希腊神话

[fengza]

海尔墨斯
Immediately after he was born, Hermes was appointed godof thieves at Olympus. And a thief he became when he was barely a few hours old. Feeling hungry, the infant left his cradle after nightfall to hunt for food. He chanced uponApollo's oxen grazing on a meadow and drove a number ofthese animals away, tying tree branches around the feet of thecattle to make their footsteps dim. He killed two of these oxenand had a magnificent dinner. Then he slipped back into his littlebed in his mother's house. When Apollo came to question himHermes pretended to be innocent. The angry sungod draggedhim up to Olympus, where he was accused of the stealing andmade to return the cattle to their master. In reconciliation little Hermes gave Apollo the lyre he had made out of a tortoise shell, and Apollo was so pleased with the gift that he presented his little brother with a magic stick. The stick could pacify hostileforces.
In due time Hermes was appointed messenger of Zeus andthe gods. The gods equipped him with a pair of winged sandalsand winged cap to enable him to travel swifter than sight. It was Hermes who took the messages of Zeus to the world below.
Hermes was a patron of travellers. His busts and statueswere set up as dividing marks at crossroads or street corners toguide passersby. The Hermes, as these statues were called, were regarded as sacred, and their mutilation was sacrilegiousand punishable by death. The destruction of the numerous Hermes within the city of Athens caused a terrible excitement amongits citizens that it might be no exaggeration to state that itchanged the whole course of historic development of Athens .