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Arke

Daughter of Thaumas in Greek mythology

Field	Value
type	Greek
image	20240314 elefsina 105.jpg
caption	A winged goddess with a caduceus on a Greek fragmentary black-figure vase from Eleusis.
name	Arke
god_of	Messenger goddess
parents	Thaumas
siblings	Iris, Harpies: Aello (Podarge), Celaeno, and Ocypete, and possibly Hydaspes
abode	Tartarus

In Greek mythology, Arke or Arce () is one of the daughters of Thaumas, and sister to the rainbow goddess Iris. During the Titanomachy, Arke fled from the Olympians' camp and joined the Titans, unlike Iris who remained loyal to Zeus and his allies. After the war was over and the Titans with their allies were defeated, Zeus cut off her wings and cast Arke into Tartarus to be kept imprisoned for all eternity.

Family and attributes

The goddess Arke was born to Thaumas, a minor god; no mother of hers is mentioned anywhere. She and her sister Iris were both messenger deities; Iris is notably also the goddess of the rainbow, but unlike her Arke has not got any established connection to rainbows. Like Iris however Arke also sported wings which might be a nod to some primeval force or element she represented, but it is not clear what that would be.

Mythology

During the divine war known as the Titanomachy, Arke and Iris originally sided with the Olympian gods, but soon after Arke betrayed them for the Titans and flew to their camp to become their own messenger-goddess, while Iris remained loyal as the Olympian gods' messenger.

When the Olympians eventually prevailed over their enemies, their leader Zeus punished Arke severely for her defection. She was deprived of her wings and cast into the deep pit called Tartarus, together with the vanquished Titans. Arke's torn wings were later given to Peleus and Thetis as a gift on their wedding day; Thetis in turn later gave them to her son Achilles, which is thought to be the derivation of his surname Podarces (literally "swift-footed", as if from πούς, gen. ποδός "foot" + the name of Arke).

In Eumelus of Corinth's lost epic poem the Titanomachy which chronicled the battle between the Olympians and the Titans, it seems that the messenger of the Titans was called Ithas or Ithax, a figure that was identified with Prometheus.

Genealogy

Notes

References

Bibliography

Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Photius, Bibliotheca excerpts, sections 1-166 translated by John Henry Freese, from the SPCK edition of 1920, now in the public domain, and other brief excerpts from subsequent sections translated by Roger Pearse (from the French translation by René Henry, ed. Les Belles Lettres).
Online version at the Perseus.tufts library.

References

[[Ptolemy Hephaestion]], ''New History'' 6, as epitomized in [[Photios I of Constantinople
[[Eumelus of Corinth. Hesychius]] ''Lexicon'' i387]
''Theogony'' 233–297, 333–335 (Ladon) (Most, pp. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.23.xml 22, 23], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.29.xml 28, 29]); Caldwell, p. 7, tables 6–9; Hard, p. 696.
One of the [[Oceanid]] daughters of [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology). Tethys]], at [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.31.xml 350].
One of the [[Oceanid]] daughters of [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology). Tethys]], at [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.31.xml 349].
The fifty sea nymphs, including: [[Amphitrite]] ( [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.23.xml 243]), [[Thetis]] ( [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.23.xml 244]), [[Acis and Galatea (mythology). Galatea]] ( [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.23.xml 250]), and [[Psamathe (Nereid). Psamathe]] ( [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.23.xml 260]).
Who Echidna's mother is supposed to be, is unclear, she is probably Ceto, but possibly Callirhoe. The "she" at [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.27.xml 295] is ambiguous. While some have read this "she" as referring to Callirhoe, according to Clay, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2etBN0w0NGUC&pg=PA159 p. 159 n. 32], "the modern scholarly consensus" reads Ceto, see for example Gantz, p. 22; Caldwell, pp. 7, 46 295–303.
Unnamed by Hesiod, but described at [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.29.xml 334–335] as a terrible serpent who guards the golden apples.
Son of [[Cronus]] and [[Rhea (mythology). Rhea]] at [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.39.xml 456], where he is called "Earth-Shaker".
One of the [[Oceanid]] daughters of [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology). Tethys]], at [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.31.xml 351].

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