Winged Sandals
Winged sandals are the flight-giving footwear of Hermes, the messenger god, and by extension of his Roman counterpart Mercury - golden sandals fitted with small wings at the ankle that let their wearer travel over land and sea at the speed of thought.
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In Practice
Ovid describes Mercury fastening them to his feet before flying down to kill the hundred-eyed guardian Argus, and the image of a god pausing to strap on his sandals before a mission became the standard way later art and poetry showed Hermes setting out on divine errands. The sandals are not, however, something the earliest surviving Hermes text actually gives the god. The Homeric Hymn to Hermes describes the infant Hermes weaving himself makeshift sandals out of tamarisk and myrtle twigs on the day he steals Apollo's cattle, and the point of that footwear is concealment, not flight: he ties them on to disguise his tracks as he drives the cattle away. This improvised, ordinary pair of sandals has nothing divine or winged about it, and the golden flying talaria familiar from vase painting and from Mercury's later statues belong to a separate strand of the tradition that the Hymn does not describe. The best-known appearance of the winged sandals outside Hermes's own hands is in the story of Perseus and Medusa. Apollodorus reports that Perseus, after forcing the Graeae to reveal where the nymphs of the north lived, received from those nymphs a kibisis (a special pouch), a cap of invisibility borrowed from Hades, and the winged sandals - with Hermes himself supplying an adamantine sickle to behead Medusa. The sandals here belong to the nymphs before they belong to Perseus, which makes them one further object linked to Hermes's sphere of influence rather than literally his own footwear handed down to a hero. Winged sandals survive today mainly as visual shorthand: the small wings at the ankle of the Hermes or Mercury figure on trophies, logos, and courier or postal branding trace directly back to this equipment, used as an instantly recognizable sign of speed and messenger service long after the myths that explain them have faded from common knowledge.
What are Hermes's winged sandals used for?
They give Hermes, the messenger god, the ability to fly over land and sea, which is why later poetry and art show him strapping them on right before a mission. In the Perseus myth the sandals are lent out rather than kept for Hermes's own errands: nymphs give them to Perseus, along with a magic pouch and a cap of invisibility, so he can approach and escape Medusa's island by air.
Apollodorus, Library 2.4.2-2.4.3
Did Hermes make his own winged sandals?
Not in the earliest surviving account of him. The Homeric Hymn to Hermes shows the infant god weaving a pair of sandals from tamarisk and myrtle twigs on the day he steals Apollo's cattle, and their purpose is to disguise his footprints, not to fly. That improvised, ordinary pair is the only footwear Homer's Hymn actually gives Hermes; the golden winged talaria of later art are a separate tradition the poem does not mention.
Homeric Hymn to Hermes 79-86
How did Perseus get his winged sandals?
Perseus first forced the three Graeae, who shared a single eye and tooth among them, to reveal where certain nymphs lived by seizing the eye until they cooperated. Those nymphs gave him the winged sandals, a wallet called the kibisis, and the cap of invisibility that belonged to Hades, while Hermes separately provided an adamantine sickle. Together this equipment let Perseus fly to the Gorgons, behead Medusa in her sleep, and escape unseen.
Apollodorus, Library 2.4.2-2.4.3
Does Mercury, the Roman Hermes, also wear winged sandals?
Yes. Roman tradition inherits Hermes's iconography for Mercury almost wholesale, winged sandals included. Ovid shows Mercury tying on his winged sandals, taking his sleep-inducing wand, and setting his winged cap on his head just before flying down to kill the hundred-eyed Argus and free the transformed Io - the clearest ancient description of a god actually putting the sandals on before a flight.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.668-673
What is a kibisis, and why does it usually appear with the sandals?
The kibisis is the pouch the nymphs give Perseus alongside the winged sandals and the cap of invisibility, meant to hold whatever is placed in it safely - in this case, Medusa's severed head. Apollodorus describes all three objects being handed over together as a single set of equipment for the quest, so the sandals rarely appear in this story without the pouch and the cap beside them.
Apollodorus, Library 2.4.2
Are the nymphs' winged sandals literally Hermes's own?
The text does not say so directly. Apollodorus describes the sandals as belonging to nymphs whom Perseus reaches only with directions extracted from the Graeae, and Hermes's role in the episode is separate: he supplies the sickle and guides Perseus toward the Gorgons. The sandals are tied to Hermes's domain of speed and travel rather than shown changing hands from the god himself.
Apollodorus, Library 2.4.2-2.4.3
Where Accounts Differ
- improvised disguise sandals vs. golden winged talaria
- The 'winged sandals' familiar from art and from the Perseus myth are not the sandals the Homeric Hymn to Hermes actually describes: that poem gives infant Hermes an improvised, non-flying pair woven from twigs to hide his footprints, not the golden flying talaria of later tradition.
Where This Appears
Sources
- Apollodorus, Library 2.4.2-2.4.3
- Homeric Hymn to Hermes 79-86
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.668-673