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WINDS

5015: Wind god. Sarcophagus from 3C AD. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.


The WINDS that have been more personified are Boreas 1 and Zephyrus 1. The so called Etesian winds, which were granted by Zeus to temper the heat when the Dog (Canis Major) rises, were not personified. It is said that Aeolus 2, having entertained Odysseus, gave him a bag in which he had bound fast the winds, but no relation was established between these winds and the personified WINDS described below until later times. To the WINDS, which produce lightning and thunderbolts, the world's creator did not allot the air that they might hold it everywhere. For they can scarce be prevented, though they control their blasts, each in his separate tract, from tearing the world to pieces. The Winds are Argestes, Boreas 1, Eurus, Notus, and Zephyrus 1.

Argestes 

Argestes, the North-west wind, is the wind that blew carrying the ship of the ARGONAUTS from Assyria to the land of the AMAZONS (Arg.2.961).

Boreas 

0413: Boreas and Orithyia. Boreas abducting Orithyia. Painting by P. P. Rubens 1577-1640. Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der bildende Künste, Wien.


Boreas 1, the North wind, once fell in love with some mares that grazed in the fields of Attica and, transforming himself into a dark-maned stallion, covered them and twelve stallions were born. On another occasion, when Orithyia 2, daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens, was playing by the river Ilissus she was carried off by Boreas 1, and because of this tie between Boreas 1 and the Athenians he helped them by destroying enemy ships many years later. Boreas 1 had courted Orythia 2 a long time, and had begged the king to give her to him, but as words proved to be in vain she took her by force. Some say that Boreas 1 has serpents' tails instead of feet. Boreas 1 lives in Scythia and the extreme north, according to some, but others say he lives in Thrace (Apd.3.15.2ff.; Cal.Del.292; Dio.5.50.1; Hes.The.378; Hyg.Fab.14; Nonn.6.33ff., 37.157; Ov.Met.1.64; Pin.Pyth.4.182; QS.1.168).

Mates

Offspring

Notes

Orithyia 2

Calais
Zetes
Chione 1
Cleopatra 5
Calais and Zetes, who had wings, are two ARGONAUTS.
Chione 1 consorted with Poseidon.
Cleopatra 5 had children by Phineus 2.

unknown

Lycurgus 8

 

unknown

Butes 6

Thracian Butes 6 Plotted against his brother, Lycurgus 8 (above), and had to go in exile.

unknown

Hecaerge
Opis 3
Loxo

These three are NAIADS in the train of Artemis. Opis 3 came from the Hyperboreans, and Orion attempted to rape her.


Eurus  

Eurus, the East wind, drew off to the land of the dawn and the realms of Arabia, and where the Persian hills flush beneath the morning light (Nonn.6.28, 6.40; Ov.Her.11.14; Ov.Met.1.61; Vir.Geo.1.373).


Notus 

Notus, the South wind, lives in the southern lands, constantly wet with fog and rain (Hes.The.380; Hes.WD.675; Nonn.6.33ff.; Ov.Met.1.65; QS.4.553).


Zephyrus 1 

Zephyrus 1 and Chloris 3 (Flora). 4421: Bon Boullogne 1649-1717: Zéphyr et Flore. Musée des beaux arts, Rouen.


Zephyrus 1, the West wind, has his places are the western shores which glow with the setting sun (Hes.The.378; Hom.Il.16.150;Nonn.6.33ff., 31.106, 31.111, 47.342; Ov.Fast.5.195; Ov.Met.1.63; QS.4.569;Vir.Geo.2.331).

Zephyrus 1. 7719: Pierre de Franqueville called Francavilla 1548-1615: Zephyr. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.


Mates

Offspring

Notes

Podarge

Xanthus 1

Balius 1

Arion 1

Podarge is one of the HARPIES.

The others are famous horses: Xanthus 1 and Balius 1 are Achilles' immortal horses whom Hera endowed with human speech. They served Poseidon first, and next Peleus, Achilles and Neoptolemus.

Arion 1 is a horse given by Heracles 1 to Adrastus 1. Adrastus 1 survived the war of the SEVEN AGAINST THEBES, saved by his own horse Arion 1.

Chloris 3

---.

Chloris 3 is one of the NYMPHS, the Mother of the flowers (Flora in Rome).

Pothos is Longing, a being of inconstant mood, and an attendant of Aphrodite.

Pothos

 
Family 

Parentage of the WINDS

Astraeus 1 & Eos


Related sections The WINDS in GROUPS: PERSONIFICATIONS  
Sources
Abbreviations

Man.4.590-591; Ov.Met.1.57.