What was the Roman god Mercury's area of influence?

Answer 1

Mercury's sphere of influence include many that are similar to the Greek Hermes'. Mercury is mostly associated with commerce, and he was particularly associated with the corn trade. He also rules navigation and boundaries, and the Romans, like the Greeks, often placed boundary stones called hermae at crossroads to represent Mercury. He has connections with communication, being the messenger of the gods; he was sometimes said to have invented written language, and he has ties with oratory and poetry. Many Celtic Gauls considered Mercury as the inventor of all the arts, as Caesar wrote in De Bello Gallico. Mercury is also credited with bringing medicine to mankind, and he is a god of hospitality with his father, Jupiter. Mercury is a god of sleep and dreams, and a touch from his caduceus is said to put people to sleep or awake them. He is also a psychopomp god, meaning he led the recently dead to the Underworld. Finally, he is a god of pranks(ters) and thieves, though he offers protection from these as well.