Iris appears in several stories carrying messages from and to the gods or running errands but has no unique mythology of her own. Similarly, very little to none of a historical cult and worship of Iris is attested in surviving records, with only a few traces surviving from the island ofDelos. In ancient art, Iris is depicted as a winged young woman carrying acaduceus, the symbol of the messengers, and a pitcher of water for the gods. Iris was traditionally seen as the consort ofZephyrus, the god of the west wind and one of the fourAnemoi, by whom she is the mother ofPothos in some versions.[1]
Theancient Greek nounἾρις means both therainbow[2] and the halo of theMoon.[6] An inscription fromCorinth provides evidence for an original formϜῖρις (Wîris) with adigamma that was eventually dropped.[6] The noun seems to be ofpre-Greek origin.[7] AProto-Indo-European pre-form*uh2i-r-i- has been suggested as well, althoughBeekes finds it 'hard to motivate.'[6]
According toHesiod'sTheogony, Iris is the daughter ofThaumas and theOceanidElectra and the sister of theHarpies:Arke andOcypete.[8] During theTitanomachy, Iris was the messenger of theOlympian gods while her sisterArke betrayed the Olympians and became the messenger of the gods' enemy, theTitans. She is the goddess of the rainbow. She also serves nectar to the goddesses and gods to drink.
Zephyrus, who is the god of the west wind, is often said to be her consort. Together they had a son namedPothos,[9] or alternatively they were the parents ofEros,[10] the god of love, according to sixth century BC Greek lyric poetAlcaeus, though Eros is usually said to be the son ofAres andAphrodite. According to theDionysiaca ofNonnus, Iris' brother isHydaspes.[11]
She is also known as one of the goddesses of the sea and the sky. Iris links the gods tohumanity. She travels with the speed of wind from one end of the world to the other[12] and into the depths of thesea and theunderworld.
Winged female figure holding a caduceus: Iris (messenger of the gods) orNike (Victory)
Iris is said to travel on the rainbow while carrying messages from the gods to mortals. In some records, Iris is a sister to fellow messenger goddessArke ("swift", "quick"); both sisters originally sided with the Olympian gods during the Titanomachy, but Arke eventually flew out of the company of Olympians to join theTitans as their own messenger goddess, so the two sisters found each other on opposite camps during the battle.[13]
After the war was won by the Olympian leader Zeus and his allies, Zeus punished Arke by tearing her wings from her and in time gave them as a gift to theNereidThetis at her wedding toPeleus, who in turn gave them to her son,Achilles, who wore them on his feet.[13] Achilles was sometimes known aspodarkes (feet like [the wings of] Arke). Podarces was also the original name ofPriam, the king ofTroy.[14] Iris on the other hand maintained her position as the messenger of the gods alongside Hermes; often Iris served specifically as Hera's personal messenger and servant.
Iris stands behind the seatedJuno (right) in aPompeii fresco
Following her daughterPersephone's abduction byHades, the goddess of agricultureDemeter withdrew to her temple inEleusis and made the earth barren, causing a great famine that killed off mortals, and as a result sacrifices to the gods ceased.Zeus then sent Iris to Demeter, calling her to join the other gods and lift her curse; but as her daughter was not returned, Demeter was not persuaded.[15]
In one narrative, afterLeto and her children pleaded with Zeus to releasePrometheus from his torment, Zeus relented, and sent Iris to orderHeracles to free the unfortunate Prometheus.[16]
AfterCeyx drowned in a shipwreck, Hera made Iris convey her orders toHypnos, the god of sleep. Iris flew and found him in his cave, and informed him that Hera wished for Ceyx's wife, Alcyone, to be informed of her loved one's death in her dreams. After delivering Hera's command, Iris left immediately, not standing to be near Hypnos for too long, for his powers took hold of her, and made her dizzy and sleepy.[17]
InAristophanes's comedyThe Birds, the titular birds build a city in the sky and plan to supplant the Olympian gods. Iris, as the messenger, goes to meet them, but she is ridiculed, insulted, and threatened with rape by their leader Pisetaerus, an elderly Athenian man. Iris appears confused that Pisetearus does not know who the gods are and that she is one of them. Pisetaerus then tells her that the birds are the gods now, the deities whom the humans must sacrifice to. After Pisetaerus threatens to rape her, Iris scolds him for his foul language and leaves, warning him that Zeus, whom she refers to as her father, will deal with him and make him pay.[18]
Iris also appears several times inVirgil'sAeneid, usually as an agent ofJuno. In Book 4, Juno dispatches her to pluck a lock of hair from the head of QueenDido, so that she may die and enter the Underworld.[19] In book 5, Iris, having taken on the form of a Trojan woman, stirs up the other Trojan mothers to set fire to four of Aeneas' ships in order to prevent them from leaving Sicily.[20]
According to the Roman poetOvid, afterRomulus was deified as the godQuirinus, his wifeHersilia pleaded with the gods to let her become immortal as well so that she could be with her husband once again. Juno heard her plea and sent Iris down to her. With a single finger, Iris touched Hersilia and transformed her into an immortal goddess. Hersilia flew to Olympus, where she became one of theHorae and was permitted to live with her husband forevermore.[21][22]
According to the lost epicCypria byStasinus, it was Iris who informedMenelaus, who had sailed off toCrete, of what had happened back inSparta while he was gone, namely his wifeHelen's elopement with theTrojan PrinceParis as well as the death of Helen's brotherCastor.[23]
Iris is frequently mentioned as a divine messenger inThe Iliad, which is attributed toHomer. She does not, however, appear inThe Odyssey, where her role is instead filled byHermes. Like Hermes, Iris carries acaduceus or winged staff. By command ofZeus, the king of the gods, she carries aewer of water from theRiver Styx, with which she puts tosleep all whoperjure themselves. In Book XXIII, she delivers Achilles's prayer toBoreas and Zephyrus to light the funeral pyre ofPatroclus.[24] In the last book, Zeus sends Iris to KingPriam, to tell him that he should go to the Achaean camp alone and ransom the body of his slain sonHector fromAchilles. Iris swiftly delivers the message to Priam and returns to Olympus.[25]
Iris, Attic lekythos in Six's technique (superposed colours), circa 500–490 BC, found inTanagra, now inLouvre.
According to the "Homeric Hymn to Apollo", whenLeto was in labor prior to giving birth to her twin childrenApollo andArtemis, all the goddesses were in attendance except for two, Hera andEileithyia, the goddess of childbirth. On the ninth day of her labor, Leto told Iris to bribe Eileithyia and ask for her help in giving birth to her children, without allowing Hera to find out.[26] According toCallimachus, Iris along withAres ordered, onHera's orders, all cities and other places to shun the pregnantLeto and deny her shelter where she could bring forth her twins.[27] AfterAsteria, now transformed into the island ofDelos, offered shelter to Leto, Iris flew back to Hera to inform her that Leto had been allowed to give birth due to Asteria defying Hera's orders, and took her seat beside Hera.[28]
According toApollonius Rhodius, Iris turned back theArgonautsZetes and Calais, who had pursued theHarpies to theStrophades ("Islands of Turning"). The brothers had driven off the monsters from their torment of the prophetPhineus, but did not kill them upon the request of Iris, who promised thatPhineus would not be bothered by the Harpies again.
After KingCreon of Thebes forbade the burial of the dead Argive soldiers who had raised their arms against Thebes, Hera ordered Iris to moisturize their dead bodies with dew and ambrosia.[29]
In a lesser-known narrative, Iris once came close to being raped by thesatyrs after she attempted to disrupt their worship ofDionysus, perhaps at the behest ofHera. About fifteen black-and-red-figure vase paintings dating from the fifth century BC depict said satyrs either menacingly advancing toward or getting hold of her when she tries to interfere with the sacrifice.[30] In another cup, Iris is depicted being assaulted by the satyrs, who apparently are trying to prevent Iris from stealing sacrificial meat from the altar of Dionysus, who is also present in the scene. On the other side, the satyrs are attacking Hera, who stands between Hermes and Heracles.[31] The ancient playwrightAchaeus wroteIris, a now lostsatyr play, which might have been the source of those vases' subject.[31]
InEuripides' playHeracles Gone Mad, Iris appears alongsideLyssa, the goddess of madness and insanity, cursingHeracles with the fit of madness in which he kills his three sons and his wifeMegara.[32] Iris also prepared the bed of Zeus and Hera.[33]
Weber-Laborde head Louvre, possibly the head of Iris.Iris, sculpture from thewest pediment of the Parthenon, now at theBritish Museum.[34]
Unlike the other prominent messenger god of the Greeks, Hermes, Iris did not play a large part in the ancient Greek religion and was rarely worshipped. There are no known temples, shrines, or sanctuaries to Iris, or festivals held in her honour. While she is frequently depicted on vases and in bas-reliefs, few statues are known to have been made of Iris during antiquity. She was however depicted in sculpture on thewest pediment ofParthenon inAthens.
Iris does appear to have been the object of at least some minor worship, but the only trace preserved of her cult is the note byAthenaeus inScholars at Dinner that the people of Delos sacrificed to Iris, offering her cheesecakes calledbasyniae, a type of cake of wheat-flour, suet, and honey, boiled up together.[35]
Iris had numerous poetic titles andepithets, includingchrysopteros (χρυσόπτερος "golden winged"),podas ōkea (πόδας ὠκέα "swift footed") orpodēnemos ōkea (ποδήνεμος ὠκέα "wind-swift footed"),roscida ("dewy", Latin), andThaumantias orThaumantis (Θαυμαντιάς,Θαυμαντίς, "Daughter of Thaumas, Wondrous One"),aellopus (ἀελλόπους "storm-footed, storm-swift).[36] She also watered the clouds with her pitcher, obtaining the water from the sea.
Iris is represented either as a rainbow or as a beautiful young maiden with wings on her shoulders. As a goddess, Iris is associated withcommunication,messages, the rainbow, and new endeavors. This personification of a rainbow was once described as being a link to the heavens and earth.[37]
In some texts she is depicted wearing a coat of many colors. With this coat she actually creates the rainbows she rides to get from place to place. Iris' wings were said to be so beautiful that she could even light up a dark cavern, a trait observable from the story of her visit toSomnus in order to relay a message toAlcyone.[38]
While Iris was principally associated with communication and messages, she was also believed to aid in the fulfillment of humans' prayers, either by fulfilling them herself or by bringing them to the attention of other deities.[39]
^Homer uses the alternative formaellopos (ἀελλόπος):Iliad viii. 409.
^Seton-Williams, M.V. (2000).Greek Legends and Stories. Rubicon Press. pp. 75–76.
^Bulfinch, Thomas (1913).Bulfinch's Mythology: the Age of Fable, the Age of Chivalry, Legends of Charlemagne: Complete in One Volume. Thomas Y. Crowell Co.
^Seton-Williams, M.V. (2000).Greek Legends and Stories. Rubicon Press. p. 9.
^Theogony 233–297, 333–335 (Ladon) (Most, pp.22, 23,28, 29); Caldwell, p. 7, tables 6–9; Hard, p. 696.
^Who Echidna's mother is supposed to be, is unclear, she is probably Ceto, but possibly Callirhoe. The "she" at295 is ambiguous. While some have read this "she" as referring to Callirhoe, according to Clay,p. 159 n. 32, "the modern scholarly consensus" reads Ceto, see for example Gantz, p. 22; Caldwell, pp. 7, 46 295–303.
^Unnamed by Hesiod, but described at334–335 as a terrible serpent who guards the golden apples.
^Son ofCronus andRhea at456, where he is called "Earth-Shaker".
Apollodorus,Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Homer,The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Evelyn-White, Hugh,The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.
Euripides,The Complete Greek Drama', edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 2.The Phoenissae, translated by E. P. Coleridge. New York. Random House. 1938.
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