Tracking Hermes, pursuing Mercury

"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."--

"The present volume grew out of a conference, "Tracking Hermes/Mercury," held at the University of Virginia in the Spring of 2014"--Page 1

Like mother, like son? : Hermes and Maia in text and image / H.A. Shapiro -- Hermes among Pan and the nymphs on fourth-century votive reliefs / Carolyn M. Laferrière -- Hermes and Heracles / Jennifer Larson -- Hide and go seek : Hermes in Homer / Jenny Strauss Clay -- Hermes Iambicus / Andrea Capra, Cecilia Nobili -- The God and his double : Hermes as character and speaking statue in Greek comedy / Simone Beta -- Hermes/Mercury : god of comedy? / Erin K. Moodie -- Hermes in love : the erotic career of a Mercurial character / Joseph Farrell -- Lascivas Puer : Cupid, Hermes, and hymns in Ovid's Metamorphoses / Micah Young Myers -- Horace's Mercury and Mercurial Horace / S.J. Harrison -- Crossing the borders : Vergil's intertextual Mercury / Sergio Casali -- Mercury and materialism : images of Mercury and the Tabernae of Pompeii / Duncan E. MacRae -- Did Mercury build the ship of Aeneas? / Thomas Biggs -- Communicating with the divine : herms in attic vase painting / Hélène Collard -- Hermes as visible in votive inscriptions / Jenny Wallensten -- Hermes, Kyllene, Samothrace, and the sea / Sandra Blakely -- The Greek magical hymn to Hermes : syncretism or disguise? The Hellenization o…