In Greek mythology, Iris is the
personification of the rainbow and
messenger of the gods. She is also known
as one of the goddesses of the sea and
the sky. Iris links the gods to
humanity. She travels with the speed of
wind from one end of the world to the
other, and into the depths of the sea
and the underworld.
In classical literature
According to Hesiod's Theogony, Iris is
the daughter of Thaumas and the cloud
nymph Electra. Her sisters are Arke and
the Harpies; Aello, Celaeno, and
Ocypete.
Iris is frequently mentioned as a divine
messenger in the Iliad which is
attributed to Homer, but does not appear
in his Odyssey, where Hermes fills that
role. Like Hermes, Iris carries a
caduceus or winged staff. By command of
Zeus, the king of the gods, she carries
an ewer of water from the River Styx,
with which she puts to sleep all who
perjure themselves. According to
Apollonius Rhodius, Iris turned back the
Argonauts Zetes and Calais who had
pursued the Harpies to the Strophades.
The brothers had driven off the monsters
from their torment of the prophet
Phineus, but did not kill them upon the
request of Iris, who promised that
Phineus would not be bothered by the
Harpies again.
Iris is married to Zephyrus, who is the
god of the west wind. Their son is
Pothos. According to the Dionysiaca of
Nonnos, Iris' brother is Hydaspes.
In Euripides' play Heracles, Iris
appears alongside Lyssa, cursing
Heracles with the fit of madness in
which he kills his three sons and his
wife Megara. In some records she is a
sororal twin to the Titaness Arke, who
flew out of the company of Olympian gods
to join the Titans as their messenger
goddess during the Titanomachy, making
the two sisters enemy messenger
goddesses. Iris was said to have golden
wings, whereas Arke had iridescent ones.
She is also said to travel on the
rainbow while carrying messages from the
gods to mortals. During the Titan War,
Zeus tore Arke's iridescent wings from
her and gave them as a gift to the
Nereid Thetis at her wedding, who in
turn gave them to her son, Achilles, who
wore them on his feet. Achilles was
sometimes known as podarkes Podarces was
also the original name of Priam, king of
Troy.
Iris also appears several times in
Virgil's Aeneid, usually as an agent of
Juno. In Book 4, Juno dispatches her to
pluck a lock of hair from the head of
Queen Dido, that she may die and enter
Hades. 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.
= Epithets=
Iris had numerous poetic titles and
epithets, including Chrysopteron, Podas
ôkea or Podênemos ôkea, Roscida, and
Thaumantias or Thaumantos. Under the
epithet Aellopus she was described as
swift-footed like a storm-wind. She also
watered the clouds with her pitcher,
obtaining the water from the sea.
Representation
Iris is represented either as a rainbow,
or as a young maiden with wings on her
shoulders. As a goddess, Iris is
associated with communication, messages,
the rainbow and new endeavors.
Derivations
= In language=
The word iridescence is derived in part
from the name of this goddess.
The adjective for a rainbow is iridal.
"Arco iris" and "arco-íris" are the
words for "rainbow" in Spanish and
Portuguese, respectively, where "Arco"
means "bow" in English.
The iris of the eye is named after her,
to reflect the many colours of the eye.
= Namesake=
The asteroid 7 Iris.
The element Iridium.
Iris
The hormone Irisin
= Artwork=
In 1946, Iris was depicted on a 50-franc
airmail stamp in France. This was
accompanied the same year by a 40-franc
airmail stamp depicting a centaur
shooting an arrow into the sky.
= Fictional adaptations=
Iris appears as a character in William
Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
Iris appears in the Disney movie
Fantasia at the end of the segment
featuring the Pastoral Symphony by
Beethoven.
Iris is a character used in the Percy
Jackson and The Olympians and Heroes of
Olympus series by Rick Riordan.
Iris appears in "Ransom" by Australian
author David Malouf.
Iris is the main character in Iris the
colourful by Joan Holub
See also
Iris
Notes
References
Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of
Classical Mythology, 1996, ISBN
978-0-631-20102-1. "Iris" pp. 237–238
Peyré, Yves, "Iris." 2009. In A
Dictionary of Shakespeare's Classical
Mythology, ed. Yves Peyré.
http:www.shakmyth.org129/iris
Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and
Roman Biography and Mythology, London.
"Iris"
External links
"Iris" from Theoi.com
Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica
by Hesiod
The Iliad by Homer
The Argonautica, by c. 3rd century BC
Apollonius Rhodius
