Different Roles Between Apollo And Hermes

Apollo is the god of music, plague and prophecy while Hermes is the god of trade and thieves. They are both sons of Zeus as are half-brothers. From birth, Apollo was born with power and recognition as a god, while Hermes had to build his reputation through his use of metis. If the two brothers were to be compared to each other, Apollo would be seen more as a god-like entity. Based on their roles, their resolute attitude towards things and the recognition they had since birth will show the difference between Apollo and Hermes. Since Apollo is the god of music, plague, and prophecy and Hermes is the gods of thieves and trade, it is a given that they play different roles as a god. Looking at Hermes’ titles, it does not express his god-like …show more content…
In a sense, he did his duty as a god by solving a problem the gods created. Besides the serpent incident, he was so daring as to threaten his father Zeus. When Zeus shot a lightning bolt at Apollo’s son, Asclepius, it killed him and because of that, Apollo killed the Cyclopes. This indicates that if he doesn’t get the respect he deserves, then they will end up suffering and shows how Apollo would never back down when someone had done him wrong. When this is compared to Hermes who holds the title of thievery and trade, it signifies his way with information. Thieves and merchants get their information through their network of people that they had associate with and delivering messages was one of Hermes role. Whenever Hermes deliver a message or information, it was because someone order him to do so. An example of this was when Zeus sent Hermes to Tartarus to get Persephone back so Demeter would stop harming the world where the mortals lived (H.H. Dem 334-353). This shows that Hermes is more of a follower as he listened to Zeus when he gave the order. He did not try to reject the order, it was more like he was glad to accept the request. Besides that, in the Hymn to Hermes, he …show more content…
Hermes does not have any kind of recognition since birth and he had to get recognized on his own with the use of metis. No gods should work for their reputation, they must start off with some kind recognition regardless of how small it may be but since birth, he had nothing. Since Hermes had to work for his reputation, he is no better than a mortal. By building his reputation, it can be said that he is no better than a random mortal. Besides, even after Hermes have gain some reputation, he is mainly known as a messenger. Being a messenger is not seen as a god-like figure but more of a underling. Other gods could also deliver messages as well but Hermes just does it much faster and better. The point is that this reputation does not strike someone as a god-like entity. At least Apollo had some kind of recognition since birth. He even continued to build it unintentionally, which was seen during the Pytho incident. Based off of that, it shows how strong Apollo can be. Apollo is known as a violent god but that is only the case when someone provokes or angers him. This shows why Apollo is more of a god-like entity then