Winged Sandals- Greek ArtifactArtifact"Sandals of Hermes"

The Sandals of Hermes

Homer calls them ambrosial, wrought of imperishable gold with wings at the ankles. Each time Hermes takes flight, the ritual is the same: the god binds the beautiful sandals beneath his feet, and they carry him over the water's surface as easily as over solid ground. In the Odyssey, when Zeus sends him to Calypso's island, Hermes straps on his sandals and flies from the peaks of Pieria down to the sea, skimming the waves like a cormorant hunting fish through the dangerous troughs. When he later guides the ghosts of the slain suitors down to the house of Hades, he wears them again — the sandals carry him between the world of the living and the dead as easily as over open water. In the Iliad, Priam must cross the battlefield at night to ransom Hector's body; Hermes laces the sandals and descends to the Trojan plain to guide the old king safely past the Greek camp in darkness.

Perseus and the Gorgon

When Perseus set out to slay Medusa, Hermes and Athena guided him to the nymphs, who gave him the winged sandals, a cap of invisibility, and a kibisis to hold the severed head. The sandals carried Perseus to the western edge of the world where the Gorgons slept. He descended from the air, struck Medusa's head from her neck while watching only her reflection in a bronze shield, and sealed it in the bag. Stheno and Euryale woke to find their sister dead and rose in pursuit on wings of their own, but the sandals of Hermes proved swifter. Perseus outran them and flew east over Libya, where drops of the Gorgon's blood fell from the kibisis onto the sand below and became venomous serpents. When his quest was done, he returned the divine gifts — sandals, cap, and kibisis — to their rightful owners.