>I have forgotten. Which is to say, being Patron of >Thieves was one of=
his
>many aspects."
>
>The statement Hermes was Patron of Thieves is an unfortunate legacy of=
AD&D
>and has little to do with the actual "cult of Hermes".
>Hermes was invoked as a mediator, a source of clever
>inspiration, and as a male fertility figure - not the patron of some
>non-existent class of "thieves". For more information I strongly=
recommend
>"Religion in the Ancient Greek City", Louise Bruit Zaidman and Pauline
>Schmitt Pantel, Cambridge University Press.
I'll quibble with this a bit, Jeff. The association of Hermes with Thieves= was recognized long before AD&D; his multiple nature is explained in a= book called "Hermes the Thief", by an author whose name I can't recall= right now. True, you won't find any altars to Hermes, God of Thieves, or= any formal, organized worship, but then again, deities become patrons of= various professions based on the most tenuous justifications. A Christian= example of this is St. ________ (whose name I've forgotten); she was= martyred and had her breasts cut off. Iconography showed her holding her= breasts on a plate (!); later on, people thought that these were bells, so= she became the patron of bellmakers. I remembered the story because the= bells in my college's belltower were dedicated to her.
I've always thought that it was a measure of the complexity of Hermes'= character that he was patron of both thieves and merchants. Even though= there was no real "class" of thieves, Hermes was unofficially thought of= as the patron of thieves because of his attributes of stealth and cunning,= which they shared.
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #477
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