0563ANCIENTHermes_Herculaneum

hi-res photograph
Homeric Hymn to Hermes

Mercury, marble relief from Herculaneum, at Museo Archeologico Nazionale 2009

It's clearly Hermes (or Mercury) from the caduceus and talaria. The absent petasus and the stern facial expression make the youthful god apear here more likely to be a participant in a divine procession.

"One of the most complex of the Olympian deities, Hermes was the god of travelers, commerce, manual skill, eloquence, thieves, and the wind. He was the son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Maia, one of the Pleiades, and many of the traits by which he is known — from his oratorical skills to his cunning and thievery — are vividly illustrated in the summary of his early life, given in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. The hymn also highlights the similarities between him and his half-brother and rival Apollo: both are pastoral deities with interest in flocks, music, and fertility." OGCMA

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1400 – 1990’s, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.