The Messenger of the Gods Trivia Quiz

Answer: Argeiphontes

Hermes acquired this epithet when he played sweet music in order to lure the hundred-eyed dog Argos Panoptes to sleep, a sleep from which the beast never awoke. Because the goddess Hera was saddened with Argos' death, Hermes took its eyes and transferred them to the peacock.

Answer: Psychopompos

Hermes acquired this epithet because he gathered the souls of the dead and took them to Hades. A similar epithet, also attributed to Hermes, is "psychogogue", meaning conductor or leader of souls. The earliest mention of the deity with this epithet occurs in Homer's "The Odyssey", when it is suggested that Hermes goes to Calypso in order to command her to release Odysseus.

Answer: Hodios

The word "Hodios" dervies from the Greek word "hodos", meaning a road or avenue. This epithet was used because the Greeks associated Hermes with travelers, and wayfarers' statues depicting the deity's head were erected at crossroads. Due to his association with travelers, Hermes is often depicted wearing typical traveler clothes, including the hat known as petasus.

Answer: Pylaios

Related epithets to this are "Proopylaios", meaning guardian of the gate, and "strophaios", meaning door-hinge. The door is understood as a boundary to a temple.

Answer: Kriophoros

This particular epithet of Hermes originates probably from Tanagra. Pausanias states that, when a pestilence had stricken the city, Hermes saved the inhabitants by carrying a ram around the fortifications of Tanagra.

Many of the "kouroi" (statues of the Archaic Era depicting young men) are sculpted as carrying a ram on their shoulders, as well.

Answer: Atlantiades

Hermes acquied this epithet because his mother, Maia, was the daughter of the Titan Atlas. Atlas, Hermes' grandfather, is the same figure who holds the heavens on his shoulders and whom Herakles encountered when he was tasked by Eurystheus to obtain the Golden Apples of the Hesperidae.

Answer: Logios

This epithet may not stem from the classical myths, but by the 5th century B.C. it had been applied to Hermes, and statues featuring the god in a typical orator fashion had been erected.

In modern times, "Hermes Logios" was the name of a literary journal published in the early 19th century by Greeks of the diaspora, i.e. Greeks living in cities of Western Europe. After the beginning of the Greek War of Independence in 1821, the Austrian authorities in Vienna, fearful that the journal would inspire pro-Greek sentiments and thus upset the fragile restoration of the ancien regime by the Council of Vienna, had the publication discontinue.

Answer: Chthonius

The name "Chthonius" comes from the Greek word "Chthon", meaning earth or soil. Orpheus later dedicated one of his 88 hymns to Hermes Chthonius and, during the festival of Chytri, the Athenians made sacrifices only to that side of Hermes.

Answer: Cyllenius

The etymology of this epithet is quite simple. According to classical mythology, Hermes was born at Mount Kyllini and, from a very early age, turned mischievous and tampered with the property of Apollo. During his time at Mount Kyllini, Hermes invented the lyre, which he later gifted to his half-brother as an act of goodwill.

Answer: Trismegistus

The name "Trismegistus" is translated as "Thrice-great", although it initially meant "Thrice-Sorcerer". The epithet first appears in two Linear B tablets from Pylos and the name of Hermes is mentioned in the same tablets. A collection of texts, known as Hermetica, are said to have been composed by Hermes Trismegistus in Egypt.

In the texts, a son of his, named Tat, is mentioned, which implies a connection between Hermes Trismegistus and the Egyptian lunar deity named Thoth. In Plato's "Timaeus" and "Critias" there are references to very ancient documents still kept in Egypt, which may be identical to the corpus of texts the ancients attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.