Arke (mythology)

In ancient Greek religion, Arke or Arce (Greek: Ἄρκη) was a daughter of Thaumas and fraternal twin sister of Iris. She is sometimes affiliated with the faded second rainbow sometimes seen in the shadow of the first. She is said to have iridescent wings, compared to Iris' golden ones.

During the Titanomachy, she betrayed the Olympian gods and joined the Titans against them; she became the messenger for the Titans, while her fraternal twin sister Iris was on the opposite side and became the messenger of the Olympian Gods.

When the Olympians won, Zeus deprived Arke of her wings and cast her into Tartarus, together with the other vanquished Titans. Arke's wings were later given to Peleus and Thetis as a gift on their wedding day; Thetis later gave them to her son Achilles, which is where his surname Podarces (literally "swift-footed", as if from πούς, gen. ποδός "foot" + the name of Arke) was thought to have come from.[1]

References

  1. ↑ Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History, 6; Photius, Bibliotheca, 190


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