Oreithyia

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Rape of Oreithyia by Boreas. Detail from an Apulian red-figure oinoche, 360 BC
Rape of Oreithyia by Boreas. Detail from an Apulian red-figure oinoche, 360 BC

In Greek mythology, 'Oreithyia was the daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens and his wife, Praxithea. She was abducted by Boreas, the north wind, while she was dancing by the Ilissus River, or perhaps gathering flowers on the banks of the Cephissos river, and carried off to Thrace, and therefore did not die when the other daughters of her father either were sacrificed so that Athens could win a war against Eleusis or killed themselves. She bore Boreas two daughters, Chione and Cleopatra, and two winged sons, Calais and Zetes, both known as the Boreads.

Aeschylus wrote a satyr play about the abduction called Oreithyia, which has been lost.

Oreithyia was later made into the goddess of cold mountain winds.

Alternative spellings: Orithyia, Orithyea, Oreithyea, Oreithuia.

[edit] Other Characters

Oreithyia is also the name of two other (minor) characters in Greek mythology:

1. Oreithyia, the Nereid. [1][2]

2. Oreithyia, a nymph, called by some the grandmother of Adonis. [3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Homer, Iliad
  2. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae
  3. ^ Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses

M. Grant & J. Hazel, Who's Who in Classical Mythology, David McKay & Co Inc, 1979