Boreas
Boreas was the god of the cold north wind, bringer of winter.
The Myth of Boreas
Boreas was the god of the north wind, dwelling in Thrace and serving Zeus as one of the four Anemoi. He abducted the Athenian princess Orithyia, carrying her to Thrace where she bore him four children: the winged twins Zetes and Calais, who sailed with Jason and the Argonauts, and two daughters. When the Persian fleet threatened Greece at Artemisium in 480 BC, Athens prayed to Boreas as their son-in-law, and a devastating storm wrecked the enemy ships. The grateful Athenians built him a temple on the Ilissus river. Boreas could assume the form of a stallion; he sired twelve immortal horses with the mares of Erichthonius near Troy.
Parents
Astraeus and Eos
Symbols
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Aparctias
⚡ godWind, north
Alternative name for the god of the true north wind, sometimes distinguished from Boreas as a calmer northern breeze
Venti
🐉 creaturepersonifications
The four wind gods — Boreas, Notus, Eurus, and Zephyrus — each ruling a cardinal direction
Eurus
⚡ godwind
God of the east wind, the only one of the four Anemoi not given a specific seasonal role by Hesiod.
Notus
⚡ godwind
God of the south wind, bringer of late summer storms and the hot, damp winds feared by sailors and farmers.
Zephyrus
⚡ godGod of the west wind
Zephyrus was the god of the gentle west wind, bringer of spring.
Kaikias
⚡ godWind, northeast
God of the northeast wind associated with cold weather and hailstorms in the Greek wind system
Aeolus
⚡ godwind
Keeper of the winds, appointed by Zeus to control the Anemoi from his floating island of Aeolia.
Skiron
⚡ godWind, northwest
God of the northwest wind associated with the onset of winter and the cold dry air from the Adriatic
Aeolus
⚡ godKeeper of the winds
Aeolus kept winds in a leather bag on his floating island.
Apeliotes
⚡ godWind, east
God of the east wind who brought warm rain beneficial to crops and was considered a gentle and favourable deity
Poseidon
⚡ godGod of the sea, earthquakes, and horses
Poseidon was the god of the sea and earthquakes whose moods determined whether sailors lived or died — and whose grudge against Odysseus drove the Odyssey.
Poseidon
⚡ godGod of the sea, earthquakes, horses
Lord of the seas and brother of Zeus. Poseidon's moods shaped the oceans — calm seas for those who pleased him, devastating storms for those who did not.