|
HERMAE , in See also:Greek antiquities, quadrangular pillars, broader above than at the See also:base, surmounted by a See also:head or bust, so called either because the head of See also:Hermes was most See also:common or from their etymological connexion with the Greek word iipµara (blocks of See also:- STONE
- STONE (0. Eng. shin; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Stein, Du. steen, Dan. and Swed. sten; the root is also seen in Gr. aria, pebble)
- STONE, CHARLES POMEROY (1824-1887)
- STONE, EDWARD JAMES (1831-1897)
- STONE, FRANK (1800-1859)
- STONE, GEORGE (1708—1764)
- STONE, LUCY [BLACKWELL] (1818-1893)
- STONE, MARCUS (184o— )
- STONE, NICHOLAS (1586-1647)
stone), which originally had no reference to Hermes at all. In the See also:oldest times Hermes, like other divinities, was worshipped in the See also:form of a heap of stones or of an amorphous See also:block of See also:wood or stone, which afterwards took the shape of a phallus, the See also:symbol of productivity. The next step was the addition of a head to this phallic See also:column which became quadrangular (the number 4 was sacred to Hermes, who was See also:born on the See also:fourth See also:day of the See also:month), with the significant indication of See also:sex still prominent. In this shape the number of herms rapidly increased, especially those of Hermes, for which the distinctive name of Hermhermae has been suggested. In See also:Athens they were found at the corners of streets; before the See also:gates and in the courtyards of houses, where they were worshipped by See also:women as having the See also:power to make them prolific; before the temples; in the gymnasia and palaestrae. On each See also:side of the road leading from the See also:Stoa Poikile to the Stoa Basileios, rows of Hermae were set up in such See also:numbers by the piety of private individuals or public corporations, that the Stoa Basileios was called the Stoa of the Hermae. The See also:function of Hermes as See also:protector of the roads, of merchants and of See also:commerce, explains the number of Hermae that served the purpose of sign-posts on the roads outside the See also:city. It is stated in the pseudo-Platonic See also:Hipparchus that the son. of See also:Peisistratus had set up See also:marble pillars at suitable places on the roads leading from the different See also:country districts to Athens, having the places connected with the roads inscribed on the one side in a See also:hexameter See also:verse, and on the other a See also:pentameter containing a See also:short See also:- PROVERB (Lat. proverbium, from pro, forth, publicly, verbum, word; the Greek equivalent is irapolµia, from 7rapa, alongside, and oiµos, way, road, i.e. a wayside saying; Ger. Sprichwort)
proverb or moral See also:precept for the edification of travellers. Sometimes they See also:bore See also:inscriptions celebrating the valour of those who had fought for their country. Just as it was customary for the passer-by to show respect to the rudest form of the See also:god (the heap of stones) by contributing a stone to the heap or See also:anointing it with oil, in like manner small offerings, generally of dried See also:figs, were deposited near the Herniae, to appease the See also:hunger of the necessitous wayfarer. Garlands of See also:flowers were also suspended on the two See also:arm-like tenons projecting from either side of the column at the See also:top (for the See also:oracle at Pharae see HERMES). These pillars were also used to See also:mark the frontier boundaries or the limits of different estates. The See also:great respect attaching to them is shown by the excitement caused in Athens by the " See also:Mutilation of the Hermae
just before the departure of the Sicilian expedition (May 415 B.c.). They formed the See also:object of a See also:special See also:industry, the makers of them being called Hermoglyphi. The surmounting heads were not, however, confined to those of Hermes; those of other gods and heroes, and even of distinguished mortals, were of frequent occurrence. In this See also:case a See also:compound was formed: Hermathena (a herm of See also:Athena), Hermares, Hermaphroditus, Hermanubis, Hermalcibiades, and so on. In the case of these compounds it is disputed whether they indicated a herm with the head of Athena, or with a See also:Janus-like head of both Hermes and Athena, or a figure compounded of both deities. The See also:Romans not only borrowed the Hermes pillars for their deities which at an See also:early See also:period they assimilated to those of the Greeks (as Heracles—See also:Hercules) but also for the indigenous gods who preserved their individuality. Thus herms of See also:Jupiter Terminalis (the hermae being identified with the See also:Roman termini) and of See also:Silvanus occur. Under the See also:empire, the function of the hermae was rather architectural than religious. They were used to keep up the draperies in the interior of a See also:house, and in the See also:Circus See also:Maximus they were used to support the barriers.
See the See also:article with bibliography by See also:Pierre See also:Paris in Daremberg and Saglio's Diclionnaire See also:des antiquates; for the mutilation of the Hermae, See also:Thucydides vi. 27; See also:Andocides, De mysteriis; See also:Grote, Hist. of See also:Greece, ch. 58; H. Weil, Etudes sur l'antiquite grecque (1900); Burolt, Griech. Gesch. (ed. 1904), III. ii. p. 1287.
End of Article: HERMAE
Additional information and Comments
There are no comments yet for this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.
|
del.icio.us it!