Characters
- Artemis — father; laughs at the dispute; arbitrates on Olympus
- Atlas — maternal grandfather of Hermes (named as Maia’s father)
- Hermes — newborn son of Zeus and Maia; inventor of the lyre; cattle thief; bargainer with Apollo
- Maia — nymph daughter of Atlas; mother of Hermes; dwells in the Cyllenian cave
- Old man — mortal witness who saw Hermes driving the cattle
- Olympian gods — recipients of Hermes’s divided sacrifice by the Alpheus
Places
- Mount Cyllene — cave-birthplace and home of Maia and Hermes
- Olympus — region from which Hermes steals Apollo’s cattle
- Onchestus — area associated with the mortal witness
- Pylos — where Hermes hides the remaining herd
- River Alpheus — site of the fire, slaughter, and sacrifice
Themes
Narrative
Maia, shy daughter of Atlas, bore Hermes to Zeus in a deep cave on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. On the very day of his birth the infant god acted with startling speed and cunning. Leaving his cradle, he found a tortoise outside the cave, killed it, and stretched gut strings across its hollow shell, inventing the lyre. Then, craving meat and mischief, he set out for Pieria by night and stole fifty of Apollo’s cattle from the sacred herd.
To hide his trail he drove the cows backward and fashioned sandals of twigs for his own feet so that the prints would confuse pursuers. At the river Alpheus he kindled fire with rubbed wood—tradition credits him with inventing fire-sticks—slaughtered two of the cattle, divided the meat into twelve portions for the gods (including a share for himself), and burned the offerings. Though immortal, he longed for the smell of roasted flesh but did not eat. He hid the remaining herd in a high-roofed farmstead near Pylos, then slipped home to Cyllene before dawn and lay in his cradle like an ordinary baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Apollo, guided by omen and by an old man who had seen the infant driving cattle, tracked Hermes to Maia’s cave. Hermes protested innocence with comic solemnity, swearing he had never seen the cows. Apollo hauled him before Zeus on Olympus. Zeus laughed at the clever newborn but ordered the truth and the return of the herd. Hermes led Apollo to Pylos, recovered the cattle, and—when Apollo’s anger flared at the slaughtered beasts—began to play the newly made lyre. The music so enchanted Apollo that his wrath melted. Hermes gave him the lyre; Apollo in return granted Hermes the cattle, a shining whip, and a share in pastoral wealth, and later exchanged further gifts: the herald’s staff (caduceus), rights over flocks, and confirmation of Hermes’s offices as guide, messenger, and patron of exchanges and thieves. Zeus confirmed the settlement. Thus the day-old god won his place among the Olympians by theft, craft, music, and negotiated gift.