Download god hermes as the messenger archetype

The Journal of Academic Social Science Studies
International Journal of Social Science
Doi number:http://dx.doi.org/10.9761/JASSS3091
Number: 39 , p. 337-346, Autumn III 2015
Yayın Süreci
Yayın Geliş Tarihi
09.09.2015
Yayınlanma Tarihi
25.10.2015
GOD HERMES AS THE MESSENGER ARCHETYPE
HABERCİ ARKETİPİ OLARAK TANRI HERMES
Asst Prof. Dr. Ömer ALANKA
Atatürk University Faculty of Communication Department of Journalism General
Abstract
This study reviews Hermes, the messenger of gods in the Ancient Greek Mythology as the messenger archetype. In addition to the messenger image, the Hermes
persona contains commerce, robbery, and hermeneutics. Being a reflection of the mythical thought, the myth of Hermes is an important figure in mapping the mental patterns
and an archetypal symbol in investigating the news and messenger typology. The myth
of Hermes reveals the general view regarding the ancient period in understanding the
meaning of the communication phenomenon in the Archaic period and the communication processes. Another focus point of the study is also the connection between the news
and discourse in the Hellenistic period, where communication was also transformed into
a part of the metaphysical process. While the collective unconscious and temporal bonds
break off and form similar images and ways of thinking, Hermes becomes one of this
collective unconscious samples as the messenger symbol. The concepts of news, discourse, and logos find the least common denominator with communication in the Ancient Greek culture. In this context, this study carries out a literature review regarding
the communication in the ancient period and examines how the concept of messenger
has been transformed into the collective unconscious in the example of God Hermes
with an archetypal approach.
Keywords: Hermes, Persona, Archetype, Messenger, Collective Unconscious
Özet
Bu çalışmada haberci arketipi olarak Antik Yunan Mitolojisinde tanrıların
habercisi olan Hermes incelenmektedir. Hermes personası haberci imgesinin yanı sıra
bünyesinde ticareti, hırsızlığı, hermenötiği barındırmaktadır. Mitik düşüncenin bir
yansıması olarak Hermes mitosu, zihinsel kalıpların haritalanmasında önemli bir figür
olurken, haber ve haberci tipolojisinin araştırılmasında arketipal bir semboldür. Arkaik
dönem iletişim olgusunun anlamı ve haberleşme süreçlerinin anlaşılmasında Hermes
miti, antik döneme ilişkin genel manzarayı ortaya koymaktadır. Haberleşmenin aynı
zamanda metafiziksel bir sürecin parçasına dönüştüğü Helenik dönemde haber ve söz
arasındaki bağlantı çalışmanın bir diğer odak noktasını oluşturmaktadır. Kolektif
bilinçdışı ile zamansal bağlar kopup benzer imgeler ve düşünme biçimleri oluşurken,
haberci sembolü olarak Hermes bu kolektif bilinçdışının örneklerinden biri haline
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Ömer ALANKA
gelmektedir. Haber, söz ve logos kavramları antik çağda Yunan kültüründe haberleşme
ile aynı paydada buluşmaktadır. Bu bağlamda çalışmada antik dönem iletişimine ilişkin
literatür taraması yapılmakta ve haberci kavramının kolektif bilinçdışında nasıl dönüştüğü Tanrı Hermes örneğinde incelenmektedir.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Hermes, Persona, Arketip, Haberci, Kolektif Bilinçdışı
INTRODUCTION
Mythological thought is trivialized
by modern science as it is irrational and is
based on mythos and legends. However,
the connection of mythology with dreams
and psyche (spirit) has made it an
interesting area worth of being investigated
in every periods. Mythology has usually
answered the questions of ontology. The
mythos that have a function of explaining
the meaning of the source of existence, as
well
as
death
and
life
involve
psychological, ideological, sociological,
cultural and historical cores in their lower
texts and thus, they have universal
qualifications. Mythology has always
endeavored to explain the origin, the
inception and the archetypes (initial
examples) with allegorical discourses and
remove the obscurity fears in human
beings. Answers have been developed for
phenomena like birth and death. In the
dichotomic conflict of nature and culture,
the mythos have strengthened the hand of
culture and reversed the weakness of
human beings in the face of nature. Even
though the mythos has an irrational quality,
they have fulfilled important functions as
they constitute and sustain the political,
cultural, and ideological structure of the
period. Mythos have filled both political
and sociological gap in terms of the
establishment and the infinite sustainment
of the masculine society. In this context,
God Hermes not only becomes the archaic
state of his messenger identity, but also
presents the universe of meaning
concerning news. This character also
answers the phenomenon of messenger.
This answer offers opportunity to compare
today’s culture with the culture in the
archaic period, and God Hermes has a
central importance in this comparison.
Thus, trying to understand Hermes as a
mythological symbol also answers the
archaic period of the messenger typology.
In order to understand the symbol of
Hermes, this study uses Jung’s concept of
archetype and considers the characteristics
of a mythological god. Reviewing the
persona of Hermes, this study focuses on
the qualifications of the concepts of news
and messenger in the ancient period.
Hermes Archetype
The concept of archetype is one of
the most important concepts of the analytic
psychology that has multilayer associations
in understanding the psychological states of
people and communities. Jung argues that
the mental structure of human beings is
separated into three parts as ego, personal
unconscious and collective unconscious,
and that the collective unconscious
constitutes the hereditary basis of mental
life and personality. Jung states that the
collective unconscious is inherited from
ancestors and this part is always expressed
symbolically in legends such as myth in an
unconscious way. Mythology has become
effective upon shaping the collective
unconscious of human beings. In Jung’s
psychology, the archetypes originate from
the collective unconscious and become
known in all imaginary products of the
healthy or neurotic subject in fairy tales and
legends (Cevizci, 2000, p.83). Mythos
determines and shapes the collective
unconscious of human beings with
archetypal structures. Archetypes are the
remnants of the psychic characteristics of
past people. In the general sense, the
archetypes that are the summation of
God Hermes As The Messenger Archetype
experiences of organic life being repeated
for millions of times and intensified in
patterns represent all the experiences that
have existed on earth since the primary
times (Jung, 1987, p.71). It is possible to
observe the relation of mythos with
psychology in the Freudian psychology, as
well. Freud eminently uses mythological
characters in the symptoms and names of
diseases and shapes his own psychological
thought in this way (for instance, Oedipus
Complex, Electra Complex etc).
Jung defines the archetypes as
primary images that naturally exist in
human psyche and asserts that they form
an accumulation in every human psyche by
showing continuity in the course of time as
from the beginning of humanity. Jung
mentions presence of an immanent modeler
power in human psyche (psychological
structure) and states that this power
spontaneously appears in unassociated
individuals with similar fantasies in various
times and places. Additionally, Jung also
emphasizes that the archetypes frequently
appear in dreams and fantasies by means of
psychoanalysis and the repeated archetypes
depend on a number of typical phenomena
just like our innate tendencies or
predetermined evaluation styles. Figures or
images are considered as personalization of
our innate tendencies and are associated
with mythos all around the world, which
enables us to prove the universality of the
collective unconscious (Campbell, 1974,
pp.12-13). The mythos and fairy tales
produced by different communities on
different geographies of the world bear
similar features and numerous cultures
have common cores, which all form an
important evidence for the existence of the
collective unconscious. The thinkers
asserting that the mind is not a tabula rasa
(blank slate) think that the mind/memory
has a structure that originates from the past
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and is innately determined by various
categories and schemes. In their models
aimed at understanding the human mind,
Freud and Jung accept that human mind
has inherited certain things in perceiving
and organizing the world around us. These
acceptances could be considered as a
serious breakup for that period because the
mind used to be considered as a tabula rasa
in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Mind did not have any innate content,
process or structure and it was shaped by
environmental effects. According to the
behaviorists, the inner structure of mind
such as perceptions, memory, and feelings
could not be a subject of psychology (Knox,
2003, p.11). Contrary to the behaviorist
psychologists, the analytic psychologists
argued that human beings innately brought
certain mindscapes in every period of
history.
In the archaic period, individuals
trying to explain the meaning of life
applied to certain patterns of mind. Seeking
after the ontological answers, the mankind
has made ontological explanations through
various myths and stories. Mythical
thought
describes
the
gods
and
metaphysical powers as humans and
associates the movement of nature with the
power
of
anthropomorphic
gods.
Anthropomorphic structure of gods caused
gods to share the natural events. For
instance, Apollo is the god of sun and
Poseidon is the god of wind. Hermes, on
the other hand, is the god of
communication, trade, thieves, the stranded
and they are under the control of Hermes.
Besides, Hermes is the source of
hermeneutics as the archetype –or the first
example. He is the symbolic equivalent of
trade, communication, correspondence, and
travel. Being a messenger, Hermes provides
the communication and correspondence
between gods and human beings and freely
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Ömer ALANKA
wanders in the sky and underground. The
rich and unique persona of Hermes has also
materialized a number of abstract concepts
in the historical process. The Hermes figure
is used by diplomats and preachers due to
his verbal mastership; journalists and
postmen due to his procurement of
communication; and by merchants as he is
the god of trade. Being among the most
colorful and unique gods of Olympos,
Hermes could be seen as a messenger, an
interpreter and a thief from time to time.
When he is symbolically separated into
three
parts,
his
head
represents
interpretation and journalism; his body
represents the body of news, as well as his
heretically
mentioned
heresy
and
esoterism; and his feet represent bringing
news, mailing and conveying the
communication. Yet another characteristic
of Hermes is that he is a cheater archetype.
According to Doty, the characteristics of
this cheater archetype are as follows. 1- He
is marginal and has a contradictory
temperament. 2- He is erotic and has
features of erotism. 3- He has creative and
innovative aspects. 4- He is a tricky thief. 5He has a funny and humorous
temperament. 6- Hermeneutics, which is
the art of interpretation, is named after him
and he plays roles in hermeneutics.
Qualifications of Hermes are among his
important personality traits in addition to
being a messenger and a herald (Doty,
1993, p.4).
Considering the birth of God
Hermes, he was born as a result of the
intercourse between Zeus and Maia, the
daughter of the Titan Atlas and Pleione.
Being the messenger of gods and especially
Zeus, Hermes was born as follows; Zeus
met Maia in a cave of the mount Cyllene in
the south of Arcadia and a child was born
as a result of this intercourse. The child was
swaddled and laid in a crib. On the day he
was born, Hermes undertook works
proving he was superior than most of the
gods in terms of intelligence and skills.
Hermes refused to stay in his crib for so
long, unfastened his swaddle in the
evening, and hit the road on his feet. He
saw a turtle in front of the cave, killed the
animal, unstuffed its shell and made a
guitar by stretching seven strings made
from lamb bowel. And then he had fun
hearing the pleasant music out of it. He
found the cow herds of the sun god on the
Pieria plains and stole fifty animals from
them. He took the cows to Cyllene, but then
decided to put them back in order for his
theft not be noticed. Hermes used to hide
his footprints by making bizarre sandals
out of faggot (Erhat, 1996, pp.140-141). This
creative aspect of Hermes is also reflected
on his persona. Some of his duties are as
follows: Being the messenger of gods and
especially of Zeus, guiding the travelers
and the stranded, taking the shadows of the
dead underground, assisting the thieves
and merchants, and carrying out researches
and observations. In this context, God
Hermes has dual contradictions and his
duties do vary.
Considering
the
fact
that
communication has broken off from the
human body and become a part of
technology today, it is possible to assert
that each organ of body had a function for
archaic humans. In the classical period, the
communication was dependent on only one
place and was realized symbolically. For
instance, ears and mouth were the most
important means of communication. In
today’s
communication
age,
the
communication ways that are mediated
with technology – such as telephone,
television- minimize the necessity of human
body in terms of ontological aspect. Thus,
ears, eyes, mind, and memory have been
replaced by electronic instruments today;
which weakens the physical interaction and
the necessity of our existence. Our
communicational experiences symbolically
break off from the human physicalism and
God Hermes As The Messenger Archetype
transform into a sort of bodiless
communication, the ears, tongue and
memory has terminated and exported, and
communication
started
to
function
independently from existence (Bettini, 2011,
p.4). In contrast with the present day where
the effect of the ontological existence of
human beings is almost minimized with the
help of technological devices, the ancient or
classical period considered the body the
center of universe and meaning. Being
considered as a miniature version of
universe, the body became the source of
communication in the classical period. Ears
and tongue of Hermes are instruments
enabling the metaphysical communication.
Hermes hears the gods with his ears and
conveys these messages through his
tongue. On the other hand, he uses his
tongue in order to convey the messages of
gods, which are simplified with his mind,
to the mankind. Thus, the body and its
organs are symbolically the micro version
of universe and Hermes as a god is the
symbol of the metaphoric expression of
these symbolic versions in the archaic
period. It is possible to describe the content
of the symbol of Hermes as follows:
Hermes,
in
short, was the god of
circulation
and
everything circulated
around him: coins,
prophetic signs, merchandise, encounters,
klēdones. In Greek religious thought, Hermes might be said to
represent what today
we might define more
prosaically by the term
“communication”: He
was the herald (kērux)
and messenger (angelos), functioning as a
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kind of channel for
communication
between the transmitter and addressee of a
certain message. (Bettini, 2011, p.6).
Hermes is one of the equivalents of
wise man, who exists in every culture, in
Greek mythology. Wise man that appears
in different ways in every culture in the
ancient world tries to help people and is
considered as divine. The archetypes of
wise people could be observed as
bodhisattvas, yogis or gurus in Asia,
wizard physicians in some parts of Africa,
natives in America and shamans in Asian
nomad tribes. In the Bible, the prophets are
depicted as wise men. While elderly people
such as ‘grandmother’, ‘grandfather’ are the
symbols of wisdom in many cultures, the
wise men are generally male in the west.
Even today, wise man is accepted as a
hermit and weird person with white beard
and a long gown in caricatures (Soccio,
2007, p.5). One of the most important
aspects of the symbol of wise men is logos.
The Ancient Greek philosophy pays a great
attention to logos. The term of logos has
been transformed into an extensive
discourse mentioning the law, order and
god. Hermes takes the logos from gods and
conveys it to human beings in a
comprehensible way. In this sense, Hermes
is the transporter and the interpreter of
logos.
From the archetypal aspect,
Hermes is in the intersection of mythology,
religion,
philosophy,
and
esoteric
(potential-internal)
knowledge.
Wise
figures such as Toth in the Ancient Egypt,
Idris in Islam culture, and Buddha in the
Indian culture are depicted as the examples
of this ancient archetype. Being another
variation of the Hermes symbol, the
Hermes Trismegistus (Hermes sanctified
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three times) has been the symbol of wisdom
and the transporter of potential knowledge
throughout history. Kılıç stated that there
are three basic qualifications that have been
effective upon Hermes to become a
universal figure,
and
listed
these
qualifications as follows:
a-) He is mentioned with the Flood
in some way; in other words, he had lived
either before or after it.
b-) He has a prominent, profound,
prophet or a protector personality.
c-) The most remarkable of all these
is that he has a supreme position in all
traditions and he never dies (Kılıç, 2013).
The ability of God Hermes to
communicate with gods gives him the
capacity of reaching the metaphysical
information and the alchemists of the first
age and the medieval age associate their
esoteric knowledge with the power of
Hermes. Thus, the potential knowledge,
alchemy, and initiation (pubescence) are
attributed to Hermes and he has been
accepted as a guide in this metaphysical
universe. Hereby, Hermes has maintained
his importance by being exposed to change
and transformation in the formation of his
image as a god, prophet, saint and
messenger from the first age until today.
Hermes is a god in the beginning and a
prophet afterwards, a transporter of archaic
knowledge in the medieval age, a
mercantilist making transoceanic trade in
the new age (the term mercantilist is
derived from mercury, which is the
equivalent of Hermes in the Roman
mythology) and finally the traveler and
flaneur exploring the world in modern
days.
According
to
the
analytic
psychology, archetypes leave a mark in the
collective unconscious of human beings in
the course of time and they rise from the
subconscious
through
dreams.
Accordingly, various archetypal objects,
symbols, numbers and figures go beyond
time and become effective for people from
every period, which enables these
archetypal elements to become visible in
various ways. In this context, the
phenomena regarding communication and
transportation
are
objectified
with
metaphors like birds, wings in the collective
unconscious of individuals. The fact that
the figures of Hermes, which are
symbolized with Mercury in the ancient
period and then in the Roman mythology,
are archetypally full of communicational
and
transportational
associations
is
important to show this situation. Being a
mythical figure, God Hermes is described
with a winged walking stick in his hand, a
winged hat called petasus and a winged
sandal called alipes. The Hermes'
iconography initially had a white tape on
the walking stick, but then the tape has
been transformed into a curved snake due
to his connection with Hades, the god of
death. The walking stick is pointed to the
eyes of the dead and associated with death.
Besides, Hermes enters the Roman
pantheon using the name of Mercury and
caduceus remains as a snake curved on the
stick. Hermes and Mercury carry the
Asclepios. Asclepios is the god of medicine
and this symbol has also been used as the
emblem of modern medicine in the course
of time (Kennedy, 1998, p.72).
While the ability of Hermes to talk
to gods enables him to maturate in the
hermeneutic field, his divine secrets
develop his heretic and esoteric aspect. This
heretic or hermetic aspect of Hermes is
associated with the fact that he keeps the
potential information. Especially the
discipline of esoteric that used to deal with
the art of alchemy in the medieval age
mainly consists of belief systems that are
developed by referring to the esoteric
knowledge of Hermes. On the other hand,
Hermes is a resident of Olympos where the
principal gods live and a messenger taking
the dead to the underground (hades). This
God Hermes As The Messenger Archetype
connection of Hermes with death
symbolizes his connection with potential
belief systems. Anubis (a black jackal) who
takes the dead to the underground in Egypt
has actually become the equivalent of
Hermes in the Egyptian mythology.
The Persona of Hermes and Its
Importance for Journalism
The term persona which means
character or personality has a universal
meaning for gods by comprising all the
ontological
qualifications
such
as
personality, task. Just like human beings,
personalities of the gods have a broad and
eclectic structure. In this sense, the persona
of Hermes, who is the messenger of Zeus,
consists of different layers. Hermes is the
god of hermeneutics on one hand, and
trade and communication on the other.
What associates Hermes with discourse and
news is the language, in other words the
logos. Bettini expresses the relation of
Hermes with logos as follows:
As the god of
communication, a specific and—from our point
of view— significant
part of the body was
sacred to Hermes in antiquity: the tongue. As
the philosopher Cornutus (Comp. p. 21) says,
Hermes “is called the
Messenger (diaktoros)
because . . . he leads (diagein) our thoughts to
the souls (psuchai) of
those near us: for this
reason, they consecrate
the tongue to him.”14
This unambiguously religious association of
Hermes with the organ
of vocal articulation places the god squarely in
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the camp of one of the
most fundamental aspects of human interaction: linguistic communication. Plato sustains
that Hermes “has to do
with language (logos)”
and that for this reason
he should be called “Eiremes,” from eirein (“to
say”).15 In Hesiod, we
find the story of how
Hermes endowed Pandora with “lies, devious
speech, a mischievous
nature” and above all “a
voice.”16 The Roman
scholar Macrobius described Mercury as “in
control of the voice and,
indeed, of speech” (vocis
et sermonis potentem)
(Bettini, 2011, p.6).
Hermes is also considered as the
archetypal form of using and explaining the
language in the archaic period. Aelian also
asserts that Hermes is the father of
languages. Furthermore, while studying on
the nature of animals in his work, he states
that the lingual function of Hermes is
primarily represented by ibis (in Egypt) in
animals. Aelian depicts that this bird
apparently resembles the “nature of
language (eidos)” for gods. Aelian
associates the black feathers of this bird
with the silence of language that manages
the feelings and the white feathers with the
external part of language that is heard by
others. It resembles the serving parts of
language and the internal existence of
messenger. Just like Hermes, language is a
messenger: its functions cause internal and
external communication that exists in
communication. However, the feathers of
ibis do not only fairly characterize the
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Ömer ALANKA
language, but
also
symbolize the
communicational skill that carries what are
hidden in the inner world of human beings.
Black and white feathers in this image
symbolize the black and white aspects of
communication – silence and introversion
display the many dimensions of language
as a clear speech (Bettini, 2011, p.6).
The capacity of Hermes to control
logos has become the origin point in the
development of hermeneutics afterwards. It
should not be forgotten that hermeneutics,
in other words the knowledge of
interpretation is actually the process of
translating or interpreting the divine
discourse to human beings, which is
commonly observed in all prophets.
Derrida’s logoscentric criticism of western
metaphysics is actually based on this. Logos
is a concept that means not only discourse,
but also tradition, law and god. The history
of logoscentric western thought regards the
discourse to be simultaneous and
synonymous with god, law and tradition.
Derrida discusses the primary position of
discourse in the face of script, which takes
root in the western metaphysics. He
believes that the metaphysics of presence is
a product of the dominance and oppression
of logos over script. In this context, logos, in
other words discourse has transformed into
the manifestation of divinity. Discourse is
depicted before God’s action of creation in
holy books, as well. The verse in the Bible,
“There was first of all the discourse, the
discourse was god” and another verse in
Koran, “He said be and it is” depict the
complex relation of discourse with god. In
this context, Hermes wanders around the
source where esoteric and exoteric
knowledge arise due to his mission as a
messenger conveying the discourse and the
divine discourse. Considering from this
perspective, Hermes literally originates
from the "discourse" (logos) and his
fundamental character is shaped by logos.
As a type of the linguistic vector, Hermes’
function is diactoros. His impressive and
brilliant nature being emphasized is the
rapid form of this smooth-clear-brilliant
expression and this condition has been the
same with the character of the effective
lingual communication. In Cornutus'
interpretation, the lingual translation
constitutes another dominant role of
Hermes. Hermes is a messenger (kerux),
because he enables all the lingual indicators
to reach the ear by making a sound; in other
words, he becomes a “messenger” by using
the language (Bettini, 2011, p.6).
In the ancient period, one of the
most important aspects of the nature of
communication is rhetoric, in other words
using the language effectively. Another
aspect of language that is as effective as
rhetoric is interpreting the language, in
other words hermeneutics and in this
respect, hermeneutics enables us to go
down deep the mysteries of language. In
the perception of communication in the
ancient
period,
the dimension
of
metaphysics involves communicating with
gods.
Thus
individuals
reach the
information about the future through
Hermes. Hermes provides communication
with the help of his invisibility and speed.
The walking stick that was made by
Hephiastos for Zeus enables the god
Hermes to become invisible and dominate
the sleep. Regarding this subject, the
following are expressed in Iliad:
Thus he spoke and
Mercury, guide and guardian, slayer of Argus, did as
he was told. Forthwith he
bound on his glittering golden sandals with which he
could fly like the wind over
land and sea; he took the
wand with which he seals
men’s eyes in sleep, or wakes
them just as he pleases, and
flew holding it in his hand
till he came to Troy and to
God Hermes As The Messenger Archetype
the Hellespont. To look at, he
was like a young man of noble birth in the hey-day of his
youth and beauty with the
down just coming upon his
face.(Homer, 1998, p.481)
Hermes is the divine father of
discourse and works as a messenger and
preacher in expressing the metaphysical
universe. Hermes plays a principal role in
the phase of transmitting the sound and
lingual indicators to ears, in other words to
the mind. As well as the lingual indicators,
this god is observed in the negative end of
language. Hermes is the god taking the
dead to the underground, in other words to
the land of the dead. The jackal Annubis in
the Ancient Egyptian mythology takes the
souls to the next world as another example
of the Hermes archetype. This connection of
Hermes with death symbolizes his
relationship with the potential belief
systems. Taking the dead to the
underground in Egypt, Anubis (a black
jackal) is actually the ancestor of Hermes in
the Egyptian mythology. Since Hermes, the
mentor of discourse and silence, works as a
messenger between the metaphysical and
the physical worlds, he bears the divine
knowledge. Hermes is the messenger of
Zeus and Zeus obtains all his information
through him. In this sense, Hermes is the
messenger god of the ancient period and he
symbolizes the archaic form of today’s
communication.
Conclusion
The archetype of Hermes has been
transformed into an image presenting the
nature and the meaning of communication
in the archaic period. This study which
investigates the messenger archetype in the
ancient period scrutinizes the messenger
symbol
imaged
by
the
collective
unconscious of communities. Being the
messenger of gods, Hermes is not only a
345
mythological figure, but also an example
showing the general lines of news and
communication in the archaic era. In the
mythological era where the process of
communication is realized on the axis of
god-human, God Hermes acts like a
messenger realizing the process of
communication. The modern intellect
excludes the metaphysical world on one
hand and restricts the communication
phenomenon in the rational area on the
other. However, as the Hermes archetype
includes the silence, obscurity and
irrational elements in the process of
communication, it is different from today’s
modern science and the definition of
communication. Another aspect of the news
is its connection with trade. During the
mercantilist period, one of the most vital
aspects of trade was the procurement of the
communication flow. Considering the fact
that trade and media have developed
simultaneously, the importance of Hermes
archetype becomes even greater. The
unification of trade with communication in
the Hermes persona and the development
of the industrial age in the denominator of
communication and trade also indicate an
anachronic similarity. It is possible to see
the effect of collective unconscious being
asserted by the archetypal approach in this
example. The element of speed that is
involved by the typology of the messenger
Hermes, on the other hand, is one of the
basic characteristics of today’s media. In the
media where the speed advances with a
vengeance, it is required to access
everything in an instant. In this context, it is
possible to assert that there are both
similarities and differences between today’s
communication phenomenon and the sense
of communication in the ancient period.
Today’s sense of journalism is in harmony
with the Hermes archetype in line with
speed, circulation, and meaning. Similarly,
346
Ömer ALANKA
the connection of the Hermes persona with
thieves resembles the ethical violations in
today’s journalism and the relationship
between the market and the media. Thus,
being a mythological example, Hermes
remains as an important archetype in
understanding today’s phenomenon of
news, journalism and communication.
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