Hermes
Hermes Vase https://www.theoi.com/Gallery/K11.11.html ca. 480-470 BC attributed to the Tithonus Painter, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Madeleine Chace
This vase depicts the Greek god Hermes. This essay will discuss what Hermes represents, which of his key attributes are depicted here, and what this vase would have been used for.
Hermes is the god of roads, boundaries, and transitions. He was also known as a protector of merchants, travelers, and thieves, or people who used stealth and trickery. His name comes from the Greek word Herma, which means “a heap of stones.” A Herm was used as a boundary marker (again, his connection with boundaries). In the 6th century BC, a herm was a square pillar of stone topped often with Hermes’ head, and had no other human attributes except for an erect phallus in the middle. This was meant to discourage evil, or trespassers, through the threat of sexual violence.
One of the transitions he is connected to is the transition from life to death, and he was known to move between the worlds of the living and the dead on occasion as a psychopomp, guiding souls. Another way he crossed boundaries was by having two appearances, one as a young beardless man, one as a bearded adult. This reflects his connection to the boundary/transition between youth and manhood.
The Homeric Hymn to Hermes shows Hermes as a precocious child, inventing the tortoiseshell lyre, which enchants his older brother Apollo, and helps them to reach reconciliation after Hermes steals Apollo’s cattle. This myth may have been connected to the transition between boyhood and manhood as well, as it shows Hermes as an infant, but then he matures through the experience of reconciliation with his brother.
In this vase, Hermes wears his broad-brimmed traveler’s hat, called a petasus. He is probably on a mission for Zeus, and he wears another of his key attributes, winged sandals. They allowed him to fulfill his role as messenger of the gods, flying all over the place. He carries the caduceus, which is a herald’s staff topped with two intertwined snakes. His clothing is a short traveling cloak (again showing that he is the god of travellers) called a chlamys. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this same symbol “was carried by Greek heralds as they traveled from city to city.”
This piece of pottery is a terracotta lekythos, which is an oil flask. This kind of vessel would have held scented oils or cooking oils, and according to the Art Institute of Chicago, “most of these bottles were made for burial with the dead or to be left at their graves.” Perhaps that is why Hermes has been chosen. As I previously stated, he has a strong connection to crossing between the realms of the living and the dead. Maybe they thought that putting the image of a god who has a role as a psychopomp in or by their grave would help to make the journey to the underworld easier.
Citations
“Attributed to the Tithonos Painter - Terracotta Lekythos (Oil Flask) - Greek, Attic - Classical - the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” Attributed to the Tithonos Painter - Terracotta Lekythos (Oil Flask) - Greek, Attic - Classical - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/251800. Accessed 20 Feb. 2026.
“Attributed to the Tithonos Painter - Terracotta Lekythos (Oil Flask) - Greek, Attic - Classical - the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” Attributed to the Tithonos Painter - Terracotta Lekythos (Oil Flask) - Greek, Attic - Classical - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/251800. Accessed 20 Feb. 2026.
CLAS 430 Lesson 5 Video 1: The Singing Cowboy: Hermes
Hermes
Kriophoros (Ram-Bearer), Statuette
650–600 BCE
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Crete, Greece
Aiden Yip
Depicted above is a statuette of Kriophoros, an epithet for Hermes, meaning “Ram-Bearer” in Greek. Given Hermes’ history of stealing and shepherding Apollo’s cattle, he’s associated with rams. He’s often depicted carrying rams. To Greeks, ram were the favored sacrifices to Gods, often associated with strength, courage, and male fertility. Much later in Rome, Kriophoros gained a new interpretation as the “Good Shepard,” found in early Christian work.
One of the most famous stories of Hermes regards his upbringing. Hermes, son of Zeus and Maia, was born naturally cunning and witty. He was very naughty. One of the first things he saw out of the womb were Apollo’s cattle. There are different tellings of how Hermes stole Apollo’s cattle, but the two most predominate tales were that one, he forced them to walk backward and attached branches to their tails to sweep up their tracks, and second, that he fit boots onto the cattle that made it look like they walked the opposite direction. Apollo, enraged, scrambles to figure out who stole his cattle. Meanwhile, Hermes eats one of Apollo’s cows and invents the lyre with a tortoise shell and cow intestines. Hermes lulls himself to sleep with the instrument. Apollo takes his chariot up to Helios who reveals that Hermes stole the cattle. Helios witnessed the theft because Hermes stole in broad daylight. Apollo brought the issue up with Zeus who mediated their final agreement. Hermes traded his beautiful lyre to Apollo for his cattle and in some stories, a golden staff as well.
Hermes’ clever trickery, although immoral, impressed the Gods and solidified his position as “The Cunning” and later after receiving the cattle, “The Guardian of Flocks.”
The specificities of the work aren’t processed given that it’s so old. What is known is that it was sculpted between 650 and 600 BCE. This was during the Greek Archaic period, a time of major development in art, politics, and expansion following the Greek Dark Ages. At this time Crete, where the piece originated, was a center for pottery and bronze work.
Based on the size and material of the statuette, it was likely used in religious practice or offering. It was made of terracotta and painted of polychrome, standard in colorful Greek sculpture. The size however, is not monumental indicating that it was likely used in a shrine, so it was definitely used religiously but not as a landmark or monument.
Citations
Kriophoros (Ram-Bearer), Statuett, https://www.clevelandart.org/print/art/1998.172, 650–600 BCE, access-date=19 February 2026, Cleveland Museum of Art
Wikipedia contributors. "Kriophoros." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 1 Jan. 2026. Web. 20 Feb. 2026.
The Theft of Apollo’s Cattle
https://roguish.wordpress.com/2017/11/18/the-theft-of-apollos-cattle/
Roguish
CLAS 430 Lesson 5 Video 1: The Singing Cowboy: Hermes