Boreas

Family: Winds · Role: north wind · First appears: Fable 2

Boreas, the north wind of the Winds, was the son of Astreus and Aurora. He was brother to Eurus and Zephyrus, and the discord between the brothers was so great that they were “with great difficulty prevented from rending the world asunder.”

In fable.61, Erectheus refused Boreas’s request to marry his daughter Orithyïa. Boreas then took Orithyïa in his arms and carried her away into Thrace, despite opposition from Tereus and the Thracians. At the Ciconians, Orithyïa became his wife and later gave birth to the winged twins Calaïs and Zethes.

Relationship record

Life events

• Erectheus refuses Boreas’s request to marry Orithyïa.(Fable61)
  • With: Erectheus Orithyïa
  • “Boreas, not obtaining the consent of Erectheus, king of Athens, for the marriage of his daughter, Orithyïa”
• Boreas abducts Orithyïa and carries her away into Thrace.(Fable61 · 📍 Thrace)
  • With: Orithyïa
  • “Boreas, not obtaining the consent of Erectheus, king of Athens, for the marriage of his daughter, Orithyïa, takes that princess in his arms, and carries her away into Thrace.”
• Boreas marries Orithyïa after carrying her to the Ciconians.(Fable61 · 📍 Ciconians)
  • With: Orithyïa
  • “There, too, is the Actæan damsel made the wife of the cold sovereign”
• Orithyïa gives birth to twin sons, Calaïs and Zethes.(Fable61 · 📍 Ciconians)
  • With: Orithyïa Calaïs Zethes
  • “bringing forth twins at a birth, who have the wings of their father, the rest {like} their mother.”

Fable 2

• parent: Astreus (Boreas is identified in the chapter as one of the winds.) “That is, the winds, who, according to the Theogony of Hesiod, were the sons of Astreus, the giant, and Aurora.”
• parent: Aurora (Boreas is identified in the chapter as one of the winds.) “That is, the winds, who, according to the Theogony of Hesiod, were the sons of Astreus, the giant, and Aurora.”
• siblings with Eurus (Eurus and Boreas are both identified as winds.) “they are with great difficulty prevented from rending the world asunder, so great is the discord of the brothers.”
• siblings with Zephyrus (Zephyrus and Boreas are both identified as winds.) “they are with great difficulty prevented from rending the world asunder, so great is the discord of the brothers.”

Fable 61

• courtship with Orithyïa “Boreas, not obtaining the consent of Erectheus, king of Athens, for the marriage of his daughter, Orithyïa, takes that princess in his arms, and carries her away into Thrace.”
• married with Orithyïa “Boreas, having said these words, or some not less high-sounding than these, shakes his wings, by the motion of which all the earth is fanned, and the wide sea becomes ruffled; and the lover, drawing his dusty mantle over the high tops {of mountains}, sweeps the ground, and, wrapt in darkness, embraces with his tawny wings Orithyïa, as she trembles with fear. As she flies, his flame, being agitated, burns more fiercely. Nor does the ravisher check the reins of his airy course, before he reaches the people and the walls of the Ciconians.[74] There, too, is the Actæan damsel made the wife of the cold sovereign, and {afterwards} a mother, bringing forth twins at a birth, who have the wings of their father, the rest {like} their mother.”
• with Erectheus (Erectheus is identified as Boreas's father-in-law.) “By these means should I have sought this alliance; and Erectheus ought not to have been entreated {to be} my father-in-law, but made so by force.”
• child: Calaïs “By her he has two sons, Calaïs and Zethes, who have wings, like their father, and afterwards embark with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece.”
• child: Zethes “By her he has two sons, Calaïs and Zethes, who have wings, like their father, and afterwards embark with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece.”
• with Erectheus (Boreas seeks a marriage alliance with Erectheus.) “By these means should I have sought this alliance; and Erectheus ought not to have been entreated {to be} my father-in-law, but made so by force.”
• enemies with Tereus “Tereus and the Thracians were an obstacle to Boreas; and long was {that} God without his much-loved Orithyïa, while he was entreating, and choosing rather to use prayers than force.”

Fable 68

• with Orithyïa (Boreas abducted Orithyïa.) “She was the daughter of Erectheus, king of Athens, and was carried off by Boreas, as already stated.”

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Extracted from the original text of The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Made with Rho MD.