Talaria
[Image:Talaria.svg|thumb|right|150px|A 19th-century engraving of talaria.]
The Talaria of Mercury or The Winged Sandals of Hermes are winged sandals, a symbol of the Greek messenger god Hermes. They were said to be made by the god Hephaestus of imperishable gold and they flew the god as swift as any bird.
Etymology
The Latin noun tālāria, neuter plural of tālāris signifies "of the ankle". It is not quite certain how the Romans arrived at the meaning of "winged sandals" from this, possibly that the wings were attached at the ankles, or the sandals were tied around the ankles.Attestations
Image:Perseus Medusa Louvre CA795.jpg|thumb|right|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,, Louvre.In ancient Greek literature, the sandals of Hermes are first of all mentioned by Homer, though not described as "winged".
The description of the sandals being winged first appear in the poem Shield of Heracles, which speaks of πτερόεντα πέδιλα, literally "winged sandals". The Homeric hymn to Hermes from a somewhat later date does not explicitly state the sandals were winged, though they allowed him to leave no footprints while committing his theft of Apollo's cattle.
According to one estimation, it was around 5th century BC when the winged sandals came to be regarded as common accoutrements of the god Hermes. One later instance which refers to the sandals being winged is the Orphic Hymn XXVIII to Hermes.
Perseus wears Hermes' sandals to help him slay Medusa. According to Aeschylus, Hermes gives them to him directly. In a better-attested version, Perseus must retrieve them from the Graeae, along with the cap of invisibility and the kibisis.
On early Greek vase paintings, Hermes is shown wearing boots with a curved piece attached to the top edge of each one. This feature seems to be a pull strap for the boots rather than a simple or crude depiction of a wing.
During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, Hermes was sometimes depicted with wings fastened directly to his bare ankles.
Latin sources
The term talaria has been employed by Ovid in the 1st century, and prior to him, in perhaps eight instances by various Latin authors. 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.Medieval interpretation
In the case of the talaria worn by the swift runner Atalanta some translators in the past steered away from recognizing them as footwear, and chose to regard them as "long robes, reaching to the ankle", starting with Planudes in the 14th century. This interpretation was also endorsed in the 17th century by Nicolaas Heinsius's gloss, and persisted in the 19th century with Lewis and Short's dictionary entry for this particular passage. But there are "insuperable" reasons against this "robes" interpretation, for Ovid clearly states in the foregoing passages that Atalanta had disrobed to engage in the foot-race.Also in the medieval Irish versions of the Aeneid and the Destruction of Troy, Mercury wears a "bird covering" or "feather mantle", which clearly derives from Mercury's talaria, such as described by Virgil.
Sometimes, it has been interpreted that Hermes feet are winged, rather that the wings being part of his sandals.