THE FOUR WINDS, CHARIOT-STEEDS
OF ZEUS
The setting of the Pleiades in November marked
the beginning of the stormy season. Zeus, Olympian storm god, was often
depicted within his chariot drawn by the four enigmatic and much stylised horse-shaped
winds.
ASTRAEUS Titanic father of
the stars, the planets and the four seasonal winds by EOS Winged goddess of the Dawn who heralds the rising of the sun
with her rosy beauty.
AEOLUS Ruler of the winds
appointed by Zeus guards the storm winds Anemoi Thuellai and Aellai . Securely locked
away inside the floating island of Aeolia, released only at the bequest of the
gods to wreak havoc upon the seas and on land. Aeolus is ‘King’ of the Castle there.
Since the Winds were often conceived of as horse-shaped spirits, Aiolos was
titled Hippotades, "the reiner of horses," from the Greek hippos
(horse) and tadĂȘn (reined in tightly).
AETHER Aither The primeval god of the shining
light of the blue sky. He was conceived of as the substance of light, a layer
of bright mist which lay between the dome of heaven and the lower air which surrounded
the earth.
ANEMOI Anemoi/aetes : The gods of the four
directional winds and the heralds of the four seasons.
- Boreas,
the North Wind, the Thrall of Winter.
- Zephyros, the West Wind, the Herald of
Spring.
- *Euros, the East Wind, the Descent of Autumn.
- Notos,
the South Wind, Flame of Summer.
Closely aligned with the Seasons,
Boreas gripped the land with the icy breath of Winter; Zephyros ushered in
fresh spring breezes and Notos showered the fecund earth with Summer
rain-storms. *Eurus, the
East Wind had not originally been associated with any of the three primary Greek Seasons and is therefore not mentioned in
Hesiod's Theogony or in the Orphic Hymns.
Represented through mythologized forms, the Wind-Gods
often appeared as either winged, man-shaped gods or horse-like divinities that
grazed the shores of the river Okeanos. The latter were stabled in
the caverns of Aiolos Hippotades, the Horse-Reiner and Ruler of the Winds.
Homer and Hesiod distinguish the freedoms of
the Seasonal Anemoi from the Anemoi Thuellai of Storms and Hurricane incarcerated
within the caverns of Aiolos or the pit of Tartaros guarded
vigilantly by the Hekatonkheires. Later authors, however, blurred this vital
distinction between them.
According to Hesiod (Theog. 378,
&c., 869, &c.) Notus, Boreas, Argestes, and Zephyrus as the sons of Astraeus and Eos were beneficial winds; the wild and destructive winds such as
Typhon borne of Typhoeus were clearly not. Philosophical writers frequently endeavoured
to define the winds more accurately according to their place upon the Compass.
“When in combat
with the mighty Zeus, He [Typhoeus] suffered the fourfold compulsion of the
four Winds. For if he turned flickering eyes to the sunrise [the East], he
received the fiery battle of neighbouring Euros. If he gazed towards the stormy
clime of the Arkadian Bear [the North], he was beaten by the chilly frost of
wintry whirlwinds. If he shunned the cold blast of snow-beaten Boreas, he was
shaken by the volleys of wet and hot together. If he looked to the sunset [the
West], opposite to the dawn of the grim east, he shivered before Enyo and her
western tempests when he heard the noise of Zephyros cracking his spring-time
lash; and Notos [in the South], that hot wind, round about the southern foot of
Aigokeros [Capricorn] flogged the aerial vaults, leading against Typhon a
glowing blaze with steamy heat."
ANEMOI THUELLAI: The Daemones Spirits of whirlwinds, hurricanes and all violent
storm-winds. These pneumatic offspring of the monster Typhoeus were locked away
inside Tartarus or the floating island of Aeolus to be released only at the express
command of the gods. Their female counterparts were the Aellai, Thuellai or Harpyiai(Harpies). Known as the hounds of Zeus, they were
blamed for the disappearance of people without a trace. Mating with these they
sired swift, immortal horses.
KHAOS Primeval goddess of the atmosphere, the
region between heaven and earth. She was the air which men breathed. Below Her
lay the Earth, and above Her shone the mists of the Protogenos Aether. Khaos Mothered the Darkness, Night and of all Birds.
In Greek mythology, a Harpy (snatcher) was any one of the mainly winged death-spirits best
known for constantly stealing all food from Phineas. The literal meaning of the word is
rooted in the ancient Greek word harpazein: "to snatch".
Conversely, the Harpy could also
bring life. A Harpy mothered the horses of Achilles (Iliad xvi. 150) as sired by the West
Wind Zephyros. In this context Jane Harrison
adduced the notion in Virgil's Georgics that mares became ‘gravid’ by
the Wind alone. This suggests immediately the violent sexuality attributed to
these phenomenon (iii.274).
In Hesiod’s Theogony, they are named as two ‘lovely-haired’
creatures of great beauty. This revision is built upon an earlier perception of
them as terrifying monsters, which parallels the cognate transformation of the Siren. Yet another sensual female Zoomorph much maligned albeit
one later redeemed as the mournful death angel. A vase in the Berlin Museum
depicts a Harpy whose head is recognizably that of a Gorgon, complete with rolling eyes, protruding
tongue and tusks, grasping a small figure of a hero in each clawed foot.
In this form they were the agents
of punishment who abducted and tortured those hapless souls on their way to Tartarus. They were vicious, cruel and
violent. Their domain was the Strophades where they personified the
destructive nature of tempestuous storm. Traditionally, the Harpies formed a
triad of three sisters: Aello (storm swift), Celaeno (the dark), also known as Podarge (fleet-foot) and Ocypete (the swift wing).
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Boreas : Greek god of
the cold North Wind and harbinger of winter. His name meant
"North Wind" or "Devouring One". Boreas is depicted as being
very strong, with a violent temper to match. He was frequently shown as a
winged old man with shaggy hair and beard, holding a conch shell and wearing a billowing cloak. Pausanias
wrote that Boreas had snakes instead of feet, though in art he
was usually depicted with winged human feet.
Boreas, closely associated with
horses was said to have fathered twelve ethereal colts after taking the form of
a stallion upon the mares of Erichthonius,
king of Troy. The Greeks believed that his home was
in Thrace. Herodotus and Pliny both describe a
northern land known as Hyperborea
(Beyond the North Wind), where people enjoyed longevity and peace.
Zephyrus/ Zephyr Latin Favonius, the West Wind.
The gentlest of the winds, Zephyrus is known as the fructifying wind, the
messenger of spring. It was thought that Zephyrus lived in a cave in Thrace.
Zephyrus was the amorous husband
to several wives. He was said to be the husband of his sister Iris, the goddess of the rainbow. He
abducted another of his sisters, the goddess Chloris, and gave her the domain
of flowers. With Chloris, he fathered Carpus (fruit). He is said to have vied for
Chloris's love with his brother Boreas, eventually
winning her devotion. Additionally, with yet another sister and lover, the Harpy Podarge (also known as
Celaeno), Zephyrus was said to be the
father of Balius and Xanthus,
Achilles' horses.
One of the surviving myths in
which Zephyrus features most prominently is that of Hyacinth.
Hyacinth was a very handsome and athletic Spartan prince. Zephyrus fell in love with him
and courted him, as did Apollo. The two competed
for the boy's love who chose Apollo, driving Zephyrus mad with jealousy. Later,
catching Apollo and Hyacinth throwing a discus, Zephyrus blew a gust of wind at them,
striking the boy in the head with the falling discus. When Hyacinth died,
Apollo created the hyacinth flower
from his blood.
In the story of Cupid and Psyche, Zephyrus served Cupid by transporting Psyche to his cave.
Roman deities
equivalent to the Anemoi were known
as the Venti (winds). Despite different names they were
otherwise very similar to their Greek counterparts, borrowing their attributes
and being frequently conflated with them.
Aquilo
The Roman equivalent of Boreas was Aquilo,
or Aquilon. An alternative and less
common name used for the northern wind was Septentrio. Derived from septem
triones (seven oxen) it refers to the seven prominent stars in the northern
constellation Ursa Major.
Septentrio is also the source of the obscure word septentrional, a synonym for boreal
meaning northern.
Notus the south wind associated with the desiccating hot wind of the
rise of Sirius after midsummer, and was thought to bring the
storms of late summer and autumn, and was feared as a destroyer of crops.
Auster
Notus' equivalent in Roman
mythology was Auster, the embodiment of the sirocco wind, who brought heavy cloud
cover and fog or humidity. Auster
is also the name of a defunct British aircraft manufacturer from the
1940s–1950s.
Eurus represents the
unlucky east wind. He was thought to bring warmth
and rain, and his symbol was an inverted vase, spilling water.
Vulturnus
His Roman counterpart was Vulturnus,
not to be confused with Volturnus,
a tribal river-god who later became a Roman deity of the River Tiber.
Favonius
Zephyrus' Roman equivalent was Favonius,
who held dominion over plants and flowers. The name Favonius, which meant
"favorable", was also a common Roman name.
Additionally, four lesser Anemoi were sometimes referenced, representing the northeast,
southeast, northwest, and southwest winds totalling eight winds in all.
Four lesser wind deities appear
in a few ancient sources, such as at the Tower of the Winds
in Athens. Originally, as attested in Hesiod and Homer, these four minor Anemoi were the Anemoi Thuellai
(ÎÎœÎ”ÎŒÎżÎč ΞÏΔλλαÎč; Greek: "Tempest-Winds"), wicked and
violent daemons
(spirits) created by the monster Typhon, and male
counterparts to the harpies, who were also called thuellai.
These were the winds held in Aeolus's stables; the
other four, "heavenly" Anemoi were not kept locked up. However, later
writers confused and conflated the two groups of Anemoi, and the distinction
was largely forgotten.
Kaikias was the Greek deity of the northeast wind. He is shown as a bearded
man with a shield full of hail-stones, and his name derives from the Ancient
Greek kakĂa (ÎșαÎșία), "badness" or "evil".
Kakia is also the name of a spirit
of vice, the sister of Arete
("virtue"). The Roman deity equivalent to Kaikias was Caecius.
Apeliotes, sometimes known to the Romans as Apeliotus, was
the Greek deity of the southeast
wind. As this wind was thought to cause a refreshing rain particularly
beneficial to farmers, he is often depicted wearing gumboots and carrying
fruit, draped in a light cloth concealing some flowers or grain. He is
cleanshaven, with curly hair and a friendly expression. Because Apeliotes was a
minor god, he was often synthesized with Eurus, the east wind. Subsolanus,
Apeliotes' Roman counterpart, was also sometimes considered the east wind, in
Vulturnus' place.
Skiron, or Skeiron, was the Greek god of the northwest
wind. His name is related to Skirophorion, the last of the three months
of spring in the Attic festival
calendar. He is depicted as a bearded man tilting a cauldron,
representing the onset of winter. His Roman counterpart is Caurus, or Corus.
Corus was also one of the oldest Roman wind-deities, and numbered among the di indigetes ("indigenous
gods"), a group of abstract and largely minor numinous entities.
Livas, was the Greek deity of the southwest
wind, often depicted holding the stern of a ship. His
Roman equivalent was Afer ventus ("African wind"), or Africus,
due to Africa
being to the southwest of Italy. This name is
thought to be derived from the name of a fanciful North African tribe, the Afri.
However, Africus was, like Corus, one of the few native Roman deities, or di
indigetes, to endure in later Roman mythology. The di indigetes ("indigenous
gods") were a group of Roman gods, goddesses and spirits not adopted from
other mythologies, as opposed to the di novensides ("newcomer gods")
in Georg Wissowa's terminology. This goes some way toward ruling out any tribal
name as the basis for the Roman wind god Africus.
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NAMES OF ANEMOI
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Eight Wind-Gods were depicted
on the Tower of the Winds in Athens dating from the C1st B.C. They were:--
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BOREAS The god of the North-Wind is depicted
with shaggy hair and beard, with a billowing cloak and a conch shell in his
hands.
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KAIKIAS The god
of the North-East Wind is represented as a bearded man with a shield full of
hail-stones.
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APELIOTES The
god of the East Wind appears as a clean-shaven man, holding a cloak full of
fruit and grain.
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EUROS The god of the South-East Wind who is
sculpted as a bearded man holding a heavy cloak.
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NOTOS The god of the South Wind pours water
from a vase.
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LIPS The God of the South-West Wind is
represented holding the stern of a ship.
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ZEPHYROS God of the West-Wind is depicted as
a beardless youth scattering flowers from his mantle.
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SKIRON The god of the
North-West is a bearded man tilting a cauldron, signifying the onset of
winter. The cloud collecting and rain-fraught [Corus - Roman] (north-west
gale).
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Orphic Hymn 80 to Boreas (trans.
Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) :
"To Boreas (North-Wind), Fumigation from Frankincense. Boreas, whose wintry blasts, terrific, tear the bosom of the deep surrounding air; cold icy power, approach, and favouring blow, and Thrake awhile desert, exposed to snow: the air’s all-misty darkening state dissolve, with pregnant clouds whose frames in showers resolve. Serenely temper all within the sky, and wipe from moisture aither’s splendid eye."
"To Boreas (North-Wind), Fumigation from Frankincense. Boreas, whose wintry blasts, terrific, tear the bosom of the deep surrounding air; cold icy power, approach, and favouring blow, and Thrake awhile desert, exposed to snow: the air’s all-misty darkening state dissolve, with pregnant clouds whose frames in showers resolve. Serenely temper all within the sky, and wipe from moisture aither’s splendid eye."
Orphic Hymn 81 to Zephyrus :
"To Zephyros (West-Wind), Fumigation from Frankincense. Sea-born, aerial, blowing from the west, sweet Breezes (Aurai), who give to wearied labour rest. Vernal and grassy, and of murmuring sound, to ships delightful through the sea profound; for these, impelled by you with gentle force, pursue with prosperous fate their destined course. With blameless gales regard my suppliant prayer, Zephyros unseen, light-winged, and formed from air."
"To Zephyros (West-Wind), Fumigation from Frankincense. Sea-born, aerial, blowing from the west, sweet Breezes (Aurai), who give to wearied labour rest. Vernal and grassy, and of murmuring sound, to ships delightful through the sea profound; for these, impelled by you with gentle force, pursue with prosperous fate their destined course. With blameless gales regard my suppliant prayer, Zephyros unseen, light-winged, and formed from air."
Orphic Hymn 82 to Notus :
"To Notos (South-Wind), Fumigation from Frankincense. Wide-coursing gales, whose lightly leaping feet with rapid wings the air’s wet bosom beat, approach, benevolent, swift-whirling powers, with humid clouds the principles of showers; for showery clouds are portioned to your care, to send on earth from all-surrounding air. Hear, blessed power, these holy rites attend, and fruitful rains on earth all-parent send."
"To Notos (South-Wind), Fumigation from Frankincense. Wide-coursing gales, whose lightly leaping feet with rapid wings the air’s wet bosom beat, approach, benevolent, swift-whirling powers, with humid clouds the principles of showers; for showery clouds are portioned to your care, to send on earth from all-surrounding air. Hear, blessed power, these holy rites attend, and fruitful rains on earth all-parent send."
"In Titane there is also a sanctuary of
Athena, into which they bring up the image of Koronis [mother of Asklepios] . .
. The sanctuary is built upon a hill, at the bottom of which is an Altar of the
Anemoi (Winds), and on it the priest sacrifices to the Anemoi (Winds) one night
in every year. He also performs other secret rites [of Hekate] at four pits,
taming the fierceness of the blasts [of the winds], and he is said to chant as
well the charms of Medea."
Virgil, Aeneid 3. 209 ff (trans.
Day-Lewis) (Roman epic C1st B.C.) :
"Bird-bodied, girl-faced things they [the Harpyiai] are; abominable their droppings, their hands are talons, their faces haggard with hunger insatiable."
"Bird-bodied, girl-faced things they [the Harpyiai] are; abominable their droppings, their hands are talons, their faces haggard with hunger insatiable."
NYX The primeval goddess of night. In the evening
Nyx drew her curtain of dark mists across the sky, cloaking the light of her
son Aether, the shining blue sky. In the morn, her daughter Hemera (the goddess Day) lifted the dark
mantle.
OCEANIDES (Okeanides)The daughters of the
earth-encircling river Oceanus. Some of these were nymphs of clouds (Nephelae)
and moistening breezes (Aurae).
References
- March, J. (1999). Cassell's Dictionary Of Classical Mythology. London. ISBN 0-304-35161-X.
- Theoi.com:
The Anemoi
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