InGreek mythology,Arke orArce (Ancient Greek:Ἄρκη,romanized: Árkē,lit. 'swift') is one of the daughters ofThaumas, and sister to the rainbow goddessIris. During theTitanomachy, Arke fled from the Olympians' camp and joined theTitans, unlike Iris who remained loyal toZeus and his allies. After the war was over and the Titans with their allies were defeated, Zeus cut off her wings and cast Arke intoTartarus to be kept imprisoned for all eternity.
The goddess Arke was born toThaumas, a minor god; no mother of hers is mentioned anywhere.[1][a] She and her sister Iris were both messenger deities; Iris is notably also the goddess of the rainbow, but unlike her Arke has not got any established connection to rainbows. Like Iris however Arke also sported wings which might be a nod to some primeval force or element she represented, but it is not clear what that would be.[2]
During the divine war known as theTitanomachy, Arke and Iris originally sided with theOlympian gods, but soon after Arke betrayed them for theTitans and flew to their camp to become their own messenger-goddess, while Iris remained loyal as the Olympian gods' messenger.[3]
When the Olympians eventually prevailed over their enemies, their leaderZeus punished Arke severely for her defection. She was deprived of her wings and cast into the deep pit calledTartarus, together with the vanquished Titans.[4] Arke's torn wings were later given toPeleus andThetis as a gift on their wedding day; Thetis in turn later gave them to her sonAchilles, which is thought to be the derivation of his surnamePodarces (literally "swift-footed", as if fromπούς,gen.ποδός "foot" + the name of Arke).[5]
InEumelus of Corinth's lost epic poem theTitanomachy which chronicled the battle between the Olympians and the Titans, it seems that the messenger of the Titans was calledIthas or Ithax, a figure that was identified withPrometheus.[6][7]
^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".
Photius,Bibliotheca excerpts, sections 1-166 translated by John Henry Freese, from the SPCK edition of 1920, now in the public domain, and other brief excerpts from subsequent sections translated by Roger Pearse (from the French translation by René Henry, ed. Les Belles Lettres).
