Is Menila Mercouri (the inspiration for Freddie's nickname)familiar to you?

I am Greek so i am very familiar with this Greek actress/politician, but do you actually know her?

I mean her image, perhaps her explosive tamperament, or even the protruding teeth/overbite ?

...Well one thing is for sure. Those two had a lot in common...!

Nope.

Just an artsy glamorous and HUGE recasting of himself as Mercury "the messenger God" (derived fromthe Greek "Hermes" if I remember correctly.


Makes sense as a vocalist with high aspirations

Here she is,if anyone cares, on interview.
I think you may find some resemblance in bone stracture, temperament and of course teeeeeth !

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyXh2L-aQfE]?e???a ?e??????- Sp???a s????te??? Part 3[/url]

You're Greek and you don't even know how to write her name right: Melina Mercouri

Wasn't he named after Hermés?

[QUOTE]

[b]pittrek wrote: [/b] Wasn't he named after Hermés?

Yes, but the girl nickname for fun,is a different story.
Both have a Greek foundation however.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]

[b]RafaelSomma wrote: [/b] You're Greek and you don't even know how to write her name right: Melina Mercouri[/QUOTE]
...what can i say.
 I am so overblown my Freddie's charisma so i want to name everyone MERCURY
(But thanx. I fixed the title)

I don't know, it's all Greek to me. Haha haha haha haha haha haha haha ha ha haha haha!
- ah forget it.

Ok people, little mythology lesson:

Yes, the Greek and Roman pantheons are closely related. Yes, the Romans based a number of their gods (most notably Apollo) on Greek gods. However, that does not mean you can equate any two gods. For instance, Demeter (Greek) and Ceres (Roman) are both goddesses of grain, and Ceres was eventually brought in line with much of the imagery surrounding Demeter, but she started off separately and retained many aspects that differed greatly from Demeter. For instance, Ceres was also the goddess off People's Tribunes and Plebeian Laws and Rights, whereas Demeter was a purely fertility- and agricultural goddess.

Similarly, Hermes and Mercury differed considerably. Hermes was much more of a naughty, trickster-god than Mercury. Whereas Mercury was, in the first place, the god of traders, Hermes was first of all the god of thievery and living off your wits. Hermes was very much a sexual god (his sons were Priapus and Pan, both gods of lust and intemperance), Mercury absolutely wasn't - the Romans associated him with certain aspects of warfare.

So bottom line: please, don't simply equate Roman and Greek gods that resemble each other. They differ considerably, in the same way that the Jewish, Christian and Islamic views of god are very different, even though they worship the very same deity (Elohim in the Old Testament, Allah in the Koran = same name, which is derived from the early Semitic god El, which is leading much too far but suffice it to say that the word "Elohim" is a plural which means "the kinsmen of El").

thomasquinn 32989 thanks for the clarifying.
Funny how you know so much more about Greek or should i say our (as Greeks our) mythology than me.
I assume you are not Greek by the way. Just deeply informed.

On a second note Freddie's persona according to the things you wrote seemed to be a collision of Mercury anf Hermes.
Perhaps he had only the first in mind but his tamperament flirted strongly with the second also.

Nope, not Greek, but a little professionally deformed maybe.

I'm an historian and mythology (not limited to Classical and Hellenistic, btw) is one of my favorite subjects, so that's pretty much why.

It's a really interesting question what Freddie was thinking about when he chose the name. We'll never know for sure, but I assume that since Freddie doesn't seem to have had a scholarly interest in Greek and Roman mythology and most schools teach people that the Romans basically just copied their gods from the Greeks, he assumed that Hermes = Mercury. However, Mercury is a more common name to come across in English (not in the last place because of the planet) and also refers to the metal quicksilver. From what I've heard, Freddie's name was meant to refer to the dynamic, fluid character of the metal as much as to the deity.

Actually I saw or read somewhere (I have read soooo much about Queen, it is all a blur..) that he took the name after the planet Mercury. It was his 'ruling' planet or something.

So what a mess. He took his name by :

1) the planet Mercury
2) the mythological God Mercury
3) the mythological God Hermes who he may thought was the same as Mercury
4) the dynamic and lequid metal Mercury

...and the funny thing is they may all be valid!

So he ended up with nick-name Melina (Mercouri) just to make things a little bit messier.

Quite a long road for this Bulsara boy !

[QUOTE] [b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote:[/b]

From what I've heard, Freddie's name was meant to refer to the dynamic, fluid character of the metal as much as to the deity.[/QUOTE]

thomasquinn 32989
do you remember by any chance the source of this.

Was it a band-mate or friend of his, perhaps?

[QUOTE] [b]Stelios wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote:[/b]

From what I've heard, Freddie's name was meant to refer to the dynamic, fluid character of the metal as much as to the deity.[/QUOTE]

thomasquinn 32989
do you remember by any chance the source of this.

Was it a band-mate or friend of his, perhaps?
[/QUOTE]

I don't recall, but I think I can look it up for you. Is it OK if I send you a PM when I do?