One of the Egyptian names for Mercury, when he combined many attributes of Osiris and other deities, was Thoth, which, according to Jablonski’s “Pantheon Ægypt,” signifies “an assembly composed of sages and educated persons, the sacerdotal college of a city or temple.” Professor Anthon says: “Thus the collective priesthood of Egypt, personified and considered as a unity, was represented by an imaginary being to whom was ascribed the invention of languages and writing, hence the sacrifice of tongues to Mercury. He was also credited with the origin of geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, medicine, music, rhythm, the institution of religion and sacred processions, the introduction of gymnastic or health-giving exercises, and, finally, the less indispensable, though not less valuable, arts of architecture, sculpture and painting. So many volumes were attributed to him that no human being could possibly have composed them.
“For many years it was customary for the priests devoted to his service to present the results of their labours to Thoth, receiving no reward or glory for the individual work, which was turned to the advantage of the whole sacerdotal association in being ascribed to its presiding genius, who, by his double figure, indicated the necessity for a plural doctrine, of which the interpretation was confined entirely to his initiates, or priests, who translated the occult signs of the gods or the learning entrusted to their care to the inquirers, who frequented the temples to receive knowledge or directions in the material walks of life which they were taught to believe was transmitted by the oracle to ordinary mortals by the priests of Thoth, who alone understood the painted or written signs.”
Besides the arts and crafts before mentioned as being under the protection of the Egyptian god, was the important one of commerce. “This in like manner,” says Professor Anthon, “was intended to express the influence of the priesthood on commercial enterprises.”
“The identity of Hermes with the Dog Star, Sirius, that serves as precursor of the inundation of the Nile, the emblem of which,” says the same authority, “was the gazelle that flies to the desert on the rising of the waters, his rank in demonology as the father of spirits and guide of the dead, his quality of incarnate godhead, and his cosmogonical alliance with the generative fire, the light, the source of all knowledge, and with water, the principle of fecundity. It is surprising, however, to observe how strangely the Grecian spirit modified the Egyptian Hermes, who was transformed by the Greeks into the messenger or interpreter of the wishes of others who were more powerful than himself, but not omnipotent, as the Egyptian mythology regarded him.”
This is seen in the mystic portions of the early Orphic or Homeric hymns, where Hermes is treated quite differently than is done in the Iliad or the Odyssey. The earliest records of Hermes recall all the peculiar qualities of the Egyptian Hermes, and sometimes even the strange legends of the Hindoo Avatars, as well as the Babylonian Nebo. One of the Hindoo gods bears the same emblems that are devoted to Mercury, namely: the Cup, the Sword, the Staff, and the Ring, Coin, or Circle; but a striking difference is noted when Hermes is adopted by the Romans, who even changed his name as well as his characteristics, although retaining his distinguishing marks or emblems.
“The Romans,” says Professor Anthon, “first received the sacerdotal Hermes, whose worship had been brought into Etruria by the Pelasgi, previous to the time of Homer, and, as the earlier Hermes had been represented by a column, he became with them the god Terminus. When, however, the Romans became acquainted with the twelve great deities of the Athenians, they adopted the Grecian Hermes under the name of Mercury, preserving at the same time the remembrance of their previous traditions and jumbling the attributes of the Egyptian god Thoth with that of the Grecian Hermes.”
But, in order to make this favourite god of use, it was necessary to approach him through his own priests, the only persons who were initiated into his mysteries and who could interpret them. Since these priests were already established and had been for some time in Italy, in the great temple of Serapeon, it is easy to see how the cult engaged the attention of the people, and how readily it absorbed the new-fashioned god who strayed there from so many different quarters.