Odin and Hermes

Hermes Trismegistus

A. L. Frothingham's excellent article on Hermes and the Caduceus traces the roots of the god into Babylon and the near East and postulates that Hermes origin was as a god of fertilization. Hermes was the spirit of the union between the male sun and the female earth and the caduceus symbolizes that union.

His role in the classical pantheon expands to every conceivable analogous case. By Roman times, the temple of Mercury served as a marketplace, and Mercury and Hermes were gods of commerce. By the time of the Roman Empire's decline, the character of Hermes and the Egyptian wisdom god, and teacher of mankind Thoth combined as Hermes Trismegistus.

It is really intriguing that Odin, the chief god of the Germanic people, seems to have more of the character of Hermes Trismegistus than a sky god like Zeus. As I noted in a previous post, Odin's day of the week "Wednesday" corresponds to Mercury's day in Romance languages. Dan McCoy's excellent article on Odin elaborates his character and, in my opinion, the parallels with Hermes are evident.

Perhaps Odin reflects the character of the Germanic tribesmen, who were possibly more democratic (cf thing) and more independent than their peers in the classical world. An all powerful sky god just didn't work for them. Perhaps they saw Jesus as the same character. A centuries long experiment with Oriental despotism aka feudalism ultimately was rejected by modern adherents of Hermes.

My interpretation is Hermes is the chief god of the western world and he still is today.