Hermes the Thief: The Evolution of a Myth

Hermes -- trickster and culture hero, divine child and patron of stealthy action, master of magic words, seducer and whisperer -- is a vital and complex figure in Greek mythology. Shepherd, craftsman, herald, musician, athlete, merchant -- who is this tricky shapechanger confronting man at every truth? In this classic, prescient work (first published in 1947, and foreshadowing all subsequent work greeting the return of the gods), Brown asks, "Is Hermes the Thief the prototype, from which, by extension and analogy, the Trickster was derived? Or is the notion of trickery the fundamental one, and theft merely a specific manifestation of it?"