As long as my bad weather lasts, or longer if this topic is interesting enough, I’ll be discussing the ancient gods and goddesses of many cultures who were said to influence the weather. I’ve started my series with the Theoi Meteoroi — the weather gods of Ancient Greece.

Today I’m continuing with the Tempest-Winds — the Anemoi Thyellai

The other day I mentioned that Euros was the only one of the wind brothers not associated with weather in Greece. Today I found the reason and it put a slight meander in the topic. To explain, I must first go to Hesiod and Homer.

Mention ancient storytellers and Homer, the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, is usually thought of first. Hesiod was a contemporary of Homer’s sometime in the 7th or 8th centuries BCE. Homer was the poet whose works survived the pillaging and destruction of the ancient libraries. Tragically, just a sampling. Hesiod was a scholar whose body of work was no doubt lost as well, but enough survived to know what he was about.  While together these men are credited with establishing Greek religious customs, it is Hesiod to which we owe the myths. He wrote Theogony — a vast Greek cosmonogy — the story of the origin and development of the universe. And in it, all the deities and their stories we are so familiar with and captivated  by today. He collected the tales and presented them in one epic work. This great work is not a book by the way, Theogony is a poem.

So how does Hesiod figure in to the winds? Because he’s the original go-to guy for our Greek myths,  his telling of the stories are the versions we know. I discovered the reason so little is written about Euros the East Wind. In Hesiod’s time, the Greeks recognized only three seasons — spring, summer and winter. That being the case, originally there were only three seasonal winds — brothers Zephyros, Notos and Boreas. Somewhere along the way, he tucked Euros in with the others. And the rest is history. Mythic history, that is.

Here are the remaining lesser winds on the compass points. I’ll add more about them as I uncover it. So far, some references say they are not personalities, simply directional winds.

Circius the North Northwest Wind
— a.k.a. Thrakias
Euronotus the North Northeast Wind
— a.ka. Meses
Libonotus, the South Southwest Wind
— the Romans called this wind Leuconotos
Phoenicias the South Southeast Wind
— a.k.a. Orthonotos

Tomorrow ~ the Keeper of the Winds

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For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Clichés.
There are 83 entries to come.

Here’s a cliché for today:

Variety is the spice of life

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Book Hooks
http://calliopesotherwritingtablet.blogspot.com/

Horny Hump Day
http://theancillarymuse.blogspot.com/

Hump Day Blurb Share
(open promo opportunity)
http://exquisitequills.blogspot.com/

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Today we have guest Cris Anson
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/