Greek Wind Gods Tattoo Meaning

The four winds, the cardinal directions, and the forces that move between fixed points.

The Greek wind gods, the Anemoi, are the four winds of the world — Boreas the cold north, Eurus the east, Zephyrus the gentle west, and Notus the storm-bringing south — winged divine forces kept in a cave by Aeolus the wind-keeper, each with its own character and its own myths, the powers that move between the fixed points of the compass. To carry the Greek winds is to carry the four directions and the forces that move between fixed points — the cold north and the gentle west, the keeper who holds them in a bag, and the great human longing to command the very winds.

The Anemoi (Ἄνεμοι, 'the Winds') were the four wind gods of ancient Greece, one for each of the cardinal directions: Boreas, the north wind; Eurus, the east wind; Zephyrus, the west wind; and Notus, the south wind. They were depicted as winged men, or sometimes as horses, and were said to be kept in a great cave on the floating island of Aeolia by Aeolus, the keeper of the winds, who held them and loosed them as the gods required.

Each of the four winds had its own distinct character, matching the weather it brought. Boreas, the north wind, was cold and violent — the harsh winter wind. Zephyrus, the west wind, was the gentlest of the four, associated with spring, soft breezes, and the season of flowers. Notus, the south wind, brought the storms and the fog of late summer — the wind of the rainy season's tempests. And Eurus, the east wind, was the drying wind. Together the four Anemoi made up the whole compass of the winds, the divine forces blowing from the four directions, each with its own temperament, its own season, and its own place in the turning weather of the Greek world. The Greek Anemoi are the four wind gods of the cardinal directions, each with its own character, kept in a cave by Aeolus. The Greek Anemoi are the four winds — the four wind gods of ancient Greece (Boreas/north, Eurus/east, Zephyrus/west, Notus/south), depicted as winged men or horses and kept in a cave on the floating island of Aeolia by the wind-keeper Aeolus, each with a distinct character: Boreas cold and violent (the harsh winter wind), Zephyrus gentlest and associated with spring and flowers, Notus bringing late-summer storms and fog, Eurus the drying east wind — together the whole compass of the winds, the divine forces blowing from the four directions, each with its own temperament and season.

The Tower of the Winds (Horologion of Andronikos Kyrrhestes) in Athens (c. 50 BCE) is an octagonal marble tower whose eight sides each face a different wind direction — each side bears a carved relief of the corresponding wind deity; it is the oldest surviving meteorological station in the world, functioning as a sundial, water clock, and weather vane simultaneously. The Greek wind rose (the system of wind names and directions) was the navigational foundation of ancient Mediterranean sailing — knowing which wind was blowing told you roughly where you were and what weather was coming. The Odyssey's Aeolus episode (Book 10) is the most famous literary treatment of the winds as contained divine force. Boreas as the father of horses: the Greek belief that mares could be impregnated by the north wind is documented in Pliny (Natural History 8.67) and Virgil (Georgics 3.271) — it produced the concept of the wind-swift horse, the horse that runs as fast as the wind because it was fathered by wind.

Greek Wind Gods across cultures

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