The iris has been cultivated for centuries as a sacred flower to the gods and has symbolized royalty and divine protection for millennium throughout the civilized world. The flower was named for the Greek goddess Iris, goddess of the rainbow and Hera’s personal messenger on Mount Olympus. Iris is also a word that means “the eye of heaven” and, when her rainbows appeared after a storm, Iris, wearing angel wings and iridescent drops of water as a gown, carried messages on the wind from “the eye of Heaven” down to earth on the trajectory of her gorgeous rainbows. It is interesting to note that the iris part of the human eye, named for the rainbow goddess, represents the little piece of heaven that dwells in all of us. As a messenger of divine gods, Iris’ main duty was to carry the souls of departed women to the Elysian Fields. In tribute, Greek men planted irises on the graves of the women of their families.
The Iris in Art and Medicine
In addition to the iris’ sacred connection to the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus, the iris possessed healing properties. In the first century CE, Greek physician Dioscorides prescribed ground iris root with honey and vinegar for coughs, colds, indigestion and sciatica. In approximately 3,5000 BCE an artist painted a stucco model of the Minoan priest-king against a backdrop of irises as a symbol of power on the walls of the great palace of Knossos.
Similarly regarded as a symbol of power in ancient Egypt, an iris was placed on the brow of the sphinx and on scepters of the kings. Irises are sculptured in stone at Karnak, and in 1479 BCE, Pharoah Thutmosis III had them painted and carved on the walls of the temple of Anon. Irises were frequently used in Egyptian art to depict life and resurrection.
The Iris as Fleur-de-lis
Down through the ages, the use of the sacred iris flower remained central to Mediterranean and southern European culture. The familiar symbol of the fleur-de-lis is a stylized drawing of the three-petaled iris flower, and two legends describe its inception as symbol of the French monarchy. Clovis I, the first Frankish king, had a Christian wife, Queen Clotilda, who had long persisted in converting her pagan husband with no success. In 496 CE, Clovis, faced with the army of a Germanic tribe invading his kingdom, promised to convert to Christianity if he vanquished his advancing enemy. Victory was his, and the sacred iris was painted on his battle flag. Another legend of the historical significance of the fleur-de-lis occurs in 1147 when Louis VII of France complied with a dream that convinced him to adopt the purple iris as his emblem before setting out on the Second Crusade. Over six hundred years later, the iris was so powerful a symbol of the French monarchy that Revolutionary activists in 1789 set out to totally obliterate it from public view. Chipped off buildings and torn from draperies, citizens were guillotined for wearing a fleur-de-lis on their clothes or as jewelry. As the emblem of the French-settled city of New Orleans, survivors of Hurricane Katrina drew the fleur-de-lis on the city walls with the plea “save our city.”
The variegated iris blooms throughout the Northern Hemisphere in Spring from mid-May to early June. During this season Impressionist artist Vincent Van Gogh painted them in all their lush beauty to restore them to their rightful place in popular culture. May their rich, cultural legacy carry them through another millennium as the sacred flower of wisdom, faith and power.
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