Mercurius

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

 Acts 14:12. Mythology represented Mercurius as having once visited Phrygia with Jupiter his father, and having been refused hospitality by all except Baucis and Philemon, two old peasants (Ovid, Metam. 8:620). Hence the simple people of Lystra supposed, from the miracle on the cripple, that Paul and Barnabas were Mercurius and Jupiter once more visiting the earth "in the likeness of men." Mercurius being the god of eloquence, they called Paul Mercurius, the herald of the gods. Mercurius was usually figured a beardless youth, but there was an old Pelasgic figure of him bearded. Barnabas, the more stately and majestic in mien, they called Jupiter ( 2 Corinthians 10:10).

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Mercu'rius. (Herald Of The Gods). Properly Hermes, the Greek deity, whom the Romans identified with their Mercury, the god of commerce and bargains. Hermes was the son of Zeus, (Jupiter), and Maia, the daughter of Atals, and is constantly represented as the companion of his father in his wandering upon earth.

The episode of Baucis and Philemon, Ovid, Metam. Viii. 620-724, appears to have formed part of the folk-lore of Asia Minor, and strikingly illustrates the readiness with which the simple people of Lystra recognized in Barnabas and Paul, the gods who, according to their wont, had come down in the likeness of men.  Acts 14:11.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Mercurius ( Mer-Kû'Ri-Ŭs ), identical with the Greek Hermes ( The Speaker ). One of the heathen deities fabled to be the son of Jupiter and Maia. He was supposed to preside over eloquence and merchandise, and to be the messenger of the gods. Barnabas and Paul were taken by the people at Lystra for Jupiter and Mercury.  Acts 14:11-13. Ovid has a story of these two deities wandering in the adjacent country of Phrygia.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Ἑρμῆς. The god Hermes of the Greeks, identified with Mercurius of the Romans. When a miracle had been wrought by Paul at Lystra the heathen inhabitants supposed this god was visiting them in the person of Paul, and the priest would have sacrificed to him.  Acts 14:12 .

Holman Bible Dictionary

Hermes   Acts 14:12Pagan GodsHermes

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Acts 14:12

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(the Roman name of the god Mercury, the Hermes of the Greeks, ῾Ερμῆς ,  Acts 14:12; comp.  Romans 16:14; the name is of uncertain etymology), properly, a Greek deity, whom the Romans identified with their god of commerce and bargains. In the Greek mythology Hermes was the son of Zeus and Maia, the daughter of Atlas, and is constantly represented as the companion of his father in his wanderings upon earth. On one of these occasions they were travelling in Phrygia, and were refused hospitality by all save Baucis and Philemon, the two aged peasants of whom Ovid tells the charming episode in his Metam. 8:620-724, which appears to have formed part of the folk-lore of Asia Minor. SEE Lycaonia

Mercury was the herald of the gods (Homer, Od . v. 28; Hym . In Herm . 3), and of Zeus (Od . 1:38, 84; Il . 24:333; 461), the eloquent orator (Od . 1:86; Horace, Od . 1:10, 1), inventor of letters, music, and the arts. He was equally characterized by-adroitness of action -and readiness of speech, being the representative of intelligence and craft among men (see Pauly's Real-Encyklop . 4:1842). He was usually-represented as a slender, beardless youth,but in an older Pelasgic figure he was bearded. The fact that he was the customary attendant of Jupiter when he appeared on earth (Ovid, Fast . v. 495; comp. Metam . 2:731 sq.), explains why the inhabitants of Lystra ( Acts 14:12), as soon as they were disposed to believe that the gods had visited them in the likeness of men, discovered Hermes in Paul, as the chief speaker, and as the attendant of Jupiter (see Kuinol, Comment . ad loc.). It seems unnecessary to be curious whether the representations of Mercury in ancient statues accord with the supposed personal appearance of Paul (see Walch, Diss. ad Acta Ap. 3:183 sq.), and especially in the matter of the beard of the latter, for all known representations of the god differ in much more important particulars from the probable costume of Paul (e.g. in the absence of any garment at all, or in the use of the short chlamys merely; in the caduceus, the petasus,. etc. (see Muller, Ancient Art, § 379381). It is more reasonable to suppose that those who expected to see the gods mixing in the affairs of this lower world, in human form, would not look for much more than the outward semblance of ordinary men.