ABSTRACT
The god of the West Wind; one of the sons of Astraeus and Eos. He fell in love with the beautiful Hyacinthus, a young man of Amyclae near Sparta. When Apollo also courted Hyacinthus and gained his favour, Zephyrus took revenge by causing a discus, which Apollo had flung, to swerve and hit the youth on the head, so that he died. Zephyrus was the father of Apollo’s immortal horses Xanthus and Balius, having made their mother, a Harpy, pregnant when she was grazing in the form of a filly in meadows beside the Ocean. In general the West Wind was considered the gentlest and most welcome of winds, and was frequently compared to his advantage with the harsh North Wind, Boreas. It was Zephyrus who wafted Psyche to the castle of Cupid (Eros). His wife was sometimes said to be Iris, the goddess of the rainbow.
