Zephyrus

In Greek mythology and religion, Zephyrus ( ) ( ), also spelled in English as Zephyr ( ), is the god and personification of the West wind, one of the several wind gods, the Anemoi. The son of Eos (the goddess of the dawn) and Astraeus, Zephyrus is the most gentle and favourable of the winds, associated with flowers, springtime and even procreation. In myths, he is presented as the tender breeze, known for his unrequited love for the Spartan prince Hyacinthus. Alongside Boreas, the two are the most prominent wind gods with relatively limited roles in recorded mythology. Zephyrus, similarly to his brothers, received a cult during ancient times although his worship was minor compared to the Twelve Olympians. Still, traces of it are found in Classical Athens and surrounding regions and city-states, where it was usually joint with the cults of the other wind gods. His equivalent in Roman mythology is the god Favonius.

In Greek mythology and religion, Zephyrus ( ) ( ), also spelled in English as Zephyr ( ), is the god and personification of the West wind, one of the several wind gods, the Anemoi. The son of Eos (the goddess of the dawn) and Astraeus, Zephyrus is the most gentle and favourable of the winds, associated with flowers, springtime and even procreation. In myths, he is presented as the tender breeze, known for his unrequited love for the Spartan prince Hyacinthus. Alongside Boreas, the two are the most prominent wind gods with relatively limited roles in recorded mythology. Zephyrus, similarly to his brothers, received a cult during ancient times although his worship was minor compared to the Twelve Olympians. Still, traces of it are found in Classical Athens and surrounding regions and city-states, where it was usually joint with the cults of the other wind gods. His equivalent in Roman mythology is the god Favonius. , Athens.|upright=1.15 Zephyrus, along with his brother Boreas, is one of the most prominent of the Anemoi; they are frequently mentioned together by poets, and along with a third brother, Notus (the south wind) they were seen as the three useful and favourable winds (the east wind, Eurus, seen as bad omen). They are the three wind gods mentioned by Hesiod, as ancient Greeks avoided talking about Eurus. Zephyrus and Boreas were thought to dwell together in a palace in Thrace. In the Odyssey, however, they all seem to dwell on the island of Aeolia, as Zeus has tasked Aeolus with the job of the keeper of the winds. Aeolus receives Odysseus and his wretched crew, and hosts them for a month gracefully. As they part, Aeolus gives Odysseus a bag containing all the winds, except for Zephyrus himself, who is let free to blow Odysseus's ship gently back to Ithaca; Odysseus's crewmates foolishly open the bag, thinking it to contain treasure, and set free all the other winds, blowing the ships back to Aeolia. Many years later, right after Odysseus left Calypso, the sea-god Poseidon in rage unleashed all four of them to cause a storm and raise great waves in order to drown Odysseus in the sea. .|240px In the Iliad, Zephyrus is visited by his wife Iris in his home as he dines with his wind brothers. He wishes to summon him and Boreas to blow on Patroclus's funeral pyre following his death, as Achilles prayed for their help when the pyre failed to kindle. In the Dionysiaca, all four live together with their father Astraeus; Zephyrus plays sweet notes with an aulos for Demeter when she pays them a visit. In the myth of Eros and Psyche, Zephyrus serves Eros, the god of love, by transporting his bride-to-be, the mortal princess Psyche with his soft breeze from the cliff (where she had been left in an oracle's suggestion) to Eros's palace. Later, he also helps rather reluctantly Psyche's two sisters transport the same way to the palace as well, when Psyche wishes to see them again. After Eros abandons Psyche over her betrayal, both sisters take advantage of the situation and each independently goes to the cliff (having both been lied to by Psyche that Eros wished to make each his new wife), calling for Eros to come and marry them, and Zephyrus to take them to the palace. But this time Zephyrus does not act when they jump, and thus they both fall to their deaths, torn limb to limb and made food for the birds of prey and wild beasts below. Zephyrus seems to have had a connection to swans; in Philostratus the Elder's works, he joins them twice in their song, once while they are carrying the Erotes and another when the young Phaethon is killed driving his father Helios's fiery chariot. This apparently symbolizes the belief that swans took to singing when the mild west wind blew. Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. in two volumes: (Vol. 1) ; (Vol. 2) . Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Homer; The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Online version at Perseus.tufts project. Lucian, The Works of Lucian of Samosata, translated by H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1905. Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, III Books XXXVI–XLVIII. Loeb Classical Library No. 346, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive. Oppian, Cynegetica in Oppian, Colluthus, Tryphiodorus. Oppian, Colluthus, and Tryphiodorus. Translated by A. W. Mair. Loeb Classical Library 219. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1928. Online version at Internet Archive. Ovid, Ovid's Fasti: With an English translation by Sir James George Frazer, London: W. Heinemann LTD; Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1959. Internet Archive. Pausanias, Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Quintus Smyrnaeus, Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall of Troy, translated by A.S. Way, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1913. Internet Archive. Online version at the Perseus.tufts library.

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