On The Development Of Hermes’ Function

Ancient Greek mythology and religion occupied a pivotal position in the historyof western civilization. It ran through all stages of ancient Greek history,penetratinginto all aspects of social life.And Hermes,who had a unique status and functions in theOlympus Religion, was widely worshiped. This thesis aims to analyze thedevelopment of Hermes’functions and reasons for that,and then provide us with aneffective window for the further investigation of Greek religion and society. Thisthesis consists of three parts.The first part introduces Hermes in the ancient Greek mythology and religion. Italso describes the origin and formation of the ancient Greek religion and analyzesHermes’unique positions in the Greek mythology and religion.The second part mainly deals with the development of Hermes’functions.Hermes,who was such an important god that his functions and status werenot static in different periods of the ancient Greek history. This part firstly discussesthat Hermes was originated from a border pillar,and then analyzes Hermes’mainfunctions after he was personified, including offerings of God,fertility god, God ofyouth and God of wisdom. At last, it expounds Hermes’ every function with details ofits generation,development and functions.The third section summarizes the historical reasons of the development ofHermes’ functions,which was caused by the self-improvement of Greek religion,thedevelopment of Greek society and values of Greeks. Therefore, it reflects the rolesocial development played in the development of Hermes’ functions.Discussion on the development of Hermes’ functions and its historical reasonsnot only contributes to the comprehension of ancient Greek mythology and religion,but also deepens the cognition about ancient Greek religion and society, whichprovides a new perspective and reference for comprehensive understanding of Greekcivilization.