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 no 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 According to Ptolemy Hephaestion, 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.RE, s.v. Arke (2).
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 , gen. "foot" + the name of Arke).Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History 6, as epitomized in Photius's Bibliotheca 190
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.Eumelus, fragment 5 [=Hesychius Lexicon i387]
Genealogy
See also
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.
Hiller von Gaertringen, Friedrich, "Arke (2)", in Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Band II, Halbband 1, edited by Georg Wissowa, Stuttgart, J. B. Metzler, 1895. Wikisource.
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.