About Iris

‘About Iris’ introduces the ancient Greek goddess, Iris. The ancient Greeks said that rainbows were caused by Iris streaking across the sky, leaving rainbows in her wake as she travelled to bring messages from one god to another, or from gods to mortals. This short documentary discusses how you can recognise Iris in ancient images, her appearances in the Trojan War, and ancient and modern ideas about the causes of rainbows. ‘About Iris’ is a companion video for the Our Mythical Childhood animation 'Iris – Rainbow Goddess', which was created from a vase that was made in ancient Athens and is now housed in the National Museum in Warsaw, in Poland (number 142289). Subtitles are available for this video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qHmFF5qgoc0