Youngest of Cecrops' three daughters on the Acropolis, fairest of the sisters — whom Mercury saw from heaven and sought through their jealous middle sister Aglauros, who was petrified when she blocked the god's path.1
Pandrosos, Aglauros, and Herse dwelt between them on the Acropolis, devoted to Minerva's praise. Mercury, flying down on a mission for Jove, saw Herse and burned to possess her — the youngest and fairest of the Cecropid sisters.2
Apollodorus names Herse among Cecrops' daughters alongside Agraulus and Pandrosus, and records that Athena entrusted the chest holding the infant Erichthonius to Pandrosus with the charge that none open it — a trust Herse and Aglauros broke in other tellings.3
The atlas keeps this Cecropid Herse distinct from Herse daughter of Selene in later Athenian genealogies — the Mercury episode belongs to Ovid's tale of the stone sister, not to every bearer of the name.4
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the spine ignites as you read · hover a bond on the card — every mention of them lights in the story