Page:Myth, Ritual, and Religion (Volume 2).djvu/269

Rh that part of her legend which is peculiarly Semitic in colour. For the rest, though she, like Hermes, gives good luck in general, she is a recognised personification of passion and the queen of love.

Another child of Zeus whose elemental origin and character have been much debated is Hermes. The meaning of the name is confessedly obscure.

Opinion, then, is divided about the elemental origin of Hermes, and the meaning of his name. His character must be sought, as usual, in ancient poetic myth and in ritual and religion. Herodotus recognised his rites as extremely old, for that is the meaning of his remark that the Athenians borrowed them from the Pelasgians, who are generally recognised as prehistoric Greeks. In the rites spoken of, the images of the god were in one notable point like well-known Bushmen and Admiralty Island divine representations, and like those of Priapus. In Cyllene, where Hermes was