Zephyrus- Greek GodDeity"West Wind"

The West Wind

Hesiod names Zephyrus among the four Anemoi — the wind gods born to the Titan Astraeus and Eos. While his brothers Boreas, Notus, and Eurus brought storms and bitter cold, Zephyrus carried the warm breezes of spring that melted winter's snow and coaxed flowers from the earth. Sailors welcomed the west wind because it filled their sails from behind and meant fair weather.

In the Iliad, Iris finds Zephyrus feasting with Boreas in his hall at the world's western edge. She asks them to come to Troy and fan the funeral pyre of Patroclus, which will not catch. The two winds roar across the sea and blow all night until the pyre burns down to ash.

Chloris and the Flowers

Zephyrus seized the nymph Chloris as she wandered the fields. In Ovid's Fasti, she tells the story herself under her Roman name Flora: the west wind took her by force, but his violence became devotion. He married her and gave her dominion over every flower. The ground bloomed where she walked, and she scattered new colors across fields that had known only green. Together they governed spring.

The Death of Hyacinthus

Zephyrus loved the Spartan youth Hyacinthus, but so did Apollo, and when Hyacinthus chose Apollo, Zephyrus's jealousy festered. One day, as Apollo and Hyacinthus practiced throwing the discus on the banks of the Eurotas, Zephyrus sent a gust that drove the discus into Hyacinthus's skull. The boy died in Apollo's arms. Apollo could not save him — even a god's hands could not stop the blood. From Hyacinthus's blood he created the hyacinth flower, its petals inscribed with the cry of his grief.

The Horses of Achilles

Zephyrus fathered the immortal horses Xanthus and Balius by the Harpy Podarge, mating with her as she grazed beside the stream of Oceanus. These divine steeds were given to Peleus as a wedding gift and later drew Achilles's chariot across the plains of Troy. Hera once granted Xanthus the power of speech, and the horse wept and prophesied his master's approaching death.