Mercury

Painting of 1570 by Diego Velazquez entitled "Mercury and Argos." Click on image for full size (140K JPEG) Image courtesy of the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain.

Mercury was the messenger-god of Jupiter, and was the god of games, of business, and of story telling. He was the offspring of the god Jupiter and Maia. Maia herself was one of the Pleiades who were the daughters of the titan Atlas. Mercury was identified with the Greek god Hermes.