ABSTRACT
Hermes was by nature flexible, changeable and ambiguous, a nature shared by his assistants, Hermione and Harmonia, and especially by his predecessor, the light-footed, golden-winged Iris. In Greek mythology he is an engaging and complex figure who appears in both changing and constant forms. In the Delta region, during a period which dated from the end of the first century BC to the third century ad, and were devoted to astrology, alchemy and theosophy. First of all, there is the allegorical significance of Mercury as sermo and ratio, which was frequently evoked by compilers and authors of glossaries until the Renaissance. Also inspired by Boccaccio, Geoffroy Tory gave Mercury a prominent position in Champfleury, 1529, an unusual work that comprises a sort of cabbala of the Latin alphabet. The next period was the age of humanism, during which Mercury appeared as an intellectual figure, presiding over printing and the dissemination of information.
