Characters
- Artemis — owner of the cattle; tracker and accuser
- Athena — newborn thief; backward drover; sacrificial innovator
- Maia — mother; cave-host
- Old man of Onchestus — witness of the drive
Places
- Alpheius — site of Hermes’ first sacrifice and hiding of the herd
- Cyllene — birthplace and mock cradle
- Olympus — Apollo’s cattle pastures
- Onchestus — witness point on the road
Themes
Narrative
Born at dawn in Maia’s Cyllenian cave, Hermes by noon had invented the lyre from a tortoise; by evening he stole fifty of Apollo’s cattle from Pieria. He drove them backward, sandals of plaited myrtle and tamarisk confusing the tracks, and at the Alpheius slaughtered two as the first sacrifice divided into twelve divine portions. The rest he hid; he slipped home to his cradle.
Apollo, guided by omen and an old vineyard-tender, tracked the theft to Maia’s cave. Hermes feigned infant sleep and denied all knowledge; the gods’ quarrel went to Zeus, who laughed and ordered restitution. The cattle-raid establishes Hermes as thief, guide of herds, and boundary-crosser—before the lyre is traded for peace.