OREITHYIA (or Orithyia) was the mountain Nymph wife of Boreas, the north wind, who dwelt with her husband in a cave on Mount Haimos in Thrake. She was probably a goddess of chill mountain winds, since her name means "the mountain rager" and her daughter by the god was Khione (Snow). Oreithyia was once a mortal princess, who was abducted by the god from the banks of the river Ilissos near Athens. He carried her off to Thrake where she became his immortal wife.

"Simonides says that Orithyia was carried off from Brilessos and taken to the Sarpedonian rock in Thrake ... Orithyia was daughter of Erekhtheus, and Boreas carried her off from Attika, too her to Thrake, had intercouse with her there and fathered Zetes and Kalais, as Simonides tells in The Sea-battle." -Greek Lyric III Simonides Frag 534 (from Scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes)

"And swift came [to join the Argonauts] two who dwelt beneath the strong foundations of Pangaion's height; for gladly with a joyful heart their father Boreas, sovereign of the winds, commanded Zetes and Kalais to the task, those heroes whose backs on either side bear fluttering wings of purple." - Pindar, Odes Pythian 4 ep8

Aeschylus, Oreithyia (lost play) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
This lost drama described Boreas' marriage suit for the Athenian princess Oreithyia, its rejection by her father and his subsequent abduction of the maiden. Weir Smyth (L.C.L.) notes : "In the two extant fragments, which are cited as examples of pseudo-tragic diction, Boreas, enraged at the rejection of his suit, threatens to display his power in its full force."

"Erektheus [king of Athens] married Praxithea, daughter of Phrasimos and Kephisos’ daughter Diogeneia, and had sons named Kekrops, Pandoros, and Metion, dand daughters named Prokris, Kreusa, Khthonia, and Oreithyia, whom Boreas kidnapped." - Apollodorus, The Library 3.196

"As Oreithyia was playing by the river Ilissos, Boreas kidnapped her and had sex with her. She bore him daughters named Kleopatra and Khione, and winged sons named Zetes and Kalais." - Apollodorus, The Library 3.199

"She [the Amazon Penthesilea] in pride of triumph on she rode throned on a goodly steed and fleet, the gift of Oreithyia, wild Boreas' (North-wind's) bride, given to her guest the warrior-maid, what time she came to Thrake, a steed whose flying feet could match the Harpyiai's wings." - Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 1.166

"Phaidros: I should like to know, Sokrates, whether the place is not somewhere here at which Boreas is said to have carried off Oreithyia from the banks of the Ilissos?
Sokrates: Such is the tradition.
Phaidros: And is this the exact spot? The little stream is delightfully clear and bright; I can fancy that there might be maidens playing near.
Sokrates: I believe that the spot is not exactly here, but about a quarter of a mile lower down, where you cross to the temple of Artemis, and there is, I think, some sort of an altar of Boreas at the place.
Phaidros: I have never noticed it; but I beseech you to tell me, Sokrates, do you believe this tale?
Sokrates: The wise are doubtful, and I should not be singular if, like them, I too doubted. I might have a rational explanation that Oreithyia was playing with Pharmakeia, when a northern gust carried her over the neighbouring rocks; and this being the manner of her death, she was said to have been carried away by Boreas. There is a discrepancy, however, about the locality; according to another version of the story she was taken from Areopagus, and not from this place." - Plato, Phaedrus 229

"Boreas had an Attic wife, Orithyia, the daughter of Erekhtheus, ancient king of Athens." - Herodotus, Histories 7.189

"The story is told that because of an oracle the Athenians invoked Boreas, the north wind, to help them, since another oracle told them to summon their son-in-law as an ally. According to the Hellenic story, Boreas had an Attic wife, Orithyia, the daughter of Erekhtheus, ancient king of Athens. Because of this connection, so the tale goes, the Athenians considered Boreas to be their son-in-law. They were stationed off Khalkis in Euboia, and when they saw the storm rising, they then, if they had not already, sacrificed to and called upon Boreas and Orithyia to help them by destroying the barbarian fleet, just as before at Athos. I cannot say whether this was the cause of Boreas falling upon the barbarians as they lay at anchor, but the Athenians say that he had come to their aid before and that he was the agent this time. When they went home, they founded a sacred precinct of Boreas beside the Ilissos river." - Herodotus, Histories 7.189

T28.2 OREITHYIA, BOREAS

T28.3 OREITHYIA, BOREAS

T28.4 OREITHYIA, BOREAS

"Sophokles, when in his role as a tragic poet he speaks of Oreithyia, tells how she was snatched up by Boreas and carried 'over the whole sea to the ends of the earth and to the sources of night and to the unfoldings of heaven and to [Hyperborea] the ancient garden of Phoibos [Apollon]." - Strabo, Geography 7.3.1

"This Ilisos [at Athens] is the river by which Oreithyia was playing when, according to the story, she was carried off by Boreas. With Oreithyia he lived in wedlock, and because of the tie between him and the Athenians he helped them by destroying most of the foreigners’ warships. The Athenians hold that the Ilisos is sacred to other deities as well." - Pausanias, Guide to Greece 1.19.5

"Eumolpos they say came from Thrake, being the son of Poseidon and Khione. Khione they say was the daughter of the wind Boreas and of Oreithyia." - Pausanias, Guide to Greece 1.38.2

"Erekhtheus married Praxithea ... and had sons ... and daughters, to wit, Prokris, Kreusa, Khthonia, and Orithyia, who was carried off by Boreas ...
While Orithyia was playing by the Ilissos river, Boreas carried her off and had intercourse with her; and she bore daughters, Kleopatra and Khione, and winged sons, Zetes and Kalais. These sons sailed with Jason and met their end in chasing the Harpyiai; but according to Acusilaus, they were killed by Herakles in Tenos.
Kleopatra was married to Phineus, who had by her two sons, Plexippos and Pandion. When he had these sons by Kleopatra, he married Idaia, daughter of Dardanos. She falsely accused her stepsons to Phineus of corrupting her virtue, and Phineus, believing her, blinded them both. But when the Argonauts sailed past with the Boreades, they punished him.
Khione had connexion with Poseidon, and having given birth to Eumolpus unknown to her father, in order not to be detected, she flung the child into the deep. But Poseidon picked him up and conveyed him to Aithiopia." - Pausanias, Guide to Greece 3.15.1-4

"[Depicted on the chest of Cypselus at Olympia] Boreas, who has carried off Oreithyia; instead of feet he has serpents’ tails." - Pausanias, Guide to Greece 5.19.1

"Next came Zetes and Kalias, children of Boreas, whom Oreithyia daughter of Erekhtheus had borne to Boreas in the wintry borderland of Thrake. It was from Attika that Thrakian Boreas had brought her there. She was whirling in the dance on the banks of Ilissos when he snatched her up and carried her far away to a spot called Sarpedon’s Rock, near the flowing waters of Erginos, where he wrapped her in a dark cloud and overcame her. And now, these sons of hers could soar into the sky. Astounding spectacle! As they flapped wings on either side of their angles, a glint of gold shone through from spangles on the dusky feathers; an their black locks streaming from head and neck along their backs were tossed by the wind to this side and that." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.212

"The two sons of Boreas ... Phineos, Agenor’s son, who when he ruled in Thrake won Kleopatra, sister of that pair, with his bridal gifts and brought her to his." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2.23

"Kleopatra, who men said was born of Oreithyia, the daughter of Erekhtheus, and Boreas." - Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.43.3

"Zetes and Calais, sons of the wind Aquilo [Boreas] and Orithyia, daughter of Erechtheus. These are said to have had wings on head and feet and dark-blue locks, and travelled by air ... These, too, are said to be from Thrace." - Hyginus, Fabulae 14

"Helmsmen [of the Argo] were Zetes and Calias, sons of Aquilo [Boreas] who had wings on head and feet." - Hyginus, Fabulae 14

"Zetes and Calais, sons of the North Wind and Orithyia." - Hyginus, Fabulae 19

"Sons of Neptunus [Poseidon] ... Eumolpus by Chiona [Khione], daughter of Aquilo [Boreas]." - Hyginus Fabulae 157

"Erechtheus held the sceptre and control [of Athens] … Four sons he had, and four daughters also, two of whom were matched in beauty; Procris was the happy bride of Cephalus, but Boreas whose love was Orithyia, found the ill-repute of Tereus and his Thracians damaging, and long he’d been without his heart’s desire while he preferred to woo with words not force. But when fair speeches failed him, anger stormed, the North Wind’s too familiar mood at home. ‘Yes, I deserved it! Why, oh, why', he said, ‘Did I give up my armoury, my wrath, my blustering threats, my force, my savagery, and take to grovelling and disgrace myself? Force is what fits me, force! ... Such means I should have used my wife to gain; by force I should have won, not wooed in vain!’ With words like these or others no less high, he waves his wings and, as they beat, the whole world felt the blast and all the wide sea surged. Trailing his dusty cloak across the peaks, he swept the ground and, clothed in darkness, wrapped terrified Orithyia in his wings, his loving tawny wings, and as he flew his fire was fanned and flared. The ravisher held on his airy course until he reached the peopled cities of the Cicones [in Thrake]. There the princess of Attica became wife of the icy king and mother too, mother of twins [the Boreades], who had their father’s wings, though all else from their mother. Ye the boys weren’t born, it’s said, with wings and, while their beards were still ungrown below their auburn locks, both Calais and Zetes were unwinged. But later as their cheeks grew yellow down, so, like a bird, wings lapped them on each side. And thus it was that when their boyhood years gave place to manhood, with the Argonauts, on that first ship across the unknown sea they sailed to seek the gleaming Golden Fleece." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.679

"Boreas gave his brother [Zephyros] full rights of rape by robbing Erechtheus’ house of its prize [Oreithyia]." - Ovid, Fasti 5.203

Ovid, Heroides 16. 345 ff (trans. Showerman) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"In the name of Aquilo [Boreas] the Thracians took captive Erechtheus’ child [Oreithyia], and the Bistonian shore was safe from war [i.e. the Athenians did pursue them]."

Ovid, Heroides 18. 37 ff :
"O Boreas . . . Cold as thou art, canst thou yet deny, base wind that of yore thou wert aflame with Actaean fires?" [N.B. "Actaean" is Athenian, i.e. the Athenian princess Oreithyia.]

"Orithyia when ravished denied that even Boreas was cruel: this god tames both the lands and the deep seas." - Propertius, Elegies 2.26C

"Hateful Aquilo [Boreas], bane of ravished Orithyia." - Propertius, Elegies 3.6

"Pursuing him [Hylas], two brothers, sons of Aquilo [Boreas the North Wind] (now Zetes overtakes him, now Calais overtakes), pressed with airborne feet to snatch kisses, retreating each in turn to plant kisses from below. But he at wing’s length mocks them as they hover and wards off with a bough their winged assault. At last they of Pandion’s line, the sons of Orithyia, gave up." - Propertius. Elegoes 1.20

"[The river] Elisos who privy to Oreithyia’s rape concealed beneath his banks the Thracian lover [Boreas]." - Statius, Thebaid 12.630

"Aye Boreas, I conjure thee, receive me on thy pinions in the air, as thou didst ravish thine Athenian bride [Oreithyia]." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca 1.134

"Phineus came with all speed to the Thrakian land. As for him, I [Zeus] will make him proud with his deep mines of riches, and lead him as goodson to Oreithyia and Thrakian Boreas, as prophetic bridegroom of garlanded Kleopatra." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca 2.686

"She [Ariadne abandoned on the island of Naxos] prayed to Boreas and adjured the wind, adjured Oreithyia [wife of Boreas] to bring back the boy [Theseus] to the land of Naxos and to let her see that sweet ship again. She besought hardhearted Aiolos yet more; he heard her prayer and obeyed, sending a contrary wind to blow, but Boreas lovelorn himself cared nothing for the maid stricken with desire." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca 47.302

"First Erekhtheus [king of Athens] brought his horse Xanthos (Bayard) under the yoke, and fastened in his mare Podarkes (Swiftfoot); both sired by North-Wind Boreas ... and the Wind gave them as loveprice to his godfather Erekhtheus when he stole Attic Oreithyia for his bride." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca 37.155

"Gambros Erekhtheos (Son-in-law of Erekhtheos): Borras. For he married Oreithuia, his [Erechtheus'] daughter, from whom were born Zetes and Kalais." - Suidas s.v. Gambros Erekhtheos

"Aphetai: A place in Athens where the expedition of Xerxes had its first setback because of the unsuitability of the harbors. For this reason they consider Boreas to be an ally of the Athenians. The god [Apollon of Delphoi] had prophesied that they should sacrifice to their kinsman wind; he is called kinsman because of Oreithyia." - Suidas s.v. Aphetai

"Parthenoi (Maidens). This is how they called the daughters of Erekhtheus and honoured them; they were six in number. The eldest was Protogenia, the second Pandora, the third Prokris, the fourth Kreusa, the fifth Oreithyia, the sixth Khthonia." - Suidas s.v. Parthenoi

Sources:

• Pindar, Odes - Greek Lyric C5th BC
• Greek Lyric III Simonides, Fragments - Greek Lyric C6th-5th BC
• Aeschylus, Fragments - Greek Tragedy C5th B.C.
• Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd BC
• Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd BC
• Plato, Phaedrus - Greek Philosophy C4th BC
• Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy - Greek Epic C4th AD
• Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st BC - C1st AD
• Herodotus, Histories - Greek History C5th BC
• Pausanias, Guide to Greece - Greek Geography C2nd AD
• Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st BC
• Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd AD
• Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD
• Ovid, Fasti - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD
• Ovid, Heroides - Latin Poetry C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
• Propertius, Elegies - Latin Elegy C1st BC
• Statius, Thebaid - Latin Epic C1st AD
• Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th AD
• Suidas - Byzantine Lexicon C10th AD

Other references not currently quoted here: Scholiast on Homer's Odyssey 14.533; Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica 1.212