Ceryx
In Greek mythology, Ceryx ( "Kērux", literally "herald") was a son of Hermes and either Pandrosus or Agraulus. He was, like his father, a messenger. But the "kêryx" career began as a humble cook for the tribe, a skill Hermes demonstrates in his cooked meat offerings on the Twelve Gods Altar set in place 522BC by Peisistratos III in Athens. The Homeric "Hymn to Hermes" 128 recalls the young god cutting out and laying up twelve steaks on a flat rock or "platamoni," the 12 Gods altar. Mythology. According to Pausanias, he was the youngest son of Eumolpus, one of  the first priests of Demeter at Eleusis and a founder of the Eleusinian Mysteries. He founded the two families of high priests in Eleusis: the ceryces (or Ceryces), a family of priests in Athens, and the Eumolpidae. Ceryces. In Homer’s time, ceryx was a profession of trusted attendants or retainers of a chieftain. The role of ceryces expanded, however, to include acting as inviolable messengers between states, even in time of war, proclaiming meetings of the council, popular assembly, or court of law, reciting there the formulas of prayer, and summoning persons to attend. Hermes, himself the ceryx of  the gods, was their patron and carried the caduceus (Latin corruption of Ancient Greek "kerykeion"), the herald’s staff.