We've been experiencing some very cold weather where I live. So I decided to talk about Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind and the god of winter.
Boreas is one of the Anemoi (roman Venti), who are the four gods of the four winds: north, east, south, west. They are the sons of Eos and Astraeus, dawn and dusk respectively. They're one of the historically oldest Greek gods to exist, proving the importance or significance of the wind to the Greeks. Have you ever looked at an old-fashioned map and seen men in the four directions made of wind and blowing wind? Those are the Anemoi.
Boreas, aside from being the Northwind, was also the god of winter. He was said to have a quick temper. Sometimes he was said to have wings, and sometimes he was said to have a snake tail. He once fell in love with a princess named Orithyia, who was the daughter of Erechtheus, the mythical founder of Athens. He attempted to woo her but failed. So, he abducted her and made her his wife. She turned into the goddess of cold mountains winds. They had two sons, Calais and Zetes, who both had wings and became heroes. They also had a daughter, Khione, who became the goddess of snow.
Due to having married into the Athenian royal family, Athens always considered Boreas to be a relative of sorts. They would pray to Boreas and Orithyia to give them good winds, or to deflect enemies with bad winds.
That's basically it for Boreas. Is winter bad where you are too? What do you think of the Anemoi? Comment below! (Please comment responsibly. Constructive criticism is welcome.)
No comments:
Post a Comment