Editing Hermes (section)

===In the Hellenistic period===
[[Image:Hermes-louvre3.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Hermes Fastening his Sandal]]'', early Imperial Roman marble copy of a [[Lysippus|Lysippan]] bronze ([[Louvre Museum]])]]

As Greek culture and influence spread following the conquests of [[Alexander the Great]], a period of [[syncretism]] or ''[[interpretatio graeca]]'' saw many traditional Greek deities identified with foreign counterparts. In [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic Egypt]], for example, the Egyptian god [[Thoth]] was identified by Greek speakers as the Egyptian form of Hermes. The two gods were worshiped as one at the Temple of Thoth in Khemenu, a city which became known in Greek as [[Hermopolis]].<ref>Bailey, Donald, "Classical Architecture" in Riggs, Christina (ed.), ''The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt'' (Oxford University Press, 2012), p. 192.</ref> This led to Hermes gaining the attributes of a god of translation and interpretation, or more generally, a god of knowledge and learning.<ref name=transformer/> This is illustrated by a 3rd-century BC example of a letter sent by the priest Petosiris to King Nechopso, probably written in Alexandria c. 150 BC, stating that Hermes is the teacher of all secret wisdoms, which are accessible by the experience of religious ecstasy.<ref name="Marie-Luise von Franz"/><ref>Jacobi, M. (1907). ''Catholic Encyclopedia'': [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02018e.htm "Astrology"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170721112505/http://newadvent.org/cathen/02018e.htm |date=21 July 2017 }}, New York: Robert Appleton Company.</ref>

An epithet of Thoth found in the temple at [[Esna]], "Thoth the great, the great, the great",<ref name="Hart">Hart, G., ''The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses'', 2005, Routledge, second edition, Oxon, p 158</ref> became applied to Hermes beginning in at least 172 BC. This lent Hermes one of his most famous later titles, {{lang|grc-Latn|[[Hermes Trismegistus]]}} ({{lang|grc|Ἑρμῆς ὁ Τρισμέγιστος}}), 'thrice-greatest Hermes'.<ref>Copenhaver, B. P., "Hermetica", Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1992, p xiv.</ref> The figure of Hermes Trismegistus would later absorb a variety of other esoteric wisdom traditions and become a major component of [[Hermeticism]], [[alchemy]], and related traditions.<ref name=fowden>Fowden, G., "The Egyptian Hermes", Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987, p 216</ref>