Iris

Iris was originally the personal messenger of Zeus, later becoming the messenger of the Olympian gods in general...

Her name contains a double meaning, being connected with both the Greek word iris "the rainbow" and eiris "messenger, speaker of messages"...

Now, today Iris is known as the "goddess of the rainbow"...But in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology we can read that "In the Homeric poems, Iris does not appear as the goddess of the rainbow, but the rainbow itself is called iris"...

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology also states: "Even though some poets describe Iris actually as the rainbow itself, the more prevalent view in antiquity was that she was associated with a rainbow"...

For instance "the rainbow was only the road on which Iris traveled" or "Iris was rainbow clad" or "Iris blazed a rainbow trail beneath the clouds as she flew"...

This is very interesting. If Iris was not originally a personification of the rainbow, but was instead associated with the rainbow, what was she the personification of? 

I would suggest thunder/lightning...

In accordance with her role as messenger,  most of Iris's poetic titles and epithets are related to her swiftness: "swift footed", "wind-swift footed", "storm-footed, storm-swift"...

Is rainbow something you might call swift, fast? Is lightning something you might call swift, fast? Do we say "rainbow fast" or "lightning fast"?

In the Iliad, when Zeus sent Iris to summon Thetis: "Storm-swift-footed Iris started at once on this mission...she dived into the dark bosom of the sea with a resounding splash...She found Thetis...and said: Come, Thetis; Zeus in his unending wisdom calls you to his side"...

There is something very strange about this description of Iris "diving into the dark bosom of the sea with a resounding splash"...If Iris is a rainbow...Do we ever see rainbow as "moving", "diving", "plunging"?  What about lightning?

Can rainbow make a "resounding splash"? Another translation of this chapter is "Iris...plunged in the dark water, and the sea crashed moaning about her"...Can rainbow do that? Can it make "the sea moan"? Can thunder/lightning?

In the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology we can also read that: "It is also possible that Iris's name may be connected with "eirô" (I join)...Join what? Lightning joins Sky (Zeus) and Earth...Rainbow???

Psalm 18:13: The LORD thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice.

What is the voice of the Sky god if not thunder/lightning???

If Iris was the personification of thunder/lightning, then that would explain the "resounding splash" that she makes when she plunges into the sea...Lighting strike would do that...Rainbows...Not really...

Thunder/lighting strike would make people look to the sky in fear and pay attention to what the Sky god had to say...Rainbow...Not really...

Thunder/lightning strike would make gods look to the sky and pay attention to what the Sky god had to say...Rainbow...Well you know yourself...

But what about Iris creating a rainbow when she moves...

Lightning is often tinged with another color around the edges. That color can be any color of the rainbow, but the three most common colors, are blue, yellow, and violet...

So it is possible that Iris could create a rainbow like display as she moves swiftly between the sky and earth, "speaking the messages (being the voice) of Zeus"...

Now here is something very interesting...In Vedic mythology, we find the storm and thunder god Indra happily married to a goddess called Indrani (basically female Indra). Here they are riding on an elephant together...

If you want to know why elephant check my post "Musth". In short, Indian elephants mating season overlaps with the Indian monsoon season...

This goddess has another, much more interesting name: Shachi...

Shachi is derived from the Sanskrit word "shach", which means "speak", "say" or "tell". Shachi is also associated with the Sanskrit word "shak", meaning "power", "strength", "action"...

So Indrani was the power of Indra...Which is why Indra was referred to as "Shachipati" meaning "master of Shachi" or "Shachivat" meaining "possessor of Shachi"...

But, even more importantly for our Iris story,  Shachi was the voice of Indra...The one who speaks for Indra...

What is the power of the storm and thunder god which is at the same time the voice of the storm and thunder god???

Oh by the way, rainbow was known as "the bow of Indra", who presumably shot lightning bolts from it??? So we have association between Thunder god, his messenger thunder/lightning and rainbow...

The same association between thunder god, his wife, his bow and rainbow is found in Slavic folklore, where we find Perun, the god of thunder and storms, happily married to his wife Perunika (literally female Perun), who wears a rainbow as her belt...

Perunika is not explicitly described as lightning personified...But she "helps her husband to load the lightning bolts and shoot them at thieves, liars, and immoral people in general"...Perun's bow is not explicitly described as a rainbow, but...

Oh yeah, did I mention that in South Slavic languages, Perunika is also the name for flower Iris...Flower which was believed to grow from the place struck by lightning...

Flower whose petals actually look like they have a depiction of a bright yellow lightning bolt in a dark blue sky...

So...I don't know what to  think about Iris really...

Oh yeah, I know that Iris was not the wife of Zeus, like Perunika (Iris) was the wife of Perun...But isn't it interesting that Iris "was often described as the handmaiden and personal messenger of Hera" the wife of Zeus...Curious...

Finally, someone just asked when does Perunika (Iris) flower...The beginning of the flowering season is Apr/May...Right at the beginning of the thunderstorm season in the Balkans...

Basically, Perunika is a plant calendar marker for the beginning of the thunderstorm season...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...