Mercury

Messenger of the Roman Gods

Mercury was the Roman god of trade, profit, travellers, messages and clever tricks. His name is connected with the Latin word merx, meaning merchandise, which suits a god who protected merchants. Artists often show Mercury with winged sandals or a winged hat, a purse and the caduceus, his staff with two snakes. Romans connected him with the Greek Hermes, so he inherited many of Hermes’s adventures and became the speedy messenger who could travel almost anywhere.

His funniest story happens when he is still a baby. On the day he is born, Mercury escapes from his cradle and steals Apollo’s cattle. He drives them in a clever way to confuse their tracks and then returns home pretending to be completely innocent. He also invents the lyre using a tortoise shell. Apollo eventually discovers the theft, but Mercury charms him with the new instrument. They exchange gifts and become friends. It is a brilliant introduction to Mercury because he causes a huge problem and then talks his way into a better position than he had before.

Mercury’s Roman festival, the Mercuralia, took place on 15 May. Merchants sprinkled themselves and their goods with sacred water and asked the god for success. Mercury also carried Jupiter’s messages. In the Aeneid, Jupiter sends him to remind Aeneas that he must leave Carthage and continue towards Italy. Mercury could even guide souls towards the underworld because ordinary boundaries did not stop him. His caduceus is sometimes confused today with the single-snake staff of Aesculapius, the ancient symbol of medicine, but they are different objects. Mercury became especially popular across Gaul and Roman Britain, where local gods were sometimes linked with him. I think his popularity makes perfect sense. In an empire full of roads, markets, travellers and messages, a god who could get somewhere quickly and make a good deal was extremely useful.

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