Hermes
![''Hermes Ingenui'' ([[Vatican Museums]]), Roman copy of the second century BC after a Greek original of the 5th century BC. Hermes has a ''kerykeion'' ([[caduceus]]), ''[[kithara]]'', ''[[petasos]]'' (round hat) and a traveler's cloak.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Hermes_Ingenui_Pio-Clementino_Inv544.jpg)
In myth, Hermes functions as the emissary and messenger of the gods, and is often presented as the son of Zeus and Maia, the Pleiad. He is regarded as "the divine trickster", about which the ''Homeric Hymn to Hermes'' offers the most well-known account.
Hermes' attributes and symbols include the herma, the rooster, the tortoise, satchel or pouch, talaria (winged sandals), and winged helmet or simple petasos, as well as the palm tree, goat, the number four, several kinds of fish, and incense. However, his main symbol is the ''caduceus'', a winged staff intertwined with two snakes copulating and carvings of the other gods.
In Roman mythology and religion many of Hermes' characteristics belong to Mercury, a name derived from the Latin ''merx'', meaning "merchandise," and the origin of the words "''mer''chant" and "com''merce''."
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