Mercury at "Fontaine du Soleil" - Nice, France
Posted by: 
wildwoodke
N 43° 41.838 E 007° 16.317
32T E 360751 N 4839704
Mercury is one of five statues that surround Apollo. They are found at the base/within Fontaine du Soleil located in Place Masséna. The fountain has undergone an extensive reconstruction in the last 2 years (since 2011) in central Nice, France.
Waymark Code: WMGH27
Location: Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Date Posted: 03/05/2013
Views: 16
The Fountain
The "Fountain of the Sun" or "Fontaine du Soleil" is located on the south side of Place Masséna. The founatin in its original form was inaugurated in 1956. On it are five bronze statues respresenting Earth, Mars, Mercury, Venus and Saturn that were sculpted by Alfred Janniot.
The Planet
Authors on Wikipedia describe the planet Mercury as "the innermost planet in the Solar System. It is also the smallest, and its orbit is the most eccentric (that is, the least perfectly circular) of the eight planets. It orbits the Sun once in about 88 Earth days, completing three rotations about its axis for every two orbits. The planet is named after the Roman god Mercury, the messenger to the gods."
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet)
The Roman God
One of the statues that is found in the fountain is Mercury, god of trade and profit.
On the Encyclopedia Mythica(TM) website, Mercury is described on the website as:
”Mercury is god of trade and profit, merchants and travelers, but originally of the trade in corn. In later times he was equated with the Greek Hermes. He had a temple in Rome near the Circus Maximus on the Aventine Hill which dates back to 495 BCE. This temple was connected to some kind of trade fair. His main festival, the Mercuralia, was celebrated on May 15 and on this day the merchants sprinkled their heads and their merchandise with water from his well near the Porta Capena.
During the time of the Roman Empire the cult of Mercury was widely spread, especially among the Celtic and Germanic peoples. The Celts have their Gaulish Mercury, and the Germans identified him with their Wodan.
The attributes of Mercury are the caduceus (a staff with two intertwined snakes) and a purse (a symbol of his connection with commerce). He is portrayed similarly to Hermes: dressed in a wide cloak, wearing talaria (winged sandals) and petasus (winged hat).
Mercury is also known as Alipes ("with the winged feet").”
By Micha F. Lindemans on the website at: http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/mercury.html