In the Greek Mythology, Zephyr (in Greek old Ζέφυρος / Zéphyros ) is the personification of the Vent of western or of the North-West.

Myth

He is the son of Astraéos (or of Éole, the god of the Winds) and of Éos (Dawn). He is often mentioned in company of his brother Borée, the wind of the Northern . Like him, it is considered to live in a cave in Thrace. One allots to him as kingdom “the places where the evening star rises, where the sun extinguishes its last fires. ”

It is linked with one of the Harpies, Podarge, which took the form of a Jument; from this union are born the famous immortal horses Xanthe and Balios which will be offered to Achille, like Phlogéos and Harpagos, the horses of the Dioscures. According to certain traditions, he is also the father of Eros by Iris. Lastly, it has as a wife the nymph Chloris, goddess of the flowers, of which it has a son, Carpos.

Enthusiast of the young prince Spartan Hyacinthe, it disputes it with Apollon. Carried by the jealousy, it deviates the disc launched by the god. The disc strikes Hyacinthe with the temple, and kills it.

Lastly, Zéphyr plays a small role in the myth of Eros and Psyché: it is him which carries the young girl of the escarpé rock where it awaits the arrival of her husband to the palate of the god of the love.

Worship

Its worship goes back to the Civilization mycénienne: the name Zepu _² ro was found on the shelves in Linéaire B; one knows the existence of a priestess of the Winds with Cnossos at the same period. As for the other winds, of the sacrifices in its honor are held on several occasions in the year: the objective is to make come Zéphyr or contrary to holding it distant, according to the desired effect for harvests. Zephyr has a furnace bridge with Athens and one still sees his image on the plank of the Tour of the Winds.

Literary representations

In Iliade , Zéphyr is a strong wind or rainy. In the Odyssey and in the later texts, one regards it on the contrary as a soft and light wind, a tepid breeze which brings the snow melt. Hésiode is the first to mention its ascent. Its union with Harpie, at the time only representing of its species, is a very old tradition, Harpies being regarded as spirits of the storms. On the contrary, its marriage with Chloris appears only in a very late way; the child who is born from it, Carpos (literally “fruit”) is very largely inspired by the character of Hyacinthe.

Its love for Hyacinthe is mentioned for the first time by Palaiphatos, taken again by Lucien de Samosate; Ovide does not quote it when it brings back the death and the metamorphosis of the boy. Virgile names it at the beginning of Énéide : Zephyr is convened at the same time as Borée, and is tancé by Neptune to have obeyed the orders of Junon and to have started the storm which drew aside Énée banks Italy. In the Roman literature, the common noun “zephyr” is most usually employed, in particular in the plural. Apulée again puts however the god in scene in his account of the myth of Eros and Psyché.

Iconography

Like all the winds, Zéphyr is represented in Greek art like a winged character. So it is sometimes difficult to distinguish from Eros. The vases generally show it prosecutor Hyacinthe or holding it in his arms. The scene presents an erotic character some: on a vase with red rigures of the Musée of the Art schools of Boston the sex in erection of the god is inserted in the folds of clothing of the young man; on vase 95.31 of the same museum, it is a Coït intercrural which is represented. Zephyr is also represented like the lover of Cyparisse. It is also shown in company of Chloris; the most famous representation of the couple is undoubtedly that of Botticelli in Spring and the Venus Birth .

Etymology

The name of Zephyr probably comes from ζόφος , “darkness, obscure area”, i.e. west.

The Byzantine scholar Jean Laurentius Lydus (6th century) names March Ζεφυρίτης / Zephurítês