Janidu Kulage
IRIS the goddess of the rainbow…
ris is a goddess in Mount Olympus to humans with her beau ful wings which are rarely Greek mythology. found in Greek gods. She served She was a Hera, one of the powerful goddesses I in Greek mythology. In fact, she was goddess of sea and sky, o en painted in ancient Greek colorful and po ery serving vine to Hera and Zeus overwhelming with wings from her clay vessel she carries in her and beauty. As she is the hand. goddess of the rainbow, In appearance Iris is a the voice between mortals beau ful young woman with golden and immortals, the wings and carries a rod with two wings and two serpents wrapped messenger of the around known as the herald's rod Olympian gods and the (kerykeion), and some mes a water- handmaiden of Hera, in pitcher (oinochoe) in the other hand dressed in white long robes. She is name she is called Iris. believed to be a virgin goddess. With such beauty, Iris travels with the As men oned in the Greek speed of wind from one end of the epic Hesiod, "Now Thaumas married world to the other and into the a daughter of deep-running Okeanos d e p t h s o f t h e s e a a n d t h e (Oceanus), Elektra (Electra), and she underworld. bore him swi -footed Iris, the rainbow." (Hesiod, Theogony 265, Her name and appearance trans. Evelyn-White, Greek epic C8th are symbolic of her character in many or C7th B.C.) w ay s . T h e n a m e i r i s m e a n s messenger and also the rainbow in ancient Greece. The rainbow is an ark She is believed to be the that connects two ends of earth that d a u g h t e r o f T h a u m a s " t h e go es th ro u gh th e sky wh ich wondrous" was a marine-god, and symbolizes her connec on to gods her mother Elektra "the amber" a and men, so Iris was believed to be cloud-nymph. Iris played many roles pouring water from the ocean to the in her life as men oned above, she clouds to create rainbows. While delivered messages from gods of exchanging messengers from gods to I r i s V o l u m e I I 2 0 2 1 1 g o d s a n d g o d s t o m e n , I r i s She plummeted to the sea floor like a e n c o u n t e r e d m a ny t h r i l l i n g lead weight." (Homer, Iliad 24. 77, incidents. Greek epic C8th B.C.)
She also some mes served men Reading the great epic poems wri en water from her pitcher that made by Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey them sleep. will bring more insight about Iris and o t h e r G re e k g o d d e s s e s a n d In epic poems like Homer's Iliad, the mythology for whoever that finds encounters of Iris are men oned passion in such great work of from me to me. literature and history.
"Iris storm-footed sprang away . . . and at a point between Samos and Imbros of the high cliffs plunged in the dark water, and the sea crashed moaning about her.
I r i s V o l u m e I I 2 0 2 1 2