Matt's Mani Musings

Hermes , the messenger of the gods, may seem a rather obvious name for my bicycle but one which emerged from the mental 'flow' whilst cycling down the Italian peninsula two summers ago now. That Jung considered him the god of the unconscious chimes with this observation. I didn't really think too much further about his name at the time but it became well and truly attached as our shared adventures multiplied. I can vividly recall the night we were set upon by guard dogs whilst traversing the tomato plains of Puglia in the gloaming when I urged him/us/me on with 'winged words' as Homer would say.     The Romans rebadged Hermes as Mercury and associated travel with trade ( mercatura ) from which are derived 'merchant' and 'merchandise'. But for the Greeks travel had deeper associations as we see in the Odyssey. Hermes, protector of Odysseus, is particularly associated with the Peloponnese and his son Pan is to be found in the wild upland beauty of Arca...