- Oreithyia
In
Greek mythology , Oreithyia (Orithyia, Orithyea, Oreithyea, Oreithuia) was the daughter of KingErechtheus of Athens and his wife,Praxithea . Her brothers wereCecrops ,Pandorus , andMetion , and her sisters wereProcris ,Creusa , and Chthonia. [Apollodorus . "The Library ", 3.15.1.]Boreas , the north wind, fell in love with her. At first he attempted to woo her, but after failing at that he decided to take her by force, as violence felt more natural to him. [Ovid . "Metamorphoses ", 680.] While she was playing by theIlissos River [Apollodorus. "The Library", 3.15.2] she was carried off to Sarpedon’s Rock, near theErginos River inThrace . There she was wrapped in a cloud and raped. [Apollonius of Rhodes . "Argonautica ", 1.212.]Aeschylus wrote asatyr play about the abduction called "Oreithyia," which has been lost.Plato writes somewhat mockingly that there may have been a rational explanation for her story. She may have been killed on the rocks of the river when a gust of northern wind came, and so she was said to have been 'taken by Boreas'. He also mentions in another account she was taken by Boreas not along theIlissos , but from theAreopagus , a rock outcropping near the Acropolis where murderers were tried. [Plato . "Phaedrus ", 229.] However, many scholars regard this as a later gloss. [See Fowler's translation of "Phaedrus " 229d.]She bore Boreas two daughters,
Chione and Cleopatra, and two winged sons, Calais and Zetes, both known as theBoreads . These sons grew wings like their father and joined theArgonauts in the quest for thegolden fleece . [Pindar . "Pythian Odes", 4.8.] Because she was in Thrace with Boreas, she did not die when her sisters either committed suicide or were sacrificed so that Athens could win a war againstEleusis .Fact|date=June 2007Oreithyia was later made into the goddess of cold mountain winds. It is said that prior to the destruction of a large number of barbarian ships due to weather during the
Persian War , the Athenians offered sacrifices to Boreas and Oreithyia, praying for their assistance. [Herodotus . "Histories ", 7.189.]Other Characters
Oreithyia is also the name of three other (minor) characters in Greek mythology:
*Oreithyia, the
Nereid . [Homer . "Iliad ", 18] [Hyginus . "Fabulae ", Preface.]*Oreithyia, a
nymph , called by some the grandmother ofAdonis . [Antoninus Liberalis . "Metamorphoses", 34.]*Oreithyia, a daughter of
Cecrops , wife ofMakednos and mother ofEuropus . [ [http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1216.html The Ancient Library - Europus] ]References
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