Oreithyia
Oreithyia ( Greek Ὠρείθυια "storming in the mountains") is a nymph of Greek mythology . Homer mentions a nereid Oreithyia , but this does not appear in the names of the Nereids listed by Hesiod and in the library of Apollodorus .
Her name shows her more as a kind of "wind bride". This also corresponds to the fact that she was kidnapped by Boreas , the north wind from whose homeland Thrace was kidnapped, who fathered four children with her: two sons Kalaïs and Zete and two daughters Cleopatra and Chione .
In Attic mythology, she appears as the daughter of Erechtheus , a mythical Athenian king, and Praxithea . This makes Boreas the “son-in-law” of the Athenians. When an oracle advised the Athenians, threatened by Persian invasion, to call their son-in-law for help and therefore pray to Boreas, it actually destroyed 480 BC. The north wind the fleet of the Persians. The grateful Athenians built a sanctuary to Boreas and Oreithyia on Ilisus , where, according to legend, the robbery had taken place.
literature
- E. Frank: Oreithyia. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XVIII, 1, Stuttgart 1939, Sp. 951-958.
- E. Simon: Oreithyia (1) In: LIMC 7.1, 64f.
Web links
- Oreithyia in the Theoi Project