Boreas- Greek GodDeity"The North Wind"

The North Wind

Boreas was the god of the cold north wind and bringer of winter, one of the four Anemoi born to the Titan Astraeus and the dawn goddess Eos. His home was Thrace, the region the Greeks associated with bitter cold and harsh weather. His blasts could destroy ships and freeze rivers solid.

The Abduction of Oreithyia

Boreas wanted Oreithyia, an Athenian princess and daughter of King Erechtheus. He first tried persuasion, but when the Athenians refused him, he cursed himself for trading his proper weapons — violence and storm — for gentle words. He beat his wings, and the blast chilled the land around the Ilissus. He swept down upon Oreithyia while she danced by the river outside Athens, wrapped her in dark storm clouds, and carried her through the air to Thrace. She bore him the winged twins Zetes and Calais — the Boreads — and a daughter, Cleopatra, who married the seer-king Phineus.

Ally of Athens

Boreas's marriage to Oreithyia made him kin to Athens, and the Athenians cultivated this connection. When the Persian fleet threatened in 480 BCE, the Athenians prayed to Boreas for help. A great storm rose and destroyed many Persian ships off Cape Sepias, and the Athenians credited their divine son-in-law with the destruction. In gratitude, they built a sanctuary to Boreas along the Ilissus, near the spot where he had carried off Oreithyia.

The Boreads

Boreas's sons inherited their father's wings and sailed with the Argonauts. At Salmydessus, they found the blind prophet Phineus — their own brother-in-law through Cleopatra — wasting away. The Harpies snatched his food before he could eat, fouling whatever they left behind. The Boreads chased the creatures through the sky until Iris intervened with a promise from Zeus that Phineus would be left in peace. Boreas was no gentler outside his storms: when the nymph Pitys chose Pan over him, he hurled her from a cliff.