Anemoi

Classical sources present the Anemoi as offspring of the dawn goddess Eos and the starry dusk god Astraeus, placing them within Greek theogony. They are treated as minor gods within the wider Greek pantheon and in some traditions are described as being subject to or managed by Aeolus, the figure who confines or dispenses winds (for example in the Odyssey, where Aeolus provides Odysseus with the winds). Mycenaean Linear B tablets contain word-forms interpreted as a-ne-mo-i-je-re-ja ('priestess of the winds'), suggesting ritual recognition of winds in early Greek practice.

Depictions vary by context: the Anemoi are sometimes represented non-anthropomorphically as gusts of wind; at other times they are personified as winged men, frequently bearded for northern winds (e.g., Boreas); and they are also sometimes symbolized as horses kept in Aeolus's stables. Architectural sculpture names lesser winds on monuments (for example the Tower of the Winds shows Kaikias as a bearded man with a shield of hailstones and places Eurus and Apeliotes on respective sides), indicating both individualized faces and emblematic attributes.

Each Anemos governs meteorological phenomena and seasonal effects associated with its compass direction: Boreas brings cold northern winter air and is portrayed as the harshest; Zephyrus, the west wind, is the gentlest and the 'fructifying' messenger of spring; Notus (south) is associated with late-summer/autumn storms and feared as a destroyer of crops; Eurus is linked to stormy, turbulent winds that can toss ships (often placed on the southeast or east in architectural schemes). In myth they act with agency — abducting mortals (Boreas and Orithyia; Zephyrus and Chloris), fathering offspring (the Boreads), transporting figures (Zephyrus conveying Psyche), and being marshalled or confined by Aeolus.