Mercury, the Roman Messenger of the Gods

Mercury is known as the fastest of all gods and therefore wears a winged hat and winged sandals. These wings allow him to travel seamlessly between the mortal realm, Mount Olympus, and the Underworld. He carries the caduceus, a short staff entwined by two serpents, sometimes also surmounted by wings. Mercury is Zeus's messenger and the guide of the dead.

In “The Bodyguard”, the first story in The Deadliest Returns, Miriam recalls the day her twin brother Binyamin left Alexandria to join the school for gladiators in Capua:

On the day he left for the pier to take his ship to Ostia, then Rome and Capua, I hired a litter to take Binyamin and me there in style. I remember its fittings like molten gold under the baking sun, the polished ebony bodies of its eight Nubian bearers resplendent in their starched white tunics threaded with gold. Dizzy with the prospect of gliding through the streets high above the ox dung, I could pretend we were riding on the wings of Mercury. That we were sealed in a compartment invulnerable to the realities of time and space. And that we were on a celebratory outing rather than playing out the last scene of our shared childhood.

Years later, after being declared dead in the arena, Binyamin comes back to Alexandria in disguise and with a new name. That’s when he gets into more trouble. As an enduring character in the series, follow his development beginning in The Deadliest Lie. Click here.