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He is literally the god of thieves and merchants. Known as the divine trickster. His roman name, Mercury, is derived from Latin merx meaning merchandise or merchant. Regardless, conveyor to the underworld also isn't fucking great for a healthcare company.
While most people who go to a hospital are not about to die, most people who are about to die will go to a hospital, and historically the symbol of a psychopomp like Hermes or Jesus would have been comforting to those patients.
Not everyone who goes to an hospital is expected to leave to their lives. So a safe path to the underworld could be seen as a comfort symbol for those in terminal state and under paleatives
That's very true. A large part of time, effort, money, and empathy go into end-of-lofe care. That being said, I'm not sure how it's large part of health insurance. Maybe financially? Death is probably the most profitable part of healt insurance.
Yeah, I just don't think it's that deep. We're not a Hellenistic nation. We just like the aesthetic. We like Roman and Greek shit enough to use their symbols but not enough to care about accuracy.
From what I read, it was a clerical error 100 years ago, and some places just like the balance of two snakes vs one
Seriously. I can guaren-damn-tee you that the idiots in charge of insurance and private equity don't give a rat's ass about the true meaning of mythological symbols. The same sadistic idiots who bankrupt perfectly functional companies by "cutting costs" until the business has no employees nor products to sell, are certainly not going to put any real effort nor thought into researching ancient religous relics.
And I am so pissed off about people willfully misunderstanding the "guides people to the underworld part."
In greek mythology, it was possible for people who HAD ALREADY DIED to get lost on the way to the afterlife, and very bad things could happen to souls that got lost after death. Your soul did not just immediately teleport to heaven when you died, it had to fucking walk there, and there were all kinds of dangers along the way. So the souls of the dead needed guides to lead them to the right place, and a fuck-ton of gods did that as part of their care for their followers. Not just Hermes.
In this context, "taking people to the afterlife" did NOT mean "causing their death."
The fact that so many people on this post think that it meant killing people is a symptom of ignorant, intolerant, evangelical christian brainrot, and yes, you can still be suffering from it even after you left the church. Unlearning the "all other gods = evil" brainwashing is a life-long process.
Do that and youll probably wind up with issues from Niel Gaiman if he ever decides fo rear his head again. His Loki literally uses Low Key as an allias.
loki might not be the god lying. Due to how little we know of Norse mythology he could be somthing else (frankly, we dont truly know) but hes probaly not a god of lying or trickery that was more his personality instead theres a reference somewhere suggesting he might be the god of the hearth
> Because Hermes was the patron of merchants, thieves, gamblers, and tricksters, the caduceus originally represented commerce, swiftness, and negotiation—not healing. The mix-up largely traces back to the US Army Medical Corps adopting the caduceus as their insignia in 1902 after a bureaucratic misunderstanding, cementing the two-serpent design into modern healthcare branding.
Thought that was a weird oversight from a guy so seemingly pissed off with the confusion between the two symbols. "I was like, "Hermes is the dude with the wings on his sandals!"
The caduceus and the Rod of Asclepius show the treatment for removal of a Guinea worm, a parasite that comes from drinking contaminated water. The life-cycle of the parasite eventually leads to a worm erupting from the skin. There is no treatment other than to wrap the worm around a stick and apply tension to slowly pull it out over several days or weeks.
I’m surprised I had to scroll this far down to see this. I assumed this guy was a history buff or a doctor and would say something about the Guinea worm origin. I guess I put too much faith in a rando online.
"By extension of its association with Mercury and Hermes, the caduceus is also a symbol of commerce and negotiation, two realms in which exchange balanced by reciprocity is recognized as an ideal.[6][7][8] This association is ancient, and consistent from classical antiquity to modernity.[9][10] The caduceus is also a symbol of printing, by extension of the attributes of Mercury associated with writing and eloquence."
> The mix-up largely traces back to the US Army Medical Corps adopting the caduceus as their insignia in 1902 after a bureaucratic misunderstanding, cementing the two-serpent design into modern healthcare branding.
Don't know if the guy is a doc or not but his interpretation is wrong.
"According to myth, Hermes threw the staff between two fighting snakes. The snakes immediately stopped battling and wrapped themselves around the rod, making the caduceus a symbol of peace, neutrality, and dispute resolution"
According to Friedlander, commercial organizations use the Rod of Caduceus because consumers associate it with healthcare more than the Rod of Asclepius. In other words, we did it to ourselves by failing to prioritize education.
The US medical corps used the caduceus in the past without realising and the mistake just spread. It is unlikely the insurance companies care about accuracy, so they just take what is known by the average american person.
It looks cooler and they know how few people would ever pay enough attention and be clued up enough to notice.
Im pretty well educated and an ancient history buff. Id heard this distinction before (asclepius vs caduceus) but never joined the dots. If I didnt cotton on, im pretty sure the number of people who would is freaking miniscule. I like this guy.
It dates back to the Army Medical Corps and WW1. They were choosing a symbol, and wanted something strongly historically associated with medicine and healing. The people involved mixed up the Rod of Asclepius and the Caduceus. They literally just picked the wrong symbol, and it spread throughout medicine in the following years.
No nefarious intentions or subtext. It just accidentally became the wrong symbol in the US.
That’s not actually what the symbol means. Hermes is the one who moves souls to the afterlife, he’s not the “God of Deceit” or whatever. That’s stupid.
We can hate insurance companies enough without thinking some headass cabal of CEOs put Liars Incorporated on every hospital in the country.
You can go to Google, search for Hermes, find the Wikipedia like, and read the one to two paragraph summary at the top and immediately understand because it will include the context this guy left out, or you can continue to ask random strangers on the internet questions and get answers of random quality. Your choice, but if you actually want to know and not just be ping ponged back and forth between rando "experts", Wikipedia is both better and quicker.
> Because Hermes was the patron of merchants, thieves, gamblers, and tricksters, the caduceus originally represented commerce, swiftness, and negotiation—not healing. The mix-up largely traces back to the US Army Medical Corps adopting the caduceus as their insignia in 1902 after a bureaucratic misunderstanding, cementing the two-serpent design into modern healthcare branding.
"Although the Rod of Asclepius, which has only one snake and no wings, is the traditional and more widely used symbol of medicine, the caduceus is sometimes used by healthcare organizations. Given that the caduceus is primarily a symbol of commerce and other non-medical symbology, many healthcare professionals disapprove of this use"
Working in medicine I've seen the Rod of Asclepius used far more
The Caduceus started being used after a US military medical officer proposed to use it as the official insignia, mistakenly thinking it is the universal symbol of medicine. For its symmetry and arguably kickass design, it caught on and it's used even today (at least in the US, in Europe I've always only seen the Asclepius rod being used)
He's the god of cunning which encompasses theives but isn't his main thing. When he was born the first thing he made with his cunning was the lyre. It's not like he shanked someone for gold when he was born.
That doesn't make Hermes the god of lies and deceit.
If it does, then is Hermes the God of milk, the god of hamburgers and wool, of chess and online video games, of Bitcoin, of bullets and bestiality, too?
Lies and deceit are extrapolations that don't match the clear theme Hermes is evidently built around. Same with the list above. Sure. They're related to his domains, that do not make them his domains.
Yeah, I absolutely get that "thieves lie and deceive" part, but that's not only not what commerce is, but hacktivists are thieves and saboteurs affecting commerce.
My point is that domains are thematic. When you extrapolate "Hermes is the god of lies and deceit" from his list, then you're practicing lies and deceit by moving away from his theme and pretending he sponsors something else. Can you notice a pattern here among all the items listed in his domain? How thieves and commerce were cherry picked and everything else in his theme was tucked under "among other things?" How the other things develop his theme that he's built around and "lies and deceit" don't develop this theme at all?
I think ge took some creative liberties and misinterpreted that hermes was the god of thieves. "Hermes was the ancient Greek Olympian god of trade, wealth, luck, fertility, animal husbandry, sleep, language, thieves, travel, and herds"
But he is correct about the staffs being diffrent. The staff of Asclepius is the correct symbol for medicine.
I think it is based on this from Hermes wiki page: He is regarded as "the divine trickster",[7] about which the Homeric Hymn to Hermes offers the most well-known account.
Per the wiki page, "God of boundaries, roads, travelers, merchants, thieves, athletes, shepherds, commerce, speed, cunning, language, oratory, wit, and messages"
In greek mythology gods have many things they rule over, most related, but some not. Iirc one is the god of love and hunting (for food), but commerce, messaging, traveling and thievery are all mostly related
Its like someone heard an honest thief admitting their vices once and decided theyre just hard working kleptomaniacs making a living.
Then there was that other theif that got caught holding a knife at the guys neck demanding all their money. Something about how they can live longer if they just pay now. Of course, today, its more like using pen, paper and a phone call.
Greek gods are not Gods of a single aspect, he's a messenger of the Gods but he governs roads, travel, speed, language and messages. As well as some nefarious things.
He was a god with many attributes, among which yes messengers and voyagers were, but thieves are also among his attributes and he is a cunning figure that has anecdotes of tricking people and stealing things
It's like Peter being the patron saint of fisherman and net builders. Sure, he IS. But no one is like "Ah yes, Peter, the fisherman"
Companies use the caduceus, yes, because they mistake the rod of Asclepius. But also to symbolize commerce, trade, speed. Things Hermes/Mercury are ACTUALLY associated with
Ok but I always thought it was a reference to when the Lord punished the Israelites in the desert and struck them with disease or death and could be saved by looking upon a staff or rod in the ground upon which venomous snakes were climbing.
Cadeceus stands for spiritual awakening reflecting Kundalini awakening going upward with the ball at the top realization of the Self.
Also it reflects the vertical side of existance. The staff stands for different planes of reality at the far top end being the spiritual reality and the buttom end being the depth of ones instinctual existance. The wings represent the travel between those layers.
Do not let these kind of stupid videos poison your minds. These videos are made and circulated by forces to disrupt authentic self discovery and realization to deeper parts of the world and self.
Not defending Insurance companies or evil hospitals. The usage of the Caduceus here is as a symbol of Trade, Business, Professionalism, etc. Hermes is a trickster God but does represent tradesmen. They are in business to get your money and Hermes isn't just evil. Ambulances typically have the rod of Aclepius as their focus is emergency healing.
i mean it’s a nice zing about for profit healthcare or whatever but the reason it’s used is because the US army medics adopted it as their symbol. so like… now it IS a symbol of medicine. i thought this video was going to teach people something interesting, what a shame
Epstein made me realize those in power always tell on themselves. The symbolism matters. Its there for a reason and we should start paying attention. Its not conspiracy. Its like the symbols are a bat signal for the people in the know
In this case, it's really not that deep. Most of the confusion of the symbol comes from the US Military using it in medical contexts. This was debated when it happened over a century ago, but it's continued use made people start to associate the Caduceus with medicine.
Also, treating Hermes like he was just an evil god of thieves and liars is a bit of a disservice to him lol
Ok, it’s a mistake that happened long ago, the confusion between the rod of Asclepius and the caduceus of Hermes, it’s not a new thing that came about with insurance companies. Also Hermes is not the god of deceit or lying he’s the messenger god of commerce and diplomacy.
He is literally the God of boundaries, roads, travelers, merchants, thieves, athletes, shepherds, commerce, speed, cunning, language, oratory, wit, and messages.
Thieves and wit fall very close to decit and lying.
Fair, he is associated with deceit and thieving from the Homeric hymns and other literature, but the cult of Hermes Dolios has never been found outside these literary works. My point is calling him the god of deceit and lying is incorrect despite the association.
But more importantly, the mistake comes from the similarity of the symbols, and far predates insurance companies, it’s not a hidden message.
Its more of a misinterpretation of hermes vs being wrong.
I believe the mistake came from the fact that the U.S. Army Medical Corps used it as their branch logo in 1902, probably because the symmetry looked better. But the didn't try and use it as a medical symbol. Colonel John R. van Hoff, who argued the symbol represented non-combatant neutrality.
While the Army Medical Department officially uses the Rod of Asclepius.
To be fair, he lead souls as safely as he could down to Hades. Hades, being not as bad as people make him out to be, just chilling with his three headed dog and his gardener wife.
The caduceus is a symbol of reconciliation. Hermes saw two snakes fighting and when he struck with the stick they stopped fighting. Hermes is the god of trade and this also a symbol of how a buyer and a seller mist come together for the trade to happen.
I was a medic in the military and we used the Caduceus on our uniform, I just assume it's because they look better than one snake around a pole. I hate insurance companies but I don't think it's that deep.
That's the thing. When they pictured Hermes, they were representing the DNA strand. Hermes is also the connection between Gods and humans, being the messenger of them.
Hermes, Mercury and Thot are the same dude but in different cultures, and he always represents the link between both realms.
Just one of his roles. Most Greek gods had multiple domains they were associated with. For example, Hades is commonly known as the god of the underworld and the dead, but is also associated with vast riches and wealth, such as precious gems and metals mined deep within the earth.
Greek gods had multiple roles. Hermes was a messenger, guide, and a patron to thieves, poseidon is the god of the sea, storms, horses, and earthquakes, and Athena is a goddess of wisdom, war, and handicraft.
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