Other Gods- Anemi

Anemi/Anemoi- were the Greek gods of winds, Boreas was the north wind who brought cold air in winter, Notos/Notus was the south wind who brought storms in late summer and autumn, Zephyrus/Zephyros was the west wind linked to spring and early summer, and Eurus/Euros was the east wind.

They were the children of Astraeus/Astraios the titan of the stars and planets, and Eos the titaness of the dawn. Their sister was the virgin goddess of justice Astraea/Astraia. They were linked to the more violent sons of Typhon, the storm winds Anemi/Anemoi Thuelli and sometimes confused with them, they were said to be held captive by Aeolus/Aiolos/Hippotades. It's possible Aeolus had the Anemi captive as well, along with the Harpies/Harpyiai/Aellai. Aeolus was known as the king of the winds, his name Hippotades means 'reiner of horses', it comes from the winds being depicted as horses. Three Aeolus crop up in Greek myth and are usually confused as the same, one was a son of Hellene, one a son of Poseidon and the other a son of Hippotes with the nymph Melanippe/Ocyrrhoe/Okyrrhoe, a daughter of the centaur Chiron/Kheiron. He gave Odysseus the winds in a bag and Odysseus' crew unleashed them thinking he held treasure in the bag.

The winds were depicted as winged or horse like in form.

Boreas/Boreais/Boriais/Borras- god of the north wind and winter, was depicted as old, bearded and winged, wearing a cloak and holding a conch shell. Usually his feet are winged though Pausanias said he had snakes for feet.
He abducted and married Orithyia/Oreithyia an Athenian princess, the daughter of King Erechtheus, her sisters were Procris who was accidentally slain by her husband Cephalus, Creusa who had Ion with Apollo and Cephalus with Hermes, Chthonia who was sacrificed by Erechtheus as a prophecy told him he would win a battle if he did, and Protogeneia and Pandora who killed themselves after Chthonia's death as the three had made a pact to commit suicide if one of them died. Boreas abducted Orithyia when he failed to woo her, he took her when she was playing with her friends by a river and raped her. With her he had two daughters, Chione/Khione the goddess of snow, and Cleopatra/Kleopatra, wife to the Thracian king Phineus, and two sons, the Boreads Calais and Zetes/Zethes who joined the Argonauts and chased the Harpies from the seer Phineas/Phineus. Orithyia became a goddess of the cold mountain winds.
He fathered the Hippoi Troiades, twelve immortal horses owned by King Laomedon of Troy. He had them with King Erikhthonios/Erichthonius' mares, he was an Athenian king born from Hephaestus attempt to rape Athena. Laomedon promised them to Heracles in exchange for him saving his daughter Hesione from the sea monster Cetus, sent by Poseidon, but when Heracles did this Laomedon refused to part with the horses.
He fathered Ares' four horses Aithon/Aethon, Phlogios/Phlogeus, Konabos/Conabus and Phobos/Phobus, they could breathe fire and were immortal.
He fathered the immortal horses Xanthos/Xanthus and Podarkes/Podarces with the Harpy Aello and gave them to King Erechtheus as he had taken his daughter Orithyia from him.
The three nymphs Hecaerge/Hekaerge, Loxo and Oupis/Upis who lived in Hyperborea and attended Artemis were said to be his daughters. Alternate names for them were Arge, Achaeia/Akhaeia, Hyperoche/Hyperokhe and Laodice/Laodike.
With his daughter Chione he fathered the three Hyperborean Giants/Boreades, they were rulers in Hyperborea and priests of Apollo.
Sometimes the breeze nymphs the Aurae/Aurai/Aetai/Aetae/Pnoiai/Pnoeae are his daughters but in other accounts they are the daughters of Okeanos.
Sometimes he was said to have rescued Leto from Python, the monster Hera sent to pursue her while she was pregnant.
He had a contest with Helios to see who could make a man strip first, Boreas tried to blow his clothes off and failed but Helios made him sweat and strip as a result.
The land Hyperborea/Hyperboria was said to be beyond him as it was north of Thrace where he lived, as a result it was never cold.

His Roman counterpart was Aquilo/Aquilon/Septentrio. Another name for him was Aparctias.

Notos/Notus-god of the south wind and late summer/early autumn. He was feared as a destroyer of crops.

His Roman counterpart was Auster who brought heavy clouds and fog.

Eurus/Euros- god of the east wind and autumn, he lived near Helios. He brought warmth and rain.

His Roman counterpart was Vulturnus.

Zephyrus/Zephyros/Zephyr- god of the west wind and spring. He lived in a cave in Thrace.
He was married to Chloris, who he abducted, a goddess of flowers who lived on the Isles of the Blessed. Some sources say he competed with Boreas for her. Together they had a son, Karpos/Carpus. Karpos loved Kalamos, son of the river god Maiandros. They had a swimming contest and Karpos drowned, Kalamos then drowned in his grief and was transformed into a water reed.
Sometimes his wife was Iris, the goddess of the rainbow and his sister. With her he was father to Eros, the god of love, usually seen as a child of Aphrodite and Ares or Ouranos and Gaia, and Pothos/Pothus, the god of sexuality and desire and one of the Erotes, who was sometimes seen as a son of Aphrodite's.
With the Harpy Podarge he was father to Balius/Balios and Xanthos, two immortal horses Poseidon gave to Peleus when he married Thetis. They pulled Achilles' chariot during the Trojan War.

He loved Hyacinth who was also loved by Apollo, jealous of their love Zephyrus blew Apollo's discus into Hyacinth resulting in the youth's death. Apollo turned him into the hyacinth flower.

When Psyche was abandoned on a mountain by her parents when an oracle instructed them to after no one would marry her, Zephyrus carried her away to Eros/Cupid's palace. He took her back to her sisters at Eros' request and then brought them back to his palace during the day. After Psyche loses Eros' love because of her sisters she tricks them into thinking he wants them for a wife and has them go to a top of a mountain and jump of but instead of catching them, Zephyrus lets them fall to their deaths.

His Roman counterpart was Favonius, also a god of plants and flowers.



The Anemoi Thuelli were the wicked offspring of Typhon and the ones imprisoned by Aeolus. They were:
Kaikias, the northeast wind who was depicted as a bearded man with a shield of hailstones, the Romans called him Caecius.
Apeliotes/Apeliotus, the southeast wind, depicted as curly haired, friendly, wearing boots and carrying fruit and wearing a cloth to conceal flowers or grain, his Roman counterpart was Subsolanus or Phoenicias.
Skeiron/Skiron, the northwest wind, depicted as an bearded man tilting a cauldron, his Roman counterpart was Caurus/Corus or Argestes or Iapyx or Meses or Olympias.
Lips, the southwest wind, depicted at the stern of a ship, his Roman counterpart was Afer ventus/Africus.

Circius/Thrascius was the north northwest wind.
Euronotus was the south southeast wind between Euros and Notos.
Libonotus was the south southwest wind.