The quick god of the marketplace, first at the gate and first with the news.

Mercurius received a temple near the Circus Maximus in 495 BC, and the merchants of Rome kept his festival, the Mercuralia, on the fifteenth of May. On that day traders drew water from his sacred spring near the Porta Capena and sprinkled it over themselves and their goods, asking pardon for past sharp dealing and prosperity in the season to come. The Romans knew him as the god of commerce and messages, and identified him with the Greek Hermes.

Drawn from the Roman civic record; the temples and festivals named here are attested.