Immediately after he was born, Hermes was appointed god of thieves at Olympus. and a thief he became when he was barely a few hours old.

Then he slipped back into his little bed in his mother's house.

Feeling hungry, the infant left his cradle after nightfall to hunt for food.

He killed two of these oxen and had a magnificent dinner.

He chanced upon Apollo's oxen grazing on a meadow and drove a number of these animals away, tying tree branches around the feet of the cattle to make their footsteps dim.

In due time Hermes was appointed messenger of Zeus and the gods.

The angry sun god dragged him up to Olympus, where he was accused of the stealing and made to return the cattle to their master.

When Apollo came to question him Hermes pretended to be innocent.

In reconciliation little Hermes gave Apollo the lyre he had made out of a tortoise shell, and Apollo was so pleased with the gift that he presented his little brother with a magic stick. The stick could pacify hostile forces.

The gods equipped him with a pair of winged sandals and winged cap to enable him to travel swifter than sight.

It was Hermes who took the messages of Zeus to the world below.

Hermes was a patron of travellers. His busts and statues were set up as dividing marks at crossroads or street corners to guide passersby.

The Hermes, as these statues were called, were regarded as sacred, and their mutilation was sacrilegious and punishable by death.

The destruction of the numerous Hermes within the city of Athens caused a terrible excitement among its citizens that it might be no exaggeration to state that it changed the whole course of historic development of Athens.