ABSTRACT
God of the North Wind and son of the sky deities Astraeus and Eos (the Stars and the Dawn). His native land was said to be Thrace. He is often contrasted with Zephyrus, who represented the gentleness of the West Wind as opposed to the violence of Boreas. In mythology he courted Orithyia, a daughter of Erechtheus, an Athenian king. She resisted his advances, but when the god found her dancing in the meadows by the river Ilissus, he wrapped her in a cloud and carried her off to Thrace. She bore him two winged sons, Calais and Zetes, and two daughters, Chione and Cleopatra. Thereafter the Athenians considered Boreas to be one of their patrons; in the Persian Wars they offered him sacrifice.
