Kalaïs and Zetes
Kalaïs ( Greek Κάλαϊς ) and his twin brother Zetes ( Ζήτης ) are the sons of Boreas and his wife Oreithyia in Greek mythology .
Both had purple-colored wings that either had grown with their first beard, or they were a present from their father to equip them appropriately for the voyage with the Argonauts . They drove away the harpies who were harassing King Phineus . They chased the monsters with the help of their wings. However, since no one witnessed the persecution, there are several versions of the outcome.
An oracle prophesied that if they failed to reach a goal, they would die. Hence, it is possible that they crashed. Or they broke off their hunt at the behest of the Iris . They then withdrew to the island of Telos . There they were killed by Heracles . This was revenge for urging the Argonauts to continue their journey when Heracles had just left the Argo in search of Hylas . Heracles then buried her on the island and erected a pillar over her grave in memory of her. When her father Boreas complained for her, that pillar swayed in the north wind.
literature
- Kalaïs and Zetes In: Michael Grant, J. Hazel: Lexicon of ancient myths and figures. Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-548-60928-7 , pp. 232f.
- Adolf Rapp : Boreading . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1.1, Leipzig 1886, Col. 797-803 ( digitized version ).