bronze sculpture group of a horse and chariot

The kerykeion of Hermes (known to the Romans as the caduceus of Mercury) is one of ancient Greece and Rome's most iconic symbols.

It all started with a family tiff. Mischievous baby Hermes stole the sacred cattle of his half-brother Apollo who, understandably, was furious. To appease his older brother, Hermes quickly invented the very first lyre (crafted from a tortoise shell) and gave it to Apollo. Delighted by his new lyre (which then became Apollo's main attribute on pottery and in sculpture) the god reciprocated by giving Hermes his (originally) rustic wooden staff, which when it changed hands, was transformed into pure gold.

It's interesting also that there is a notion that true wealth is generated when goods travel and change hands. In Homer, the guest gift is all the more significant when it has 'pedigree' - like Odysseus' bow, and the boar's tusk helmet worn by Odysseus in the Iliad. Physical archives of prestigious relationships, reflecting a world where objects are invested with significance and are valued for their journeys and for their permanence.

Hermes put his new toy to good use, by separating two fighting serpents, who, entwined thereafter in eternal harmony, transformed the kerykeion into a symbol of resolution.

The serpent was also a symbol of healing in ancient Greece, hence the connection with Asklepios, god of medicine, whose symbol is a single snake wound around a staff. In the US, however, you'll see Hermes' kerykeion used in corporate healthcare logos!

'Kerykeion', from the ancient Greek word 'keryx' meaning 'herald', refers to Hermes' role as messenger of the gods. Heralds enjoyed something like diplomatic immunity, and their role made them legally and spiritually untouchable under the protection of Zeus, in his capacity as 'xenios', namely as protector of guests and foreigners. Even at the height of war, a herald could walk safely into an enemy camp to negotiate.

In addition to being the wily protector god of thieves, Hermes became the protector of travellers, and represents the crossing of boundaries: the threshold, the marketplace, the crossroads. He moves between spaces, in the liminal... he is the energy of trade and commerce, speech and communication, transitions and altered states.

With a touch of his kerykeion, Hermes could induce sleep (Hypnos) and wakefulness in mortals, and in his role as Psychopompos ('escorter of souls') he used the kerykeion to cross the most rigid boundary in the cosmos: that between the world of the living, and the realm of death (Thanatos), where Hades and Persephone reigned.

The wings at the crown of the kerykeion were represented across Hermes' other accessories, from his winged sandals (talaria) to his winged traveller's hat (petasos), making him the embodiment of transience, and ultimate defier of boundaries, always on the move.

Mercurial Hermes was the only deity who could effortlessly mingle among gods on Mount Olympus, walk amongst men in a bustling city marketplace, and escort the souls of the dead into the dark depths of the Underworld. The wings are a reminder of his fluid energy - the freedom to cross any border, to adapt to any situation, and to move effortlessly between different worlds.

Tripods - from the Greek 'tripous', meaning 'three footed' - were symbolic tokens of hospitality and status, and of achievement in athletics and drama.

In Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, the bronze tripod was a functional vessel, used for boiling water - for bathing or for cooking. Its three legs gave it stability on burning logs or hot coals on uneven surfaces.

Larger 'unfired' (ie unused) tripods on a larger scale were exchanged as guest gifts, tokens of xenia, the sacred and inviolable reciprocal 'hospitality bond' between host and guest, protected by Zeus.

Odysseus' first priority, after he'd woken up in a daze on the beach in Ithaca, was to squirrel away in a nearby cave the 13 tripods and other valuable gifts, which he'd been given by the Phaeacians, whose ship had brought him home. Where 'guest gifts' are concerned, their value was incrementally increased if there was proper provenance - the more previous, illustrious owners, the better. 12 tripods were given to Odysseus by the ruling princes of Phaeacia, the 13th by King Alcinous himself. The fact that Phaeacia was something of a utopian, liminal paradise, on the boundary between the ordinary human world and the realm of the gods, gave these particular tripods extra cachet.

In the Iliad, they were also given as prizes for victory in games, notably as first prize for the chariot race during the Funeral Games organised by Achilles in honour of his friend Patroklos. This tripod had a direct link to Apollo, so it had a tip-top pedigree provenance!

A bronze tripod was also awarded as a prize to the winning production of ancient Greek drama, during the annual Athenian festival held in honour of Dionysos, whose complex cult resulted in the birth of drama and the theatre. The wealthy citizen who had sponsored the winning production of, let's say, Aeschylus' Oresteia in 458BC, was presented with the tripod, which he would then dedicate to Dionysos, by placing it in a shrine, for all to see! (Pausanias describes this Street of the Tripods (ΟΔΟΣ ΤΡΙΠΟΔΩΝ) on the north slopes of the Akropolis. It is now bustling with restaurants, the tripods on their marble plinths long gone!)

The tripod is also associated with Apollo, god of oracles and prophecy. In Apollo's sanctuary in Delphi, his priestess, the Pythia, would sit in the cauldron of a tripod and inhale laurel fumes before delivering her prophetic utterances. At one point, Apollo's half-brother Herakles tried to wrestle the tripod from Apollo, as depicted on several vases and on temple sculptures such as the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi.

Figures of horses, griffins and ibex were frequently used to decorate the handles, and were known as the 'protome' of the tripod. Take a look at It's All Greek's griffin protome in three sizes in griffins and bulls.

One of the most iconic characters in ancient Greek mythology, Medusa, whose name means guardian or protectress, was a winged female monster. A Gorgon. Instead of hair, she had hissing venomous snakes. Anyone who looked at her face would be petrified - literally turned into stone.

But Medusa had another life before being a Gorgon. She had been a beautiful young girl, who, after being seduced by Poseidon in Athena's temple, was transformed by Athena into a hideous monster.

She was eventually beheaded by the hero Perseus, who managed to avoid being turned into stone, thanks to various gifts from the gods: Athena gave him a polished shield so that he could avoid looking straight at Medusa; Hermes gave him winged sandals; Hephaistos gave him a sword, and Hades a helmet of invisibility.

When she died, Medusa was pregnant by Poseidon, and from her severed head emerged Pegasus the winged horse.

Medusa's image, in the form of her severed snake-haired head, became known as a Gorgoneion. It formed a central element in the aegis shared by Zeus and Athena, and developed as an apotropaic symbol, designed to ward off evil.

Her severed head was also a popular choice to decorate the hoplon, the hoplite shield, lynchpin of the Classical Greek land-based infantry phalanx.

The horse - Greek 'hippos' - was a symbol of wealth, status, military power, and divine majesty. Horses were integral to a thriving economy, and an essential part of victorious warfare. These high value and high maintenance luxury items, were pretty much restricted to ownership by the aristocracy and/or the wealthy.

Owning and entering chariot teams in the Panhellenic Games (such as the Olympic in Olympia, the Pythian in Delphi) and in the Panathenaic Games in Athens, brought great prestige to the owner. Achilles in the Iliad rode into battle with immortal horses (who could also speak) Xanthos and Balios.

Poseidon, god of the sea, oceans, and earthquakes, created the horse from the crashing waves, connecting the animal's untamed, powerful spirit to elemental fury. The sun god Helios and the moon goddess Selene drove their horse-drawn chariots across the sky, anchoring the horse in the daily rhythm of the universe. Pegasus the winged horse, and son of Poseidon and Medusa, represents the ultimate bridge between the earthly realm and divine inspiration.

Figurines in bronze and terracotta have been found in abundance in ancient Greek religious sanctuaries, where they would have been sold to visitors to leave as offerings to the gods.

The bronze pieces are cast in Greece using the traditional lost wax method. As nothing is mass-produced, there will inevitably be slight variations in texture, patina, and colour. No two pieces are ever the same. If mounted on a marble base, it will be a black or very dark grey base. There may be a variation of some millimetres in the dimensions of the base from time to time.

It's All Greek is so grateful and so proud to have been working closely with the Semitekolo family foundry since 1999. It has been a privilege and a joy to handle, live with, and photograph these gorgeous pieces and to pass them on to customers all over the world.