only as the Lares. Mercury’s best known consort was Larunda, a naiad nymph whose tongue was cut off by Jupiter. Proserpina would later be recovered, thanks in part to Mercury’s efforts. Among them were Vulcan, the god of forge and fire, Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and forethought, and Proserpina, the daughter of Ceres who was abducted by Pluto and taken to the underworld. Though Mercury was the only child of that union, he had many half-siblings by way of Jupiter. Mercury was the child of Jupiter, king of gods, and Maia, a nymph and one of the daughters of Atlas, who were known as the Pleiades. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston / Public Domain # Family

The god of merchants and commerce, Mercury adorned coinage such as this silver denarius, minted in Rome c. Mercury was swift and clever, and his knowledge of major events often bordered on foresight. Mercury also carried the caduceus, a staff wound with serpents that was gifted to him by Apollo. This winged helm soon became synonymous with the messenger god. He wore winged shoes and flew with the help of a winged helm that Vulcan, the god of forge and fire, had fashioned for him. Mercury was usually depicted in a nude, beardless youth, though he occasionally wore a short tunic and a cloak fastened around his neck. Mercury, then, was “the merchant” or “the keeper of boundaries.” # AttributesĪs the chief messenger of the gods, Mercury controlled the movement of all things-goods, ideas, words, and people. The name “Mercury” (or Mercurius) probably emerged from the Latin merx, a noun meaning “merchandise.” In its verb form, the word mercari meant “to trade.” A deeper root in the Proto Indo-European language may have been merk- or merg-, meaning “boundary” or “border,” respectively. Europeana Collections / Public Domain # Etymology The painting is maintained by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands Art Collection, and is displayed at both the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague and the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, The Netherlands. Accompanied by his famous winged helm and caduceus, Mercury is depicted here as a young, nearly nude male. Because of his likeness to deities of other Mediterranean and European groups, Mercury was easily assimilated into cultures that were conquered by the Romans. Though Mercury did not join the Roman pantheon until the third century BCE, he nevertheless became a major figure in Roman religion. He possessed a winged helm that allowed him to fly and carried the potent caduceus, a wand with serpents wrapped around it this latter symbol was frequently confused with the Rod of Asclepius.

He was often nude, and was the only god in the Roman pantheon who could freely cross into the underworld. Like Hermes, the Greek god on whom he was based, Mercury challenged moral (and physical) boundaries. As the chief messenger of the gods, Mercury controlled the flow of information, and often used this position to his advantage. The patron of thieves, messengers, and merchants, he was also responsible for conveying souls to the underworld. Mercury was most commonly associated with the caduceus, a wand with winged serpents wrapped around it, as well as his winged helm.Ī wily trickster, Mercury was the Roman god of commerce, communication, and travel.

Trickster gods