Читать книгу The Herodotus Encyclopedia - Группа авторов - Страница 1005

CHRISTOPHER BARON

University of Notre Dame

Herodotus uses boreas (Βορέης) to mean “the north wind” or the direction “north.” On one occasion, Boreas appears as a deity, the god of the north wind (7.189). Herodotus reports the story (legetai logos) that an ORACLE instructed the Athenians to call upon their son‐in‐law as an ally. They offered PRAYER and SACRIFICE to Boreas, who according to MYTH had taken OREITHYIA, daughter of the legendary Athenian king ERECHTHEUS, for his wife (Acusilaus BNJ 2 F30). Subsequently a storm ravaged the Persian fleet while at anchor off the coast of Magnesia (480 BCE). Herodotus records that he cannot say whether the storm was a result of the Athenians’ request, but the Athenians claim that it was, and that Boreas assisted them both on this occasion and earlier at ATHOS (in 492: 6.44). Herodotus also notes that the Athenians dedicated a sanctuary to Boreas along the ILISSUS RIVER in ATHENS. The scene of a winged Boreas abducting Oreithyia appears quite frequently on Athenian vases beginning around 480.

SEE ALSO: Causation; Gods and the Divine; Magnesia in Greece; Religion, Herodotus’ views on; Weather; Winds