Fiamma
September 12th, 2007, 06:13 AM
Well, there hasn't been one of these in a while, but I've been doing a bunch of research for an upcoming ritual...so I just thought I'd share a thing or two about Iris....
Despite having no mythology of her own, she shows up a lot in Greek mythology, she is a messenger, she is one of the few deities who can move between Olympus, the Earth, and the Underworld. She is said to replenish rain clouds from the sea by way of the rainbow. She is a twin to Arke, who was also a winged messenger goddess of the rainbow...however in the war against the Titans, Arke sided with the Titans
http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Arke.html
http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Iris.html
IRIS was the goddess (http://www.theoi.com/greek-mythology/sky-gods.html) of the rainbow, the messenger of the Olympian gods. She was often represented as the handmaiden and personal messenger of Hera (http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Hera.html). Iris was a goddess of sea and sky--her father Thaumas "the wondrous" was a marine-god, and her mother Elektra "the amber" a cloud-nymph. For the coastal-dwelling Greeks, the rainbow's arc was most often seen spanning the distance beteween cloud and sea, and so the goddess was believed to replenish the rain-clouds with water from the sea. Iris had no distinctive mythology of her own. In myth she appears only as an errand-running messenger and was usually described as a virgin goddess. Her name contains a double meaning, being connected both with iris, "the rainbow," and eiris, "messenger."
Iris appears in ancient Greek vase painting as a beautiful young woman with golden wings, a herald's rod (kerykeion), and sometimes a water-pitcher (oinochoe) in her hand. She was usually depicted standing beside Zeus or Hera, sometimes serving nectar from her jug. As cup-bearer of the gods Iris is often indistinguishable from Hebe (http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Hebe.html) in art.
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/i/iris.html
In Greek mythology, Iris is the personified goddess of the rainbow. She is regarded as the messenger of the gods to mankind, and particularly of the goddess Hera (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hera.html) whose orders she brought to humans. Iris is the daughter of Titan Thaumas (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/t/thaumas.html) and the nymph Electra (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/e/electra.html). She is portrayed as a young woman with wings and her attributes are a herald's staff and a water pitcher. She appears mainly on Greek vases.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_%28mythology%29
In Greek mythology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology), Iris is the personification of the rainbow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow) and messenger of the gods. As the rainbow unites Earth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth) and heaven (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven), Iris links the gods to humanity. She travels with the speed of wind from one end of the world to the other[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_%28mythology%29#_note-The_Iliad), and into the depths of the sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea) and the underworld (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underworld).
Despite having no mythology of her own, she shows up a lot in Greek mythology, she is a messenger, she is one of the few deities who can move between Olympus, the Earth, and the Underworld. She is said to replenish rain clouds from the sea by way of the rainbow. She is a twin to Arke, who was also a winged messenger goddess of the rainbow...however in the war against the Titans, Arke sided with the Titans
http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Arke.html
http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Iris.html
IRIS was the goddess (http://www.theoi.com/greek-mythology/sky-gods.html) of the rainbow, the messenger of the Olympian gods. She was often represented as the handmaiden and personal messenger of Hera (http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Hera.html). Iris was a goddess of sea and sky--her father Thaumas "the wondrous" was a marine-god, and her mother Elektra "the amber" a cloud-nymph. For the coastal-dwelling Greeks, the rainbow's arc was most often seen spanning the distance beteween cloud and sea, and so the goddess was believed to replenish the rain-clouds with water from the sea. Iris had no distinctive mythology of her own. In myth she appears only as an errand-running messenger and was usually described as a virgin goddess. Her name contains a double meaning, being connected both with iris, "the rainbow," and eiris, "messenger."
Iris appears in ancient Greek vase painting as a beautiful young woman with golden wings, a herald's rod (kerykeion), and sometimes a water-pitcher (oinochoe) in her hand. She was usually depicted standing beside Zeus or Hera, sometimes serving nectar from her jug. As cup-bearer of the gods Iris is often indistinguishable from Hebe (http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Hebe.html) in art.
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/i/iris.html
In Greek mythology, Iris is the personified goddess of the rainbow. She is regarded as the messenger of the gods to mankind, and particularly of the goddess Hera (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hera.html) whose orders she brought to humans. Iris is the daughter of Titan Thaumas (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/t/thaumas.html) and the nymph Electra (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/e/electra.html). She is portrayed as a young woman with wings and her attributes are a herald's staff and a water pitcher. She appears mainly on Greek vases.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_%28mythology%29
In Greek mythology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology), Iris is the personification of the rainbow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow) and messenger of the gods. As the rainbow unites Earth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth) and heaven (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven), Iris links the gods to humanity. She travels with the speed of wind from one end of the world to the other[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_%28mythology%29#_note-The_Iliad), and into the depths of the sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea) and the underworld (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underworld).