Boreas

(Βορέας or Βορᾶς), the North wind, was, according to Hesiod (Hes. Th. 379), a son of Astraeus and Eos, and brother of Hesperus, Zephyrus, and Notus. He dwelt in a cave of mount Haemus in Thrace. (Callim. hymn. in Del. 63.) He is mixed up with the early legends of Attica in the story of his having carried off Oreithyia, the daughter of Erechtheus, by whom he begot Zetes, Calais, and Cleopatra, the wife of Phineus, who are therefore called Boreades. (Ov. Met. 6.683, &c.; Apollon. 1.211; Apollod. 3.15.2; Paus. 1.19.6.) In the Persian war, Boreas shewed his friendly disposition towards the Athenians by destroying the ships of the barbarians. (Hdt. 7.189.) He also assisted the Megalopolitans against the Spartans, for which he was honoured at Megalopolis with annual festivals. (Paus. 8.36.3.) According to an Homeric tradition (Il. 20.223), Boreas begot twelve horses by the mares of Erichthonius, which is commonly explained as a mere figurative mode of expressing the extraordinary swiftness of those horses. On the chest of Cypselus he was represented in the act of carrying off Oreithyia, and here the place of his legs was occupied by tails of serpents. (Paus. 5.19.1.) Respecting the festivals of Boreas, celebrated at Athens and other places, see Dict. of Ant. s. v. Βορεασμοί. [L.S]

(Βορέας). In Greek mythology, the North Wind, son of Astraeus and Eos, brother of Zephyrus, Eurus, and Notus. His home was in the Thracian Salmydessus, on the Black Sea, whither he carried Orithyia from the games on the Ilissus, when her father, Erechtheus, king of Athens, had refused her to him in marriage. Their children were Calaïs and Zetes, the so-called Boreades, Cleopatra , the wife of Phineus, and Chioné, the beloved of Poseidon. (See Eumolpus.) It was this relationship which was referred to in the oracle given to the Athenians, when the fleet of Xerxes was approaching, that “they should call upon their brother-in-law.” Boreas answered their prayer and sacrifice by destroying a part of the enemy's fleet on the promontory of Sepias, whereupon they built him an altar on the banks of the Ilissus.

• invoked by the Athenians before the Persian shipwreck: Hdt. 7.189
• carries off Orithyia: Apollod. 3.15.1, Apollod. 3.15.1, Paus. 1.19.5, Paus. 5.19.1
• father of Zetes and Calais: Apollod. 1.9.17, Apollod. 1.9.21, Apollod. 1.9.21
• with the Argonauts punishes Phineus: Apollod. 1.9.21
• sons of B. chase Harpies from Phineus: Paus. 5.17.11
• father of Chione: Paus. 1.38.2
• bestows on Musaeus the gift of flying: Paus. 1.22.7
• helps Athenians against barbarians: Paus. 1.19.5
• serves the cause of Greece by wrecking the ships of the Medes: Paus. 8.27.14
• saves Megalopolis from Agis and Lacedaemonians: Paus. 8.27.14, Paus. 8.36.6
• precinct of: Paus. 8.36.6
• sacrifices to: Paus. 8.36.6
• men who dwell beyond the north wind: Paus. 5.7.8