5. The Winds.—The four chief winds have been already alluded to as the sons of Eos. They were especially venerated by those about to make voyages, who then solicited their favour with prayers and offerings. Otherwise, they maintained their character of pure natural forces, and were, consequently, of little importance in mythology. The rude north wind, Boreas, or Aquilo, was especially dreaded on account of his stormy violence, and was hence regarded as a bold ravisher of maidens. Thus an Attic legend asserts that he carried off Orithyia, the daughter of Erechtheus, as she was playing on the banks of the Ilissus. She bore him Calaïs and Zetes, well known in the story of the Argonauts. Boreas, however, stood in high favour among the Athenians, who erected an altar and chapel to him, because, during the Persian war, he had partially destroyed the fleet of Xerxes off Cape Sepias.
As Boreas is the god of the winter storm, so Zephyrus appears as the welcome messenger of Spring; on which account one of the Horæ was given him to wife. Zephyrus was called Favonius by the Romans, to intimate the favourable influence he exercised on the prosperous growth of the vegetable world.
These, together with the other chief winds, Notus (south wind) and Eurus (east wind) were sometimes said to reside in separate places; at other times they were said to dwell together in the Wind-mountain, on the fabulous island of Æolia, where they were ruled over by King Æolus.
3. Gods of Birth and Healing.
Fig. 32.—Asclepius. Berlin.
1. Asclepius (Æsculapius).—It was only in later times that the necessity of having special gods of birth and healing made itself felt; at all events, Asclepius, or Æsculapius, as he is called by the Romans, does not appear as a god in Homer. The worship of this deity, who was said to be the son of Apollo, appears to have originated in Epidaurus, the seat of his principal shrine, and thence to have become generally diffused. In Epidaurus his priests erected a large hospital, which enjoyed a great reputation. The common method of cure consisted in allowing those who were sick to sleep in the temple, on which occasion, if they had been zealous in their prayers and offerings, the god appeared to them in a dream and discovered the necessary remedy.
The worship of this deity was introduced into Rome in the year 291 B.C., in consequence of a severe pestilence which for years had depopulated town and country. The Sibylline books were consulted, and they recommended that Asclepius of Epidaurus should be brought to Rome. The story goes that the sacred serpent of the god followed the Roman ambassadors of its own accord, and chose for its abode the Insula Tiberina at Rome, where a temple was at once erected to Æsculapius. A gilded statue was added to the temple in the year 13 B.C. The method already mentioned of sleeping in the temple was also adopted here.
Fig. 33.—Head of Asclepius. British Museum.