Mercury

Mercury (*Mercurius*) is the Roman god of commerce, travelers, messages and eloquence, and the messenger of the gods. His name probably derives from *merx* («merchandise») or *mercari* («to trade»), which reveals his original character: an Italic divinity of commerce and profits, whose temple on the Aventine was dedicated in 495 BC, associated with the college of merchants. By effect of the *interpretatio romana* he was identified with the Greek **Hermes** and absorbed all his mythology: son of **Jupiter** and the nymph **Maia**, born in a cave on Mount Cyllene, it is said that on the very day of his birth he stole the cattle of **Apollo** and, with the shell of a turtle, invented the lyre, which he later gave to Apollo to reconcile with him.

Mercury is represented as an agile young man provided with his characteristic attributes: the **caduceo**, staff with two intertwined snakes that grants peace and sleep; the **talaria**, winged sandals that allow him to fly with the speed of the wind; and the **pétaso**, wide-brimmed hat, often also winged. Sometimes he carries a purse, symbol of his link with commerce and profit. His functions are multiple: messenger of Jupiter, protector of merchants and travelers (and also of thieves and tricksters, for his cunning), god of eloquence and guide of the dead to the underworld, role for which he receives the title of *psychopompos*. He embodies movement, exchange and wit.

Among his most famous exploits figures the death of **Argos**, the hundred-eyed giant whom Juno had set to watch the nymph **Ío**: Mercury put him to sleep with his story and his wand before killing him, for which he received the epithet of *Argifonte*. In Virgil's *Aeneid* it is he who descends to Carthage to transmit to **Aeneas** Jupiter's order to abandon Dido and proceed to Italy, decisive scene of the poem. His feast, the **Mercuralia**, was celebrated on May 15, when merchants sprinkled with water from his sacred spring their goods and their heads to purify the gains. His legacy is immense: it gives name to the fastest planet, to the chemical element *mercury* (azogue) and to Wednesday (*Mercurii dies*), and his caduceus continues to be used as an emblem of commerce.