You dwell on the road all must take,
the road of no return, by the Kokytos,
you guide the souls
of mortals to the nether gloom.
From The Orphic Hymn 57 to Chthonic Hermes, translated by Apostolos N. Athanassakis
"Hermes' mythic role as the psuchopompos or guide of souls is reflected in religious practice through prayers and offerings to Hermes Chthonios (of the Underworld) at the gravesite, attested in Thessaly and Argos. As the god of ways and boundaries, closely associated with the standing stones and cairns that marked graves, Hermes was an ideal guide for journeys between the worlds of the living and the dead."
"The ghoulish, necromantic aspect of Hermes is balanced by his beneficent protection of souls in the vulnerable state between sleeping and waking. Homer (Od.7.136-38) mentions that the Phaiakians offered libations to Hermes before retiring, while Apollodorus of Athens (FGrH 244 F 129) calls Hermes the oneiropompos or conductor of dreams, and says that he is a guardian of sleepers; people orient their beds so that the foot of the bed faces Hermes' image, and pray to him before sleep."
Ancient Greek Cults: A Guide by Jennifer Larson
