caduceus of Hermes
E554029
The caduceus of Hermes is a staff entwined by two serpents and topped with wings, symbolizing commerce, negotiation, and the role of Hermes as a divine messenger in Greek mythology.
All labels observed (5)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Caduceus Staff | 5 |
| Caduceus | 3 |
| caduceus | 2 |
| Hermes pacified two fighting snakes with his staff | 1 |
| caduceus of Hermes canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5911005 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: caduceus of Hermes Context triple: [winged sandals of Hermes, relatedTo, caduceus of Hermes]
-
A.
Mercury holding a caduceus
Mercury holding a caduceus is a heraldic emblem depicting the Roman messenger god with his traditional staff, symbolizing communication, speed, and the transmission of information.
-
B.
Rod of Asclepius
The Rod of Asclepius is an ancient Greek symbol of medicine and healing, depicted as a single serpent entwined around a staff.
-
C.
trident of Poseidon
The trident of Poseidon is the powerful three-pronged spear wielded by the Greek god of the sea, symbolizing his dominion over oceans, storms, and earthquakes.
-
D.
bow of Heracles
The bow of Heracles is the legendary weapon in Greek mythology whose possession is crucial for the Greeks’ victory in the Trojan War and which becomes the central object of contention in Sophocles’ tragedy "Philoctetes."
-
E.
Hermes
Hermes is the fleet-footed Greek god of trade, travel, and communication, who serves as messenger of the Olympian gods and guide of souls to the underworld.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: caduceus of Hermes Target entity description: The caduceus of Hermes is a staff entwined by two serpents and topped with wings, symbolizing commerce, negotiation, and the role of Hermes as a divine messenger in Greek mythology.
-
A.
Mercury holding a caduceus
Mercury holding a caduceus is a heraldic emblem depicting the Roman messenger god with his traditional staff, symbolizing communication, speed, and the transmission of information.
-
B.
Rod of Asclepius
The Rod of Asclepius is an ancient Greek symbol of medicine and healing, depicted as a single serpent entwined around a staff.
-
C.
trident of Poseidon
The trident of Poseidon is the powerful three-pronged spear wielded by the Greek god of the sea, symbolizing his dominion over oceans, storms, and earthquakes.
-
D.
bow of Heracles
The bow of Heracles is the legendary weapon in Greek mythology whose possession is crucial for the Greeks’ victory in the Trojan War and which becomes the central object of contention in Sophocles’ tragedy "Philoctetes."
-
E.
Hermes
Hermes is the fleet-footed Greek god of trade, travel, and communication, who serves as messenger of the Olympian gods and guide of souls to the underworld.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
mythological object
ⓘ
staff ⓘ symbol ⓘ |
| appearsIn |
Greek vase painting
ⓘ
Roman sculpture ⓘ art of Classical antiquity ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
Greek mythology
ⓘ
Hermes ⓘ Roman god Mercury ⓘ
linked to:
Mercury (Roman god)
|
| carriedBy | heralds of the gods ⓘ |
| culture |
Ancient Greece
ⓘ
linked to:
Greek Antiquity
Ancient Rome ⓘ
linked to:
Roman Antiquity
|
| distinctFrom |
rod of Asclepius
ⓘ
linked to:
Rod of Asclepius
|
| etymology |
derived from Latin "caduceus"
ⓘ
related to Greek "kērykeion" (herald’s staff) ⓘ |
| function |
emblem of heralds
ⓘ
emblem of messengers ⓘ symbol of negotiation ⓘ symbol of trade ⓘ |
| hasFeature |
central rod
ⓘ
pair of wings ⓘ two intertwined serpents ⓘ |
| hasPart |
staff
ⓘ
two serpents ⓘ wings ⓘ |
| inMythology |
Hermes pacified two fighting snakes with his staff
ⓘ
linked to:
caduceus of Hermes
|
| misusedAs | symbol of medicine ⓘ |
| modernUse |
logo element for commercial organizations
ⓘ
symbol of commerce ⓘ symbol of negotiation ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
messenger of the gods
ⓘ
travelers and merchants ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
herald’s staff
ⓘ
rod of Asclepius ⓘ
linked to:
Rod of Asclepius
|
| symbolizes |
Hermes
ⓘ
balance ⓘ commerce ⓘ communication ⓘ diplomacy ⓘ exchange ⓘ harmony ⓘ mediation ⓘ messenger role ⓘ negotiation ⓘ peace ⓘ travel ⓘ |
| usedBy |
Hermes
ⓘ
Mercury ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: caduceus of Hermes Description of subject: The caduceus of Hermes is a staff entwined by two serpents and topped with wings, symbolizing commerce, negotiation, and the role of Hermes as a divine messenger in Greek mythology.
Referenced by (12)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: caduceus of Hermes
linked to: caduceus of Hermes
linked to: caduceus of Hermes
linked to: caduceus of Hermes
subject linked to:
bowl of Hygieia
linked to: caduceus of Hermes
linked to: caduceus of Hermes
linked to: caduceus of Hermes
linked to: caduceus of Hermes
linked to: caduceus of Hermes