HERMOS
Greek Name
Ἑρμος
Transliteration
Hermos
Latin Spelling
Hermus
Translation
River Hermus
HERMOS was a river-god of Lydia in Anatolia (modern Turkey).
The River Hermos flowed through central Lydia emptying into the Aegean Sea near Mount Sipylos. Its headwaters were located on Mount Dindymos in central Phrygia with numerous small tributaries feeding it from the Lydian Mount Tmolos. The most significant of these was the gold-filled stream of the Paktolos (Pactolus). Important neighbouring rivers included the Kaikos (Caecus) to the north, and the Meles and Kaystros (Cayster) to the south. The nearby Lake Gygaie (Gyge) was also personified as a god.
PARENTS
OKEANOS & TETHYS (Hesiod Theogony 343)
OFFSPRING
CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES
Homer, Iliad 20. 390 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :
"By the water of Gygaie (Gyge) . . . by fish-swarming Hyllos (Hyllus) and the whirling waters of Hermos (Hermus)." [N.B. The Hyllos was a tributory of the Hermos.]
Hesiod, Theogony 337 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or 7th B.C.) :
"Tethys bore to Okeanos (Oceanus) the swirling Potamoi (Rivers) . . . Simoeis, who is godlike, Hermos (Hermus) and Peneios (Peneus), and Kaikos (Caecus) strongly flowing [in a list of rivers]."
Homer's Epigrams 1 (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic B.C.) :
"Ye who dwell in the hight city of Kyme (Cyme) . . . hard by the foothills of lofty Sardene (Sardis), ye who drink the heavenly water of the divine stream, eddying Hermos (Hermus), whom deathless Zeus begot."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 12. 123 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"[Dionysos' love Ampelos was killed by a wild bull :] Before the unsmiling countenance of Dionysos, full of love and piteous pining, the reedy Lydian Hermos (Hermus) held up his course, and his fastrolling waves which poured on with weatherbeaten throb--he cared no more to flow; Paktolos (Pactolus) yellow as saffron with the wealth deep under his flood, stayed his water in mourning, like the image of a sorrowful man; Sangarios the Phrygian stream, in honour of the dead, checked back the course of his banked fountains."
SOURCES
GREEK
- Homer, The Iliad - Greek Epic C8th B.C.
- Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th - 7th B.C.
- Homerica, Homer's Epigrams - Greek Epic C8th - 7th B.C.
- Nonnus, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.