Overall, the story of Hermes intrigues me the most of all the gods. The reason I say this is because he was born in a cave and right after he was born, he went and did mischievous things. He first off tricked a tortoise into coming through the cave, only to kill it and make an instrument out of the shell. After, he went and stole fifty cattle from Apollo and Apollo was very angry about this. Hermes sacrificed some of the cattle to the gods and left the rest. Hermes then fled back to the cave, where he acted like he was sleeping all day. Apollo tracked him down into the cave and took Hermes to Zeus to resolve the issue. They both said their sides of the story and Zeus straight-up laughed because of what Hermes said and did. He ordered Hermes to give the cattle back and make amends with what he has done. After the cattle were returned back to Apollo, the two bonded over music from the Lyre that Hermes made. Hermes then gave the Lyre to Apollo as a gift. Apollo gave him a whip to watch over the cattle and the two became close. It was nice for me to see that both of them put everything behind and moved forward for their "brotherly" relationship. I do understand Apollo being mad because it is hard to be cool with a trickster such as Hermes.
Hermes
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I really enjoyed this passage from Antigone Rising. I believe representation in media is so important, and something that is often valued. As a queer person, I feel like there is not enough representation in modern storytelling. However, seeing that that has not always been the case, that we were seen in ancient myths, is very affirming. It completely disproves many people's beliefs that queerness is a modern invention. I do think it is important to note, as the author does, that certain stereotypes or tropes in these stories can be damaging and hurtful to the LGBTQ+ community; including the tale of Caeneus.
I found this reading very interesting because its description of Greeks insights are very different from today's. In Ancient Greece it said affairs between men were normal and also romantic relationships between men were celebrated. Today this is not the case and after reading about Ancient Greece it kind of makes you wonder what happened to make it looked down upon. Another thing I found really interesting was people in the LGBTQ+ community describing their reactions after reading about the same sex relationships in Ancient Greece. It was impactful to hear that some would feel more comfortable knowing that others like them existed in the past and that it was accepted.
I really enjoyed reading this particular story, I found Salmacis to be very different from most other women that we've read so far. She doesn't want to hunt, pick up a javelin, or anything else that her sisters suggest, which is the first thing that sets her apart from other women for me. She is also very straight forward when she first saw Hermaphroditus. I don't think I've ever seen another woman in Greek mythology as straight forward as her when it comes to falling in love. She's too straight forward and eager as well, as she forces herself on the boy and tries to kiss him, which is sexual assault, and I don't know of many stories in Greek mythology where a woman sexually assaults a man or boy, and I find that very interesting in this story.
After reading the story of Hermaphroditus and Salmacis, I was surprised to see a representation of a woman overtaking a man. I feel like this is a concept that is not often portrayed in Greek mythology, and when it is, it's not described as brutally as when a man overtakes a woman. In this story, though, we see that Hermaphroditus begs her to "Just stop!" and tells of him "struggling to release himself" from her grasp. I also liked how in "Antigone Rising" Morales talked about how the statue of Hermaphroditus showed how he broke gender Barries while also being portrayed beautifully, I thought that was nice.
So for this guy I've always found him a little comical. When I was young and in elementary school my friends and I used to play a game where we would pick a greek god to use in battle. In doing this, it was very common to pick the more powerful gods like Zeus and Poseidon, but we would always mess with this one friend and give him Hermes. We always saw Hermes as useless so we would say "Hermes tripped over a rock and died" and then the friend's game would be over. We did this EVERY single game. As Hermes indeed is not a powerful god as Zeus or Poseidon, one thing that he can do is be a trickster. The first time he used these powers is what I find funny. A little boy stealing Apollo's cattle and also killing a large tortoise and just straight up lying about it. Not only does he steal the cattle but this little boy didn't find that to be much of an adventure so he went and killed a tortoise. And like every little kid who gets in trouble, he explains that he is too young to know what his actions mean or he was too young so there was no way he did it.
While reading the Hyme to Hermes, I was at first imagining Hermes as this baby that was floating around in a diaper and playing pranks on other gods, like taking cattle from Apollon. But I soon started to recognize an underlining message in this story about growing up. Instead of Apollon being super upset about Hermes taking the cattle and seeking revenge, Apollon decided to take the high road and chose to make Hermes return the cattle and then forgave him. They became very close friends among the gods, and Hermes even agreed never to do anything to Apollon again. It makes me think of two people who don't like each other when they are young but end up putting their differences aside and becoming great friends. It almost makes me wonder if this was more than just a Hyme to Hermes, but possibly also a life lesson story the Greeks would tell their children.
I really love how really the only reason Zeus claimed Hermes as a son was because when he was born, Hermes stole Apollo's cattle and found a tortoise. Also, I think it's funny how Zeus says "I don't despise you" to his son, rather than "I love you" because he doesn't really like having sons and prefers daughters.
I really liked the Homeric Hymn to Hermes because it seems so funny to read. Hermes is this little baby just running around killing tortoises, herding cattle and playing tricks and what's funnier is that when he's caught, by Maia, by Apollo, and by Zeus in his lies, he at the same time claims "Oh, I'm just a little baby I could NEVER herd cattle" and ALSO does a weird facial dance, complete with moving eyebrows and darting eyes- to imagine the scene makes one chuckle, just as both Zeus and Apollo did. Did the Ancient Greeks find the same humor in Hermes that we find now? It seems like, even though he is committing theft (considered wrong in most societies) everyone just kind of laughs it off and even likes him better for it. Either way, Hermes felt like a nice bit of comic relief after the Homeric Hymn to Apollo.
While I was reading about Hermes in the hymn, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Loki from Norse mythology. Loki is my patron deity at the moment, and he can be... entertaining. He is the trickster god of Norse mythology, so it’s pretty clear why Hermes reminded me of him. They both lie a lot, they both enjoy a good prank, and they both have very similar energies to me. Loki’s energy is darker, he was a little more violent after all, while Hermes feels more like a prankster. I don’t know why, but reading his hymn really made me smile.