Hermes (Mercury) is the messenger of the gods and the god of a remarkably wide range of activities: travelers, commerce, cattle, thievery (he is the divine patron of cunning and the 'trickster'), and the boundary (he is Hermes 'the guide' at crossroads) [S1][S2][S4][S5]. Son of Zeus and the nymph Maia, he is a child-prodigy: on the day of his birth he stole Apollo's cattle and invented the lyre from a tortoise shell, then traded it to Apollo [S4][S5]. His most solemn role is as psychopomp — the guide who leads the souls of the dead to the underworld (he escorts Persephone, he guides Odysseus's crew's dead, etc.) [S3][S4]. He is the patron of thieves, merchants, and travelers, and his wand (the caduceus, winged and entwined by two serpents) is his signature [S4][S5].