thumb|220px|The Boreads rescuing [[Phineus from the Harpies, red-figure column-krater by the Leningrad Painter, , Louvre.]]
The Boreads () are the two "wind brothers" in Greek mythology. They consist of Zetes (also Zethes) () and Calaïs (). Their place of origin was Thrace, home of their father Boreas (the North wind).
Description
Zetes and Calais were credited with very delicate and graceful hair, which was said to give them the ability to fly (though in some tales they have wings). They had great pride in who had the longest curls between the two of them and by boasting about these locks, they were uplifted. They had dusky wings which gleamed with golden scales.
Mythology
Due to being sons of the north wind they were supernaturally gifted in different ways (depending on changes in the story from being passed down through generations and cultures) either being as fast as the wind or able to fly, having wings either on their feet or backs, depending on the myth.
They were Argonauts and played a particularly vital role in the rescue of Phineus from the harpies. They succeeded in driving the monsters away but did not kill them, at a request from the goddess of the rainbow, Iris, who promised that Phineus would not be bothered by the harpies again. As thanks, Phineus told the Argonauts how to pass the Symplegades. It is said that the Boreads were turned back by Iris at the Strophades. The islands' name, meaning "Islands of Turning", refers to this event. Orpheus was said to have been killed at the hands of those jealous Thracian women whilst he wandered the countryside thinking of Calais.
Their death was said to be caused by Heracles in Tenos in revenge for when they convinced the Argonauts to leave him behind as he searched for Hylas in Mysia. In some versions, the harpies drop into the sea from exhaustion and so their pursuers fall as well.
Calais traditionally founded Cales in Campania.
Genealogy
Parent and Siblings
The Boreads were the twin sons of Boreas and Oreithyia, daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens. They were the brothers of Chione and Cleopatra, wife of Phineus; king of Thrace.
Consorts
According to a rare variant of the myth by Tzetzes, the old man Phineus who was blind because of old age had two daughters named Eraseia and Harpyreia. These two lived in a very libertine and lazy life which was all wasted. Ultimately, the sisters abandoned themselves into poverty and fatal famine and were eventually snatched away by Zetes and Calais, disappearing from those places ever since.
In one version, Zetes was married to Aëdon, who began suspecting (perhaps correctly) that Zetes had fallen in love with a hamadryad nymph and was cheating on her. She further suspected that their son Aëtylus knew and was helping his father carry out the affair by covering up for him. In anger, Aëdon killed their son after he returned one day from hunting. In pity, Aphrodite changed the mother into a nightingale, which to this day mourns for her child. This story might be a result of mix-up with the names of Zetes and Zethus, who is traditionally Aëdon's husband as Zetes is otherwise unrelated to the story.
See also
- Corpus vasorum antiquorum
Notes
References
- Apollodorus, Bibliotheke I, ix, 21; III, xv, 2.
- 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. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Tzetzes, John, Book of Histories, Book I translated by Ana Untila from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826. Online version at theio.com