Mercury

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

‘Mercury’ (Acts 14:12 Revised Version; Authorized Version‘Mercurius,’ Revised Version margin ‘Gr. Hermes ’), like ‘Jupiter’ ( q.v. [Note: .v. quod vide, which see.]), is used as the Greek equivalent of some local Lycaonian god. Hermes ‘is the name of a Greek god (corresponding to the Roman Mercury) whose origin and real character are perhaps more difficult to define than is the case with any other Greek deity’ (Ramsay, Encyclopaedia Britannica 9 xi. [1880] 749). He was the accredited messenger between gods and men. Besides this he was the god of social intercourse, and hence came to be regarded as the personification of cleverness; that he should then be regarded as the patron of thieves was but a step. He is also spoken of as conducting the souls of the departed to their last home-an idea inherited from the Vedic mythology. Because of his connexion with the wind he is generally represented as wearing winged shoes. St. Paul, however, was dubbed ‘Hermes,’ ‘because he was the chief speaker,’ which reminds us that this deity was thought of as the god of eloquence. The statue of the god by Praxiteles in the Heraion at Olympia conceived him as possessing peculiar beauty and grace, which accords ill with the traditional portrait of the Apostle. The fact is that the Lycaonians were so wrought upon by the miracle that had been performed, and so delighted at the eloquence of St. Paul, that they did not stop to consider such details.

F. W. Worsley.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): (v. t.) To wash with a preparation of mercury.

(2): (n.) A Latin god of commerce and gain; - treated by the poets as identical with the Greek Hermes, messenger of the gods, conductor of souls to the lower world, and god of eloquence.

(3): (n.) A metallic element mostly obtained by reduction from cinnabar, one of its ores. It is a heavy, opaque, glistening liquid (commonly called quicksilver), and is used in barometers, thermometers, ect. Specific gravity 13.6. Symbol Hg (Hydrargyrum). Atomic weight 199.8. Mercury has a molecule which consists of only one atom. It was named by the alchemists after the god Mercury, and designated by his symbol, /.

(4): (n.) One of the planets of the solar system, being the one nearest the sun, from which its mean distance is about 36,000,000 miles. Its period is 88 days, and its diameter 3,000 miles.

(5): (n.) A plant (Mercurialis annua), of the Spurge family, the leaves of which are sometimes used for spinach, in Europe.

(6): (n.) A carrier of tidings; a newsboy; a messenger; hence, also, a newspaper.

(7): (n.) Sprightly or mercurial quality; spirit; mutability; fickleness.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

MERCURY stands in the AV [Note: Authorized Version.] for the Gr. Hermes in Acts 14:12 . Hermes, as the spokesman of the gods, was regarded by the Greeks as the god of eloquence. Hence, when Paul and Barnabas healed the cripple at Lystra, the former was hailed as Hermes, ‘because he was the chief speaker.’ The identification of Hermes with Mercury was due to another attribute. As the messenger of the gods, Hermes was the god who brought good fortune to men. Mercury was the Roman god of commerce (cf. merx, mercari ), and success in commerce was attributed to him. Hence the mythology of the two was confused.

A. E. Hillard.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A fabulous god of the ancient heathen, the messenger of the celestials, and the deity that presided over learning, eloquence, and traffic. The Greeks named him Hermes, interpreter, because they considered him as the interpreter of the will of the gods. Probably it was for this reason that he people of Lystra, having heard Paul preach, and having seen him heal a lame man, would have offered sacrifice to him as to their god Mercury; and to Barnabas as Jupiter, because of his venerable aspect, Acts 14:11-12 .

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Mer'cury. Acts 14:12. The translation of Mercurius, in the Revised Version.

Holman Bible Dictionary

Pagan GodsHermes

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

The Roman name for the Greek Hermes, the son of Jupiter and Maia, the messenger of the gods, the patron of merchants and travellers, and the conductor of the souls of the dead to the nether world.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

[HERMES]