AURAI

THE AURAI (Aurae) were nymphs of the breezes. They were daughters of either the earth-encircling river Okeanos (Oceanus) or the north-wind Boreas.

In the story of Kephalos (Cephalus) the dawn-goddess Eos was portrayed as a singular Aura. Similarly, the Titan-goddess Aura was a single personification of the breeze.

FAMILY OF THE AURAE

PARENTS

[1] OKEANOS (Homer Odyssey 4.561)
[2] BOREAS (Quintus Smyrnaeus 1.683)

ALTERNATE NAMES

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Homer, Odyssey 4. 561 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :
"The world's end, the Elysian fields . . . [there] for men's refreshment Okeanos (Oceanus) sends out continually the high-singing breezes of the west (aetai zephyroio)."

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 88 ff (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"[The Titan Prometheus calls on the spirits of nature to witness his torment :] ‘O you bright sky of heaven (dios aithêr), you swift-winged breezes (takhypteroi pnoiai) [i.e. the Aurai], you river-waters (pêgai potamôn), and infinite laughter of the waves of sea (pontos), O universal mother Earth (panmêtôr gê), and you, all-seeing orb of the sun (panoptês kyklos hêlios), to you I call! See what I, a god, endure from the gods.’"

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 115 ff :
"[The Okeanides (Oceanids) arrive on the mountain of Prometheus in a winged chariot :] ‘Our group has come in swift rivalry of wings to this crag as friend to you, having won our father's consent as best we might. The swift-coursing breezes (aurai) bore me on . . . unsandalled I have hastened in a winged car.’"

Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 1. 683 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) :
"[The Breezes bring Ares news of the death of his daughter Penthesilea in the Trojan War :] For the Aurai (Breezes), Boreas' (the North-Wind's) fleet-winged daughters, bare to him, as through the wide halls of the sky he strode."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 37. 70 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"The East Wind [Euros] left the rosy chamber of Eos (the Dawn) his mother, and fanned the blazing pure all night long, stirring up the windfed leaping fire; the wild Aurai (Breezes), neighbours of the sun, shot the gleams into the air."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 47. 302 ff :
"[Ariadne is abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos :] Boreas (the North Wind) lovelorn himself cared nothing for the maid stricken with desire--yes, even the Aurai (Breezes) themselves must have had a spite against the maiden when they carried the ship [of Theseus away] to the Athenian land."

SOURCES

GREEK

• Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound - Greek Tragedy C5th B.C.
• Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy - Greek Epic C4th A.D.
• Nonnus, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.