Boreas | |
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God of the north wind, storms, and winter | |
Member of the Anemoi | |
Greco-Buddhist fragment of the god Boreas with billowing cloak (velificatio) overhead. Hadda, Afghanistan. | |
Abode | Sky, Mount Olympus |
Symbol | Conch shell |
Genealogy | |
Parents | Astraeus and Eos |
Siblings | Winds (Eurus, Notus and Zephyrus), Eosphorus, the Stars, Memnon, Emathion, Astraea |
Consort | Oreithyia |
Children | Boreads, Chione, Cleopatra, Butes, Haemus, Cyparissia, twelve colts |
Equivalents | |
Roman equivalent | Aquilo |
Boreas (/ˌbɔːri.əs/, UK: /ˌbɒri.əs/, UK: /ˌbɒri.æs/,[1] Βορέας, Boréas; also Βορρᾶς, Borrhâs)[2] is the Greek god of the cold north wind, storms, and winter. Although he was normally taken as the north wind, the Roman writers Aulus Gellius and Pliny the Elder both took Boreas as a northeast wind, equivalent to the Roman god Aquilo or Septentrio.[3] Boreas is depicted as being very strong, with a violent temper to match. He was frequently shown as a winged old man or sometimes as a young man with shaggy hair and beard, holding a conch shell and wearing a billowing cloak.[1] Boreas's most known myth is his abduction of the Athenian princess Oreithyia.