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Greek city of Tragilos in Macedonia
Bronze 15mm (3.84 grams) Struck circa 400 B.C.
Reference: Sear 1472 var.; AMNG III,132,7; SNG ANS 907
Head of Hermes right, wearing petasos.
TPAIΛION, Rose; grape bunch in field to right.
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Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in
Greek mythology
and additionally as a
guide to
the Underworld
. Hermes was born on
Mount
Cyllene
in Arcadia. An
Olympian god
,
he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of
shepherds
and
cowherds
, of the
cunning
of thieves and liars, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics
and sports, of weights and measures, of invention, and of commerce in general.
His symbols include the tortoise, the rooster, the winged sandals, the winged
hat, and the caduceus
(given to him by Apollo in exchange for the lyre).
In the Roman adaptation of the Greek religion (see
interpretatio romana
), Hermes was
identified with the Roman god
Mercury, who, though inherited from the
Etruscans
, developed many similar characteristics, such as being the patron
of commerce.
The
Homeric hymn
to Hermes 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.”
He protects and takes care of all the travelers, miscreants, harlots, old
a title=”Crone” href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crone”>
crones and
thieves that pray to him or cross his path. He is athletic and is always looking
out for runners, or any athletes with injuries who need his help.
Hermes is a messenger from the gods to humans, sharing this role with
Iris
.
An interpreter who bridges the boundaries with strangers is a hermeneus.
Hermes gives us our word “hermeneutics“,
the study and theory of interpretation. In Greek a lucky find was a hermaion.
Hermes delivered messages from Olympus to the mortal world. He wears shoes with
wings on them and uses them to fly freely between the mortal and immortal world.
Hermes was the second youngest of the
Olympian gods
, being born before
Dionysus
.
Hermes, as an inventor of fire, is a parallel of the
Titan
,
Prometheus
.
In addition to the lyre
,
Hermes was believed to have invented many types of racing and the sports of
wrestling and boxing, and therefore was a patron of athletes.
According to prominent
folklorist
Yeleazar
Meletinsky
, Hermes is a deified
trickster
.
Hermes also served as a
psychopomp
,
or an escort for the dead to help them find their way to the
afterlife
(the Underworld
in the Greek myths). In many Greek myths, Hermes was depicted as
the only god besides Hades
, Persephone
, Hecate
, and Thanatos
who could enter and leave the Underworld without hindrance.
Hermes often helped travelers have a safe and easy journey. Many Greeks would
sacrifice to Hermes before any trip.
In the fully-developed Olympian pantheon, Hermes was the son of
Zeus and the
Pleiade
Maia
,
a daughter of the Titan
Atlas
.
Hermes’ symbols were the
cock
and the
tortoise
,
and he can be recognized by his purse or pouch,
winged sandals
,
winged cap
, and the herald’s staff, the
kerykeion
. The night he was born he slipped away from Maia and stole his
elder brother Apollo
‘s cattle.
Macedonia
or Macedon was an
ancient
kingdom
on the northern periphery of
Classical Greece
and later the dominant state
of
Hellenistic Greece
. It was ruled during most of
its existence initially by the legendary founding dynasty of the
Argeads
, the intermittent
Antipatrids
and finally the
Antigonids
. Home to the
Macedonians
, the earliest kingdom was centered
on the northeastern part of the
Greek peninsula
, bordered by
Epirus
to the west,
Paeonia
to the north, the region of
Thrace
to the east and
Thessaly
to the south.
The
rise of Macedon
, from a small kingdom at the
fringe of typical Greek
city states
affairs, to one which came to
control the fate of the entire Hellenic world, occurred under the reign of
Philip II
. With the innovative
Macedonian army
, he defeated the old powers of
Athens
and
Thebes
in the decisive
Battle of Chaeronea
in 338 BC and subdued them,
while keeping Sparta
in check. His son
Alexander the Great
pursued his father’s effort
to command the whole of Greece through the
federation of Greek states
, a feat he finally
accomplished after
destroying a revolting Thebes
. Young Alexander
was then ready to lead this force, as he aspired, in a large campaign against
the
Achaemenid Empire
, in retaliation for the
invasion of Greece
in the 5th century BC.
In the ensuing
wars of Alexander the Great
, he was ultimately
successful in conquering a territory that came to stretch as far as the
Indus River
. For a brief period his
Macedonian Empire was the most powerful in the world, the definitive
Hellenistic
state, inaugurating the transition
to this new period of
Ancient Greek civilization
. Greek arts and
literature flourished in the new conquered lands and advancements in philosophy
and science were spread to the ancient world. Of most importance were the
contributions of
Aristotle
, a teacher to Alexander, whose
teachings carried on many centuries past his death.
After the
death of Alexander the Great
in 323 BC, the
following
wars of the Diadochi
and the partitioning of
his short-lived empire, Macedonia proper carried on as a Greek cultural and
political center in the Mediterranean region along with
Ptolemaic Egypt
, the
Seleucid Empire
, and the
Attalid kingdom
. Important cities like
Pella
,
Pydna
, and
Amphipolis
were involved in power struggles for
control of the territory, and new cities were founded, like
Thessalonica
by the usurper
Cassander
, which is now the second largest city
of modern day Greece
. Macedonia’s decline of influence began
with the
rise of Rome
until its ultimate subjection
during the second
Macedonian Wars
.
The
Roman province
of
Macedonia
(Latin:
Provincia Macedoniae,
Greek
: Ἐπαρχία
Μακεδονίας) was officially established in 146 BC, after the Roman general
Quintus Caecilius Metellus
defeated
Andriscus of Macedon
, the last self-styled
King
of the ancient kingdom of
Macedonia
in 148 BC, and after the four client
republics (the “tetrarchy“)
established by Rome in the region were dissolved. The province incorporated
ancient
Macedonia
, with the addition of
Epirus
,
Thessaly
, and parts of
Illyria
,
Paeonia
and
Thrace
. This created a much larger
administrative area, to which the name of ‘Macedonia’ was still applied. The
Dardanians, to the north of the Paeonians, were not included, because they had
supported the Romans in their conquest of Macedonia.
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