Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/mythology.asp?pg=126

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Three Millennia of Greek Literature
 

E. M. Berens
Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome

From, A Handbook of Mythology, New York 1886
{ } = Page Numbers in the print edition,   [ ] = Footnote Numbers

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ELPENOR EDITIONS IN PRINT

HOMER

PLATO

ARISTOTLE

THE GREEK OLD TESTAMENT (SEPTUAGINT)

THE NEW TESTAMENT

PLOTINUS

DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE

MAXIMUS CONFESSOR

SYMEON THE NEW THEOLOGIAN

CAVAFY

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Page 126

MERCURY.

Mercury was the Roman god of commerce and gain. We find mention of a temple having been erected to him {124} near the Circus Maximus as early as B.C.  495; and he had also a temple and a sacred fount near the Porta Capena.  Magic powers were ascribed to the latter, and on the festival of Mercury, which took place on the 25th of May, it was the custom for merchants to sprinkle themselves and their merchandise with this holy water, in order to insure large profits from their wares.

The Fetiales (Roman priests whose duty it was to act as guardians of the public faith) refused to recognize the identity of Mercury with Hermes, and ordered him to be represented with a sacred branch as the emblem of peace, instead of the Caduceus. In later times, however, he was completely identified with the Greek Hermes.

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Cf. A Day in Old Athens * A Short History of Greek Philosophy
Toynbee, Ancient Greek History and the West * Livingstone, On the Ancient Greek Literature

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Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/mythology.asp?pg=126