Journey steeped in fog of myth

The Hellenistic sculpture Laocoon and His Sons captures the agonizing moment when the Trojan priest and his sons are ensnared by sea serpents. VATICAN MUSEUMS According to one version of the ancient Greek mythology, Hermes, the messenger god who was also the deity of commerce, travelers and boundaries, once encountered two snakes fighting. Caduceus — that's the name of Hermes' rod, a staff with two intertwined snakes and wings, which the god, known as Mercury in Roman mythology, carried around to ward off disputes and bring about reconciliation. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York owns an 18th-century oil painting depicting Cupid, barely covered in pink drapery, holding a caduceus — the symbol of his father, Mercury. In his world-renowned narrative poem Metamorphoses, Ovid told what's perhaps the most famous serpent-related myth — the tragic story of Medusa, a beautiful mortal priestess in Athena's temple.