IRIS Goddess of the rainbow, a daughter of Thaumas and Elektra and a sister to the Harpies, Iris was also the personal messenger to Zeus and Hera (in this she differed from Hermes, who was messenger to all the gods of Olympus). She was also looked on, like Hermes, as a guide and an advisor, and she travelled with the speed of the wind, from one end of the world to the other, could penetrate to the bottom of the sea, or even to the Styx.She was believed to charge the clouds with water from lakes and rivers, so that the rain might fall and fertilise and refresh the land. Contrary to Christian myth, when her rainbow appeared in the sky it was taken as a sign of rain, welcomed by farmers. Represented as a beautiful virgin with wings the colour of the rainbow itself, Iris was said to ride on the rainbow, sometimes with a nimbus on her head, in which the colours of the rainbow were reflected.