In Greek mythology, Arke or Arce (Ancient Greek: Ἄρκη, romanized: Árkē, lit. 'swift') 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.
Mythology
The winged goddess Arke was born to Thaumas, a minor god; no mother of hers is mentioned anywhere.[a] She and Iris were both messenger deities.[b] During the Titanomachy, she and Iris originally sided with the Olympian gods, but then Arke betrayed them for the Titans and became their own messenger, while Iris remained the Olympian gods' messenger.
When the Olympians eventually prevailed over their enemies, their leader Zeus punished Arke severely. 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).[1]
In Eumelus of Corinth's lost epic Titanomachy, it seems that the messenger of the Titans was called Ithas or Ithax, a figure that was identified with Prometheus.[2][3]
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).
