The son of Zeus and Maia, the god of commerce and messenger of the gods in Greek mythology; equivalent to the Roman god Mercury: Hermes was the patron of athletes, thieves, and trade, and he was usually shown with wings on his cap and sandals; in addition, Hermes was described as the god who also served as messenger, scribe, and herald for the other gods.

See this Roman god, Mercury and his connections with the planets.

Greek: Hermes (god)
Latin: Mercury (god)

Messenger of the gods, god of commerce (trade) and thieves; also, the god of science, eloquence, cleverness, travel, and thievery.

Symbols: Winged cap, winged sandals, and a caduceus (a winged staff with two serpents twined around it, said to suggest intercourse) which some say should not be used to represent medicine or medical organizations.

Greek: Asclepius (god)
Latin: Aesculapius (god)

The Aesculapius staff is considered to be the appropriate symbol of medicine, not the Mercury caduceus. The Hermes or Mercury symbol is incorrectly used by most U.S. medical organizations.

1. A name variously ascribed by Neoplatonists and others to an Egyptian priest or to the Egyptian god Thoth, to some extent identified with the Grecian Hermes: Various mystical, religious, philosophical, astrological, and alchemical writings were ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus.
2. The Hellenistic Hermes, Egyptianized through contact with the Egyptian Thoth: Trismegistos is derived from the Egyptian superlative obtained through repetition where Hermes appears as "Great, Great, Great" on the Rosetta stone; which was later simplified through the substitution of the prefix "tris" in the Roman period.

Hermes Trismegistus is said to have been the author of 42 "fundamental books" of Egyptian religion, including astrological, cosmological, geographical, medical, and pedagogic (teaching) books as well as hymns to the gods and instructions on how to worship.