Hermes/Mercury
Yesterday we saw the origins of the Greek god Hermes as a phallic god of boundaries. But Hermes, called Mercury by the Romans, evolved into a god of many functions. He was the god of heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He was strongly identified with the symbol of the caduceus, a staff with two intertwined snakes, seen above in this 2nd century Roman copy of a 5th century BC Greek original.
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Later, his most important role was to be the messenger of the gods. This statue of Mercury was found in the city of Herculaneum, which was destroyed by the same eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii in 79 AD. It's a Roman copy of a Greek original. Note that his sandal has wings, which enabled Mercury to travel the roads with the speed of the wind.
Here's a fresco from Pompeii showing Mercury with a caduceus.
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Later, his wings sometimes sprang directly from his ankles, not his sandals, and he also had a hat with wings, as depicted by Raphael in 1517-1518.
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Italian sculptor Giambologna put it all together in 1580 into the iconic representation of Mercury. Caduceus: check. Wings on ankles: check. Wings on hat: check. Naked: check.
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Modern artists have followed the same conventions with their own spin. In this 2001 painting Mercury by Pierre et Gilles, the snakes on the caduceus seem to be more than just decorations.
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Here's a recent participant in what I assume is a World Naked Bike Ride, dressed as Mercury, with winged shoes and a winged hat, but otherwise naked. Artistically, that's completely correct!
I got the photo from the blog Sicko Ricko's Crap. Thanks, Rick!
Most of us probably became familiar with the image of Mercury not by studying Greek and Roman mythology but because of an advertising campaign by FTD florists. FTD started in 1910 as a group of American florists who could exchange orders via telegraph.
In 1914 they chose a logo based on the Giambologna statue of Mercury to symbolize speed of delivery. Above is a 1931 ad.
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FTD still uses the image of Mercury in its logo. This recent Dutch ad for Interflora, the international version of FTD, features the essence of the logo: a fast naked guy.
We end with this cartoon of FTD flower delivery. A delivery from FTD, or WTF?
3 comments:
and of course, Mercury automobiles which used the head of Mercury as their emblem until the late 1960s as auto companies abandoned anthropomorphic symbols, like the Pontiac Native American
Lovely post! Thanks for the shout-out.
I was unaware of the head of Mercury emblem on the Mercury automobiles. A little research revealed that in the late 1920s-early 1930s, Buick had a radiator cap/hood ornament that was a little naked Mercury, complete with winged feet and cap. This was before Ford came out with Mercury as a car brand.
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