Talaria

The Latin noun {{lang|la|tālāria}}, neuter plural of {{lang|la|tālāris}} signifies "of the ankle". It is not quite certain how the Romans arrived at the meaning of "winged sandals" from this, possibly that the wings were attached at the ankles, or the sandals were tied around the ankles.{{sfnp|Anderson|1966|p=8}}

Image:Perseus Medusa Louvre CA795.jpg, wearing the talaria and carrying the {{lang|grc-Latn|kibisis}} over his shoulder, turns his head to kill Medusa on this Orientalizing relief {{lang|grc-Latn|pithos}}, {{circa|660 BC}}, Louvre.]]

In ancient Greek literature, the sandals of Hermes are first of all mentioned by Homer ({{lang|grc|ἀμβρόσια χρύσεια}}; {{lang|grc-Latn|ambrósia khrýseia}}, "immortal/divine and of gold"), though not described as "winged".Homer, Odyssey, V, 44.{{sfnp|Anderson|1966|p=8}}{{sfnp|Freedman|2014–2015|pp=190–191}}

The description of the sandals being winged first appear in the poem Shield of Heracles (c. 600 – 550 BC), which speaks of {{lang|grc|πτερόεντα πέδιλα}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|pteróenta pédila}}), literally "winged sandals".{{sfnp|Anderson|1966|p=8}}Hesiod, Shield of Heracles, 220. The Homeric hymn to Hermes from a somewhat later date (520 BC) does not explicitly state the sandals were winged, though they allowed him to leave no footprints while committing his theft of Apollo's cattle.{{sfnp|Freedman|2014–2015|pp=190–191}}

According to one estimation, it was around 5th century BC when the winged sandals came to be regarded as common (though not indispensable) accoutrements of the god Hermes.{{sfnp|Anderson|1966|p=8}} One later instance which refers to the sandals being winged is the Orphic Hymn XXVIII to Hermes (c. 2nd/3rd century AD).Orphic Hymn 28, v. 4{{sfnp|Freedman|2014–2015|pp=190–191}}

Perseus wears Hermes' sandals to help him slay Medusa.Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fables (LXIV) and Nonnus, Dionysiaca, (XIV, 270). According to Aeschylus, Hermes gives them to him directly.Aeschylus, The Phorkides, fr. 262 iv, v Radt. In a better-attested version, Perseus must retrieve them from the Graeae, along with the cap of invisibility and the {{lang|grc-Latn|kibisis}} (sack).Pherecydes, 3F11 Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, and the Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus), II, 4, 2.

The term talaria has been employed by Ovid in the 1st century, and prior to him, in perhaps eight instances by various Latin authors (Cicero, Virgil, etc.).{{sfnp|Anderson|1966|p=7}} The term is usually construed as "winged sandals", and applied almost exclusively to the footwear worn by the god Hermes/Mercury or the hero Perseus.{{sfnp|Anderson|1966|p=5}}

In the case of the talaria worn by the swift runner Atalanta (Ovid, Metamorphoses X.591) some translators in the past steered away from recognizing them as footwear, and chose to regard them as "long robes, reaching to the ankle", starting with Planudes in the 14th century. This interpretation was also endorsed in the 17th century by Nicolaas Heinsius's gloss, and persisted in the 19th century with Lewis and Short's dictionary entry for this particular passage.{{sfnp|Anderson|1966|pp=1–2}} But there are "insuperable" reasons against this "robes" interpretation, for Ovid clearly states in the foregoing passages that Atalanta had disrobed{{efn|{{langx|la|{{linktext|posito |velamine}}}}}} to engage in the foot-race.{{sfnp|Anderson|1966|pp=2–3}}{{Refn|group=lower-alpha|However, the reading Atalanta as racing naked (as Anderson insists) is rejected in favor of a more "modest interpretation" by certain translators (F. Bernini 1943, T. Morino 1946), who perceive Atalanta as still clothed (in talaraia), which were seen to have "moved" ({{langx|it|mossa}}) or were "tossed aside" ({{langx|it|gettata via}} by her fast-moving feet.{{sfnp|Anderson|1966|pp=2–3}}}}

Also in the medieval Irish versions of the Aeneid (Imtheachta Aeniasa) and the Destruction of Troy (Togail Troí), Mercury wears a "bird covering" or "feather mantle" ({{langx|sga|encennach, énchendach}}), which clearly derives from Mercury's talaria, such as described by Virgil.eDIL, s.v. "[http://dil.ie/20064 énchendach]". "bird-covering, feather mantle.. [but] in the following exx. the meaning seems transferred, wings, feathers; a winged thing.. rogab [Mercuir] a enceandaigh uime...┐ gabaid a luirg n-encheandaighi ina laim (i.e., the talaria and caduceus), Aen.[Imtheachta Aeniasa] 766–7 .. encennach Mercúir, cumma imthéit muir ┐ tír, LL 220 b26 = TTr. [Togail Troi] 258 ."{{Refn|group=lower-alpha|Whitley Stokes (1881) pointed to the parallel to the fjaðrhamr (feather cloak) of Old Norse texts.}}

File:Homer, Arzt, Merkur.jpg

Sometimes, it has been interpreted that Hermes feet are winged, rather that the wings being part of his sandals.{{cite web |last1=Wasson |first1=Donald L |title=Mercury (Deity) |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Mercury_(Deity)/ |website=World History Encyclopedia |access-date=30 October 2020 |language=en |date=2018-11-06 |quote=[...] his winged feet giving him the advantage of speed, and so was the patron of circulation in general - of people, goods and messages.}}

• EADS Talarion an unmanned air vehicle named after talaria.
• Hermes also wears a winged petasos, a traveler hat. In other representations he wears a winged helmet.
• Caduceus, the staff of Hermes

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;Citations

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{{cite book|last=Miles |first=Brent |author-link= |title=Heroic Saga and Classical Epic in Medieval Ireland |location=Cambridge |publisher=DS Brewer |date=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ShymTTEkH2sC&pg=PA75 |pages=75–76 |isbn=1843842645 |issn=0261-9865}}

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;Bibliography

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite journal|last=Anderson |first=William S. |author-link= |title=Talaria and Ovid Met. 10.591 |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association |volume=97 |year=1966 |pages=1–13 |doi=10.2307/2935997 |jstor=2935997}}
• {{citation|last=Freedman |first=Luba |author-link= |title='Argicida Mercurius' from Homer to Giraldi and from Greek Vases to Sansovino |work=Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 2014/2015 |publisher=University of Michigan Press for the American Academy in Rome |volume=59/60 |date=2014–2015 |url=https://www.academia.edu/30831646 |pages=181–254 |jstor=44981977}}
• Gantz, Timothy (2004). Mythes de la Grèce archaïque, Berlin. pp. 541–543.

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• {{Commons category-inline|Talaria}}

{{Greek religion|state=collapsed}}

Category:Objects in Greek mythology

Category:Mythological clothing

Category:Hermes

Category:Flight folklore

Category:Sandals