Boreas’s Family Tree

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Family

• Astraeus(parent),Eos(parent),Eurus(sibling),Notus(sibling),Zephyrus(sibling)— Marriage

  Astraeus and Eos are the parents of the four Anemoi: Boreas, Zephyrus, Notus, and Eurus, the gods who control the directional winds.

• Oreithyia(spouse)— Consort

  Boreas abducted the Athenian princess Oreithyia while she gathered flowers by the Ilissus River, carrying her off to Thrace. Their union produced the winged heroes Zetes and Calais and a daughter Cleopatra.

Allied with

• Phineus

  Boreas's winged sons Calais and Zetes drove the Harpies away from Phineus. Their father-in-law connection through Cleopatra, daughter of Boreas and first wife of Phineus, gave the Boreads personal cause to rescue the seer-king.

Enemy of

• Harpies

  The winged sons of Boreas, Zetes and Calais, chased the Harpies across the sky during the Argonauts' stop at Salmydessus. The pursuit ended when Iris intervened, promising the Harpies would no longer trouble Phineus.

Slew

• Pitys

  Boreas, the North Wind, killed the nymph Pitys by hurling her from a cliff in jealousy over her love for Pan. The earth transformed her body into a pine tree, and her resin weeps when Boreas blows.

Serves

• Aeolus

  Aeolus controls Boreas, the north wind, keeping him imprisoned on Aeolia until released by divine command.

Member of

• Anemoi

  The Anemoi are the four wind gods: Boreas (north), Zephyrus (west), Notus (south), and Eurus (east), each governing a cardinal direction's wind.

Equivalent to

• Aquilo(Roman)

  Aquilo is the Roman counterpart of the Greek Boreas, both personifying the fierce north wind. Ovid uses the names interchangeably in the Metamorphoses when narrating myths of the north wind's violent nature.

Associated with

• Eurybia

  Boreas, the north wind, is a grandson of Eurybia through her son Astraeus and his wife Eos. In Hesiod's Theogony, all four Anemoi descend from Eurybia's celestial lineage.

• Hyacinthus

  In some versions of the myth, Boreas rather than Zephyrus is named as the jealous wind god who loved Hyacinthus and deflected Apollo's discus. Lucian and other late sources preserve this variant tradition.

• Pan

  Pan and Boreas both pursued the nymph Pitys. When she chose Pan, the jealous North Wind dashed her against a cliff, killing her. Her transformation into a pine tree made it sacred to Pan.