Hide and Go Seek

Abstract

This contribution explores Hermes’ role in both the Iliad and the Odyssey. In the former, his benevolent qualities as guide, mediator, and psychopomp are emphasized. Many of the same features return in the latter epic, but his special relationship with the Odyssey’s hero comes to the fore, especially through their common characteristics as trickster figures and as experts at disguise, seduction, and their rhetorical skills. An examination of the god’s role, especially in the Odyssey, shows that the his characteristics, modes of action, and perhaps above all his playfulness in the Homeric Hymn are already present in Homer.