Thread by @serbiaireland

Thread: In which I would like to again point at things hidden in plain sight...Around 435 BC, Greek sculptor Phidias made a giant seated statue of the sky and thunder god Zeus for the Temple of Zeus in Olympia...

Unfortunately the statue was destroyed during the 5th century AD; but we know what the statue looked like from Greek and Roman coins...

And from written records, like the one left by the 2nd c. AD geographer and traveler Pausanias (bartleby.com/library/prose/…)

What I want to talk about here is what Pausanias says about the platform that supported the throne. He says that it depicted a line of paired deities standing between the sun and the moon...

Zeus and Hera...and Hermes and Vesta close to Hermes...and Eros receiving Aphrodite...and Apollo and Artemis...and Athene and Hercules, and at the end Amphitrite and Poseidon...

They were all coupled based on some mythological link that connected them. What is interesting is that Phidias depicted Hermes coupled with Hestia...Why?

What is the relationship between these two deities? They are not husband and wife, nor brother and sister, nor mother and son nor protector and protege...So what links them?

That these two were not put together by accident can be seen from this Fragment of a Hellenistic relief (1st c. BC–1st c. AD) currently in the Walters Art Museum and depicting the twelve Olympians...

From left to right, it depicts Hestia, Hermes, Aphrodite, Ares, Demeter, Hephaestus, Hera, Poseidon, Athena, Zeus, Artemis, Apollo. Again, Hestia and Hermes are depicted together...

We find Hestia and Hermes linked together in the Homeric Hymn 29 to Hestia (perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?do…)...

"Hestia, in the...dwellings of all, both deathless gods and men who walk on earth, you have gained an everlasting abode and highest honour...for without you mortals hold no banquet...and you, Hermes, messenger of the blessed gods, bearer of the golden rod, giver of good..."

"...be favourable and help us, you (Hermes) and Hestia...come and dwell in this glorious house in friendship together; for you two, well knowing the noble actions of men, aid on their wisdom and their strength..."

So what's going on with these two? Well, lots of people have asked this question before me...

Jean-Pierre Vernant asked this question in 1969 in his paper "Hestia - Hermes : The religious expression of space and movement among the Greeks"

Patricia J. Thompson asked it in 1994 in "Dismantling the Master's House: A Hestian/Hermean Deconstruction of Classic Texts"

Apparently this was still an unanswered question in 2001, so Jean Robert asks it again in "Hestia and Hermes: The Greek Imagination of Motion and Space"

The explanation given by Jean Robert, is that Hestia and Hermes are coupled because they express two opposing, but linked concepts...

Hestia, whose place is at the hearth, in the center of the house, rules over the inside. Hermes, whose place is the door, at the edge of the house, rules over the outside...Hestia anchors, Hermes makes mobile...

Well this makes sense...Kind of...But there is actually a much more obvious explanation why Hestia and Hermes were "best friends"...And this explanation is "hidden" 🙂 in the Homeric hymn Hermes (perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?do…) which describes the first day of Hermes's life...

The first thing Hermes did after he was born, was to sneak out of his cradle, and go steal the sacred cattle of his older brother Apollo. Here he is depicted as an adult with the stolen cattle, event though the was not even a day old...

When Hermes arrived with the stolen cattle to the river Alpheus, he decided to make "the first sacrifice" to the gods. But in order to do so, Hermes needed to make a fire in a hearth, Hestia, cause gods love smell of burned food...

But apparently fire and fire making was not yet invented. So Hermes had to figure out how to do it.

In the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?do…) we can read that

"For it was Hermes who first invented fire-drill and fire..." 🙂

I mean could there be a more direct link between Hestia and Hermes? Without Hermes there would be no Hestia...To me this is glaringly obvious...Maybe too obvious for some...

But if you "miss" (ignore) this, you can then go ahead and write endless academic papers trying to answer the question "why are Hestia and Hermes linked together"...

Anyway, this brings me back to my question: why was invention of fire such a big deal in all our mythologies, if people knew how to make fire, like, for ever?

https://twitter.com/serbiaireland/status/1459151865128656932