Verify Citation - 9. The Archaic Cosmology of Cities: Building the Kosmos on Earth
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To Hestia “belongs the world of the interior, the enclosed, the stable, the retreat of the human group within itself; to Hermes the outside world, opportunity, movement, interchange with others. … Hestia is apparently capable of ‘centering’ space while Hermes can ‘mobilize’ it. … in the oikos, the man represents the centrifugal element. It is for him… to establish contacts with the outside, to enter into negotiations with strangers… in work, war, trade, social contacts or public life” (Vernant[1] 1983: pp. 127ff.). In the house the place of Hermes “is at the door, protecting the threshold, repelling thieves… he also stands at the gateways of towns, on state boundaries, at crossroads, as a landmark along paths and tracks, and on tombs—those gateways to the underworld. … He is the witness to agreements, truces, and oaths between opponents; he is the herald, messenger, and ambassador abroad.”
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- ↑ Jean-Pierre Vernant, Myth and Thought Among the Greeks (London and Boston: 1983), pp. 127ff.
