Hermes’ Talaria

The Winged Sandals of the Gods

Hermes needs this speed because he carries messages for Zeus and the other gods. He guides travellers, protects roads and boundaries, escorts souls towards the underworld and appears suddenly when a hero needs help. He can enter Olympus, the human world and Hades without being trapped in any one place. Sandals are perfect equipment for a god whose work is based on movement. They also suit his ordinary traveller's clothing better than a king's crown or warrior's heavy armour. In the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, the god is already astonishingly quick on the day he is born. He slips from his cradle, steals Apollo's cattle and disguises their tracks. The poem does not depend on a pair of obvious ankle wings. Hermes's intelligence and natural speed are enough.

Later artists made those qualities visible by adding feathers. This is a useful reminder that a familiar illustration may develop gradually, even when it fits the ancient character very well. Winged sandals also appear in the story of Perseus. Nymphs provide footwear that carries him through the air on his mission to Medusa. Later retellings sometimes say Hermes lends Perseus his own talaria. Ancient accounts vary, and the sandals used by Perseus are not always clearly the personal pair worn by Hermes. What matters in the adventure is that divine equipment helps a mortal reach a place no normal traveller could visit and escape enemies who can fly. Hermes's other objects include the herald's staff, usually called the caduceus, and a broad traveller's hat called a petasos.

The staff marks him as a messenger and peacemaker; the sandals provide speed. The caduceus has two snakes and is often confused today with the single-snake Staff of Asclepius, the proper ancient symbol of healing. Looking at the whole set of equipment makes Hermes easier to identify and stops those two very different staffs becoming mixed. The Roman god Mercury inherited Hermes's winged footwear, and Renaissance artists made it one of his most famous features. It now appears in sports logos, delivery companies and comic-book costumes whenever designers want to suggest speed. I like the talaria because they are not mainly weapons. They help Hermes perform a job, rescue people and carry information.

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