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Topic

Mercurius

2 passages cited, from 3 classic reference works.

These works date from 1884–1897 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.

The verses

The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.

Acts 14:11Smith · Nave Paul taken for, in Lycaonia
And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
Acts 14:12Easton · Nave Paul taken for, in Lycaonia
And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.

In the reference works

Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 1 references

The Hermes (i.e., “the speaker”) of the Greeks (Acts 14:12), a heathen God represented as the constant attendant of Jupiter, and the god of eloquence. The inhabitants of Lystra took Paul for this god because he was the “chief speaker.”

Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 1 references

(herald of the gods), properly Hermes, the Greek deity, whom the Romans identified with their Mercury, the god of commerce and bargains. Hermes was the son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Maia the daughter of Atals, and is constantly represented as the companion of his father in his wandering upon earth. The episode of Baucis and Philemon, Ovid, Metam . viii. 620-724, appears to have formed part of the folk-lore of Asia Minor, and strikingly illustrates the readiness with which the simple people of Lystra recognized in Barnabas and Paul the gods who, according to their wont, had come down in the likeness of men. (Acts 14:11)

In the topical indexes

Nave's Topical Bible (1896) · 2 references, grouped by sub-topic

→ (A pagan god; Mercury (to the Romans); Hermes (to the Greeks))
→ Paul taken for, in Lycaonia Ac 14:11,12

Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.

Mercurius

The verses

In the reference works

In the topical indexes

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