![]() 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. 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.). In a better-attested version, Perseus must retrieve them from the Graeae, along with the cap of invisibility and the kibisis (sack). ![]() According to Aeschylus, Hermes gives them to him directly. Perseus wears Hermes' sandals to help him slay Medusa. One later instance which refers to the sandals being winged is the Orphic Hymns XXVIII to Hermes (3rd century BC to 2nd century AD). Īccording 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. 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. The description of the sandals being winged first appear in the poem Shield of Heracles (c. ![]() In ancient Greek literature, the sandals of Hermes are first of all mentioned by Homer ( ἀμβρόσια χρύσεια ambrósia khrýseia, "immortal/divine and of gold"), though not described as "winged". One of the oldest known representations: Perseus, wearing the talaria and carrying the kibisis over his shoulder, turns his head to kill Medusa on this Orientalizing relief pithos, c.
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