Messenger of the Gods; god of commerce, travel, messengers, trade, cunning wiles, language, writing, diplomacy, athletics, animal husbandry and thieves. Symbols include the caduceus (staff entwined with two snakes), winged sandals and cap, ram, hawk, stork and tortoise (whose shell he used to invent the lyre). Son of Zeus and the nymph Maia. The second-youngest Olympian, older only than Dionysus. He married Dryope, the daughter of Dryops, and their son Pan became the god of nature, lord of the satyrs, inventor of the panpipes and comrade of Dionysus.
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