Iris- Greek GodDeity"Messenger of the Gods"

Daughter of Wonder

Iris was the daughter of Thaumas and the Oceanid Electra, and sister of the Harpies. The rainbow is her path between heaven and earth, the arc of color that appears after storms. She flies on golden wings, and no realm is closed to her — she carries messages from Olympus to the Underworld and everywhere between. Where Hermes often serves Zeus, Iris is Hera's personal messenger.

The Water of the Styx

Iris draws water from the River Styx in a golden jug and brings it to Olympus. When the gods swear oaths by the Styx, it is Iris who fetches the sacred water — the same water whose violation brings a year of breathless silence and nine years of exile from the gods' councils. She also carries water from ocean to sky to replenish the storm clouds, falling again as rain.

Iris in Action

During the voyage of the Argonauts, when the Boreads chased the Harpies across the sky for tormenting the seer Phineus, Iris halted the pursuit at the Strophades. She swore on the Styx that her sisters would trouble the prophet no more — saving their lives even as she condemned their cruelty. At Troy, she summons old Priam to cross the battlefield at night and ransom Hector's body from Achilles, and when Achilles prays for winds to light Patroclus's funeral pyre and none come, it is Iris who flies to rouse them. In Callimachus's Hymn to Delos, she also serves Hera during the wanderings of Leto, sent to prevent any land from offering shelter to the pregnant goddess.