Hermes Trismegistus

This article is about the Isu. You may be looking for Hermes, the 1st century BCE horse.

Hermes Trismegistus (Ἑρμῆς ὁ Τρισμέγιστος, "thrice-greatest Hermes"), was an Isu craftsman and the High Scientist and Engineer of Persephone who was later revered as a god by ancient Greeks and Egyptians.

His beliefs and philosophies eventually influenced the foundation of an ancient religious order called the Cult of Hermes. This cult, in turn led to the birth of the Cult of Kosmos. His Roman equivalent was Mercury.

Names

Hermes Trismegistus was known by many other names, including the short-form, Hermes. ^{[citation needed]} In Roman mythology, he was known as Mercury.

Biography

A skillful craftsman and inventor, Hermes was noted for his technological contributions during the Isu Era, in particularly the Wings of Hermes, portals which served as a means of transport to higher locations. These portals were later included in the Sister Realms of Elysium, the Underworld and Atlantis.

Towards the end of the Isu Era, Hermes attended a summit of the Sister Realms as Persephone's representative of Elysium and her High Scientist and Engineer. There, a delegation of the Atlantean embassies presented the Solar Dynamics Observatory of Atlantis' concerns over the threat of solar instability but, with tensions high between the realms, Hermes simply stormed off.

Later, Hermes survived the Great Catastrophe that brought about the beginning of the end for the Isu species wielding a staff that granted immortality to its bearer. Tens of thousands of years later, in the sixth century BCE, Hermes met Pythagoras and his protégé Kyros of Zarax in a remote desert. There, Hermes passed his staff onto Pythagoras, naming him his successor before disappearing.

Simulated life

Hermes meeting Kassandra

During the Peloponnesian War, the misthios Kassandra, at the behest of Aletheia, visited a simulation of Elysium wherein a simulated version of Hermes could be found.

Within this simulation, Hermes guided Kassandra in her efforts to strengthen her connection with the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus–which she had inherited from her birth father, Pythagoras–whilst supporting the reign of Persephone, for whom Hermes held great affection.

Mythology

Greek mythology

Hermes is regarded as one of the Twelve Gods, the major deities of the Greek pantheon.

Roman mythology

In one story, Mercury loved the human princess Herse of Athens. Her jealous sister, Aglauros, however, barred Mercury from their house. Outraged at Aglauros' presumptuousness, the god turned her to stone.

Personality and traits

In Aletheia's simulation, Hermes was shown to be deeply in love with Persephone, unable to identify his own ruthless nature and always trying to keep his word. Being under Persephone's thrall made Hermes cruel, perfectionist, misanthropic, paranoid, ruthless, and tyrannical. Like the other Isu, he despised humans, considering them weak beings who should be governed, especially Adonis, whom he abhorred for his relationship with Aphrodite for being the leader of the rebellion. However, at the beginning, Hermes pretended to get along with Kassandra since she was carrying his staff.

Legacy and Influence

During the late 5th century BCE, statues of Hermes were used all over the Peloponnese and the Greek islands as message boards on which bounties, contracts and other miscellanea were posted. Hermes was also worshipped on the island of Kephallonia, where a statue in his likeness stood inside the Drogarati Cave. In addition, a staff called Hermes' Kerukeion ended up in the possession of Kassandra during the Peloponnesian War.

In Egypt during the 1st century BCE, the citizens of Hermopolis replaced Thoth with Hermes in the Temple of Thoth. Berenike, the Nomarch of the Faiyum Oasis wrote a commendation to the temple, extending her thanks for embracing Hermes and promising they would be well compensated.

Sometime between 1624 and 1626, the French painter Nicolas Poussin created his work, Mercury, Herse, and Aglauros, depicting the story of Mercury and his lover, Herse, and her jealous sister, Aglauros.

In 1806, the French artist Nicolas-André Monsiau illustrated the Twelve Olympians for a publication of Les Métamorphoses d'Ovide, with Hermes being within the line-up, fifth clockwise from top center.

In 2012, Hermes was one of many individuals included in the Glyph puzzles the late Assassin Clay Kaczmarek had left behind in the Animus as messages for his successor Desmond Miles to decipher. Desmond later did in September of that year. Desmond solved this puzzle, which was part of a set titled "In the Beginning" where Hermes was excluded from the list of individuals revealed by Clay to have wielded an Sword of Eden.

Later that same year, Monsiau's artwork of the Olympians containing Hermes was added to a dossier in a selection dubbed the "Abstergo Files" for viewing by participants in the third stage of the Animi Training Program.

In 2020, Layla Hassan listed Hermes in her notes as the first bearer of the Staff.

Behind the scenes

Hermes Trismegistus is a mythical individual and character first introduced in Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy, although only first psychically appeared in the Assassin's Creed: Odyssey DLC The Fate of Atlantis: Fields of Elysium, where he is portrayed by an unknown voice actor.

While one and the same individual in lore, historically Hermes and Hermes Trismegistus are by-and-large considered separate individuals, with Hermes Trismegistus being the purported author of the Hermetic Corpus, a series of sacred texts that are the basis of Hermeticism. That said, certain worshippers in Ptolemaic Egypt recognized an equivalence between Hermes (the god), Hermes Trismegistus, and Thoth. In Abrahamic mythology Hermes Trismegistus is connected to Enoch and the prophet Idris.

Gallery

• 
  Hermes Trismegistus as he appeared to Pythagoras and Kyros of Zarax
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  Closeup of Hermes' simulated form in Elysium
• 
  An illustration of Hermes Trismegistus
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  Statue of Hermes, used as a message board in 5th century BCE Greece
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  Hermes (middle right) amongst the Greek pantheon
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  Mercury, Herse, and Aglauros by Nicolas Poussin

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed II (painting only)
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations (drawing only)
• Assassin's Creed: Initiates (indirect mention only)
• Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Origins (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (sculpture only)
  • The Fate of Atlantis: Fields of Elysium (simulation only)
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (mentioned only)