He personifies the North Wind, who lived in Thrace, and is also mentioned by Homer (Il. 11.5, 20.223, 23.195).
God of the north wind, Boreas was the only wind god with a cult in
Athens. In 480 BC, Boreas
helped the Athenians in the battle at sea of Artemision
against the Persians because of his wife.
He had abducted and married princess Oreithyia, daughter of king Erechteus
of Attica. Together they
had two sons, the Boreads: Kalais and Zethes. They took part in the expedition
of he Argonauts and were the ones to defeat the Harpies.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
Boreas. In Greek mythology, the North Wind, son of Astraeus and Eos, brother of Zephyrus, Eurus, and Notus. His home was in the Thracian Salmydessus, on the Black Sea, whither he carried Orithyia from the games on the Ilissus, when her father, Erechtheus, king of Athens, had refused her to him in marriage. Their children were Calais and Zetes, the so-called Boreades, Cleopatra, the wife of Phineus, and Chione, the beloved of Poseidon. It was this relationship which was referred to in the oracle given to the Athenians, when the fleet of Xerxes was approaching, that "they should call upon their brother-in-law." Boreas answered their prayer and sacrifice by destroying a part of the enemy's fleet on the promontory of Sepias, whereupon they built him an altar on the banks of the Ilissus.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens, and of Praxithea, who was seized by Boreas, and carried off to Thrace, where she became the mother of Cleopatra , Chione, Zetes, and Calais.
Orithyia : Perseus Project
Now Struma, called by the Turks Karasu; an important river in
Macedonia, forming the boundary between that country and Thrace down to the time
of Philip. It rose in Mount Scomius, flowed first south and then southeast, passed
through the lake Prasias, and, immediately south of Amphipolis, fell into a bay
of the Aegaean Sea, called after it Strymonicus Sinus.
(Following URL information in Greek only)
A small hydro-biosphere which accommodates a substantial number of aquatic birds that live on the water's edge every year is Strymon's Delta, in Amfipolis. Unfortunately, it sustained a disastrous impact due to the construction of a petrochemical factor's erection, when the public opposition prevented the construction. However, it got damaged by the huge road works, that were constructed at the jundions in Nea Egnatia Motorway.
Strymon (Strumon, Ptol. iii. 13. § 18), the largest river of Macedonia, after the Axius, and, before the time of Philip, the ancient boundary of that country towards the E. It rises in Mount Scomius near Pantalia (the present Gustendil) (Thuc. ii. 96), and, taking first an E. and then a SE. course, flows through the whole of Macedonia. It then enters the lake of Prasias, or Cercinitis, and shortly after its exit from it, near the town of Amphipolis, falls into the Strymonic gulf. Pliny, with less correctness, places its sources in the Haemus (iv. 10. s. 12). The importance of the Strymon is rather magnified in the ancient accounts of it, from the circumstance of Amphipolis being seated near its mouth; and it is navigable only a few miles from that town. Apollodorus (ii. 5. 10) has a legend that Hercules rendered the upper course of the river shallow by casting stones into it, it having been previously navigable much farther. Its banks were much frequented by cranes (Juv. xiii. 167; Virg. Aen. x. 269; Mart. ix. 308). The Strymon is frequently alluded to in the classics. (Comp. Hesiod. Theog. 339; Aesch. Suppl. 258, Agam. 192; Herod. vii. 75; Thuc. i. 200; Strab. vii. p. 323; Mela. ii. 2; Liv. xliv. 44. &c. Its present name is Struma, but the Turks call it Karasu. (Comp. Leake, North. Gr. iii. pp. 225, 465, &c.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Laeaei (Laiaioi), a Paeonian tribe in Macedonia, included within the dominion
of Sitalces, probably situated to the E. of the Strymon. (Thuc. ii. 96.)
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