Hermes the Mischievous or Vengeful
But Hermes isn't all aid to mortals and benign mischief. Sometimes his job is an unpleasant duty:
- It is Hermes who took Eurydice back to the Underworld when Orpheus failed to save her.
- More deliberately, Hermes provided a golden lamb to start a quarrel between Atreus and Thyestes in revenge for their father Pelops' killing Hermes' son Myrtilos, charioteer to Oinomaus. Whichever of the two brothers had possession of the lamb was the rightful king. Atreus promised Artemis the most beautiful lamb in his flock, but then reneged when he discovered he had possession of the golden one. His brother seduced his wife to get at the lamb. Thyestes acquired the throne, but then Atreus took revenge by serving up to Thyestes his own sons for dinner. [See Cannibalism in Greek Myth.]
- In another event with bloody repercussions, Hermes escorted the three goddesses to Paris, thereby precipitating the Trojan War.
