Aura- Greek SpiritSpirit · Nymph
Also known as: Αὔρα
Domains
Description
A Titan's daughter named for the breeze, Aura mocked Artemis's body while they bathed together and paid for it when Dionysus violated her in her sleep. Maddened, she killed one of her twin sons before Zeus transformed her into a spring.
Mythology & Lore
The Swift Huntress
Aura was the daughter of the Titan Lelantos and the nymph Periboea. She ran through the mountains in Artemis's company, a devotee of the hunt and of virginity. While bathing with Artemis, she compared their bodies and mocked the goddess. Artemis's figure was too full, Aura said, too soft for a true virgin huntress. It belonged to a woman who had known love. Artemis turned to Nemesis for revenge.
Madness and Transformation
Nemesis arranged the punishment through Dionysus, who already desired Aura. He found her sleeping by a stream after a hunt and violated her. When she woke and understood what had happened, madness took her. She bore twin sons. In her frenzy she killed one and tried to destroy the other. Artemis rescued the surviving child.
Aura threw herself into the river Sangarius. Zeus transformed her into a spring. In Nonnus's Dionysiaca, the surviving twin is Iacchus, a figure of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Relationships
- Associated with