Zephyrus
Greek god of the wind from the west, spring, fertility, procreation, luck, rebirth, vegetation, flowers, bees and honey
In Greek mythology and religion, Zephyrus () (Ancient Greek: Ζέφυρος, romanized: Zéphuros, lit. 'westerly wind'), also spelled in English as Zephyr (), is the god and personification of the West wind, one of the several wind gods, the Anemoi. The son of Eos (the goddess of the dawn) and Astraeus, Zephyrus is the most gentle and favourable of the winds, associated with flowers, springtime and even procreation. In myths, he is presented as the tender breeze, known for his unrequited love for the Spartan prince Hyacinthus. Alongside Boreas, the two are the most prominent wind gods with relatively limited roles in recorded mythology.
Zephyrus, similarly to his brothers, received a cult during ancient times although his worship was minor compared to the Twelve Olympians. Still, traces of it are found in Classical Athens and surrounding regions and city-states, where it was usually joint with the cults of the other wind gods.
His equivalent in Roman mythology is the god Favonius.
Etymology
The ancient Greek noun ζέφυρος is the word for the wind that blows from the west. His name is attested in Mycenaean Greek as ze-pu2-ro (Linear B: 𐀽𐁆𐀫), which points to a possible Proto-Hellenic form *Dzépʰuros. Further attestation of the god and his worship as part of the Anemoi is found in the word-forms 𐀀𐀚𐀗𐀂𐀋𐀩𐀊, a-ne-mo-i-je-re-ja, 𐀀𐀚𐀗𐄀𐀂𐀋𐀩𐀊, a-ne-mo i-je-re-ja.
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This entry incorporates text from “Zephyrus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.