Web Word Quests Site   

There is one search term on this page.


Mercury, messenger of the Roman gods
(first planet from the sun).

Mercury, messenger for Roman gods.


Mother earth.
  • One of the sons of Zeus was Hermes, son of the Greek Maia, was considered the messenger of the gods and so was naturally thought to be very swift.
  • Heraclitus even believed that Mercury and Venus orbit the Sun, not the Earth.
  • Hermes is usually pictured with wings on his sandals and on his cap and he was also the god of commerce, cunning, and invention.
  • These heralds carried a special staff as the sign of their position and this was called a “caduceus” and Hermes carried such a staff.
  • Supposedly because Hermes moved so quickly, the staff, as well as his cap and sandals, had wings.
  • Of all the planets in our solar system, the one that moves most quickly against the background of the stars was naturally named after the swift-footed Hermes and the Romans identified their own god of commerce, Mercury, with Hermes, and so we know the planet as Mercury.
  • Hermes, or Mercury, was the patron of travellers, merchants (deity of commerce), rogues, and thieves; as well as being the Roman wind deity.
  • He also escorted the souls of the departed to Hades; and as that character, he was called Psychopompus and under the name of Oneicopompus, he was regarded as the lord of dreams and visions.
  • Lord of Wednesday.
  • In astro-mythology, the messenger, being the intermediary between the four elements, air, earth, fire, water, and the phenomena produced by them.

  • A few scientific facts about Mercury:

  • Innermost of the planets, Mercury swoops to within 46 000 000 km of the sun, then slows down as it swings out to some 70 000 000 km away.
  • Mercury’s orbit is more elliptical than the path of any other planet except Pluto.
  • If orbits were racetracks, speedy Mercury would leave the other planets behind.
  • It zips along at about one and a half times the speed of Earth.
Back button.    You may return to the page of planet images from here.