Ann Bergren, among others, argues for the importance of the cattle theft in this Hymn in which Hermes reverses the apparent direction of exchange and the roles between the owner and the thief. Past scholarship on Hermes’ presence in the cattle theft in the text mostly focuses on his role as a thief and an inventor. In this episode we could see the features that come to be understood as the essential characteristics of Hermes, for example, his role as an inventor, a thief, a magician, an oath-maker, a good communicator, and a negotiator. By looking at those three accounts together, Hermes emerges as a baby, a thief, an inventor and a magician.

In the account of the narrator, we, the readers, are fortunately enough to have an objective, detailed account of the crime to compare with the versions by the old man and Apollo, who both have limited amount of evidence. In this Hymn, there are three versions recounting the crime scene: the one by the omniscient narrator, which I will basically rely on to analyze Hermes’ divine presence, the one by the old man at Onchestus, who is the only witness of the crime and the only human character, and the version by Apollo, who finds out the criminal of the theft based on the old man’s account and the omens from the birds. Unfortunately, the old man still reveals what he sees to Apollo at his inquiry, and his testimony helps us understand how Hermes appears to human. In return, Hermes promises that the old man will have much wine when the vines bear fruits. On his way to driving the cattle into the mountain of Pieria, Hermes encounters an anonymous old man, the only human in this hymn, who might have spoiled Hermes’ endeavor to steal Apollo’s cattle, but Hermes warns him not to give him away. He further disguises his own footprints by walking on a pair of sandals that he invented simply for the occasion. Hermes tries to confound other people, primarily Apollo, by reversing the footprints of the cattle. Different interpretations are brought up for the baffling scene here, but I argue that Hermes faces the cattle while the cattle moves backward, and that he does not reverse the hooves. What intrigues me here is the way Hermes tries to compromise the evidence of the theft. Plucked from Pieria, shunning the journey,Īnd as one hastening for a long road, being unique. With the leaves themselves, the things glorious Argus-slayer He securely tied the light sandals under the feet, Mixing together tamarisks and myrtle twigs. Unutterable, unthought of, wonderful works, Īnd at once he wove wicker-work sandals on the sands of the sea, Making hooves opposite, the front in the back,Īnd the back in the front. And he did not forget the crafty technique He drove them wandering across the sandy place, Of these the Son of Maia, the sharp-eyed Argus-slayer,Ĭut off fifty loud-bellowing oxen from the herd. Had their resting-place, and grazed the unmown lovely meadows. Where the divine cattle of the blessed gods Running, arrived at the shadowy mountains of Pieria, The Sun was going down beneath the earth towards the ocean The crime scene is set in the evening when all is shadowy, silent and peaceful, a perfect timing for stealthy deeds. In this Hymn, on the day his was born, Hermes spontaneously invents the lyre which later becomes the icon of his elder brother Apollo and goes on to steal Apollo’s cattle in the evening simply because he desires flesh ( Hymn 20, 69). The Homeric Hymn to Hermes has been considered one of the important texts to understand the divine nature of Hermes and his relationship with other gods because it recounts the deeds of infant Hermes who is only one day old.

Hermes trickster