Hermes (Mercurius)

Hermes from Hadrianus Villa in Tivoli, Roman copy from the 2nd century AD of a Lysippos Bronze from 330 BC.


A quite atypical Hermes from a local workshop in Messene, 4th century AD.


This Hermes is the work of the Augustan period (27 BC-14 AD), perhaps inspired by older works.

Hermes is one of those gods you run into now and then while admiering classical sculpture. He's rendered as a young, beardless, man, sometimes with winged sandals (even though not as commonly as might be expected). Other easily recognized attributes are his heralds staff (the kerykeion, a detail which unfortunately seems to have been easily broken of and lost) and way farer hat. Yet, even with all those attributes, you'll have a though time recognizing him, as you might notice from the photos above, he could eb just any youth without them.


You can see another rendering of Hermes in Hermes and the infant Dionysus.