So. On old maps (and parodies of them), there is often a picture of a long-haired, bearded head that has its lips puckered to blow air. A Greek thing, maybe? Any info on that, its name, its origins…or where I can find a pic of one online (it’s an inside joke, heh)?
I think it originated as a representation of Æolus, god of the winds.
On some old maps you can see four of these figures, representing the proverbial “four winds,” one from each of the cardinal points.
I assume we’re talking about something like this?
Or this picture. It’s on an Aeolian harp (an instrument sounded by wind blowing across the strings).
[sub]fixed coding - DrMatrix[/sub]
Jomo Mojo
this picture
Deserves a caption: “Shields have failed, Captain. Zardoz has a tractor beam locked on us”.
I don’t think that Aeolus was a wind himself, but he WAS their boss. He was Poseidon’s son. and lived on an island. Ulysses dropped in, trying to get back home to Penny, and Aeolus gave him a bag-full-o’-wind and told him, “Whatever you do, don’t let ANYONE open the bag until you get home. Got that?”
Did Ulysses’ men listen?
Don’t be silly.
So they all got blown back to Aeolus’ island. and he was so miffed that this time he slammed the door in their faces.
But about those cloudy puffy wind-blowing faces. There are four of them, and their names are:
BOREAS, the North Wind: Chilly in manner and quick to temper. Tries to kidnap nubile maidens, with varying degrees of success. You can see him in the right-hand margin of Botticelli’s painting PRIMAVERA, trying to cop a feel off a nymph.
EURUS, the East Wind. The Greeks believed that the East Wind was an evil omen, so Eurus is the ill Wind that . . .
No, I won’t say it.
NOTUS, the South Wind. Usually travels with fog-spirits (at least in Greece), and therefore is the friend of thieves and burglars.
ZEPHYRUS, the West Wind. Warm and freindly and laid-back. Everybody’s pal. I picture him looking a lot like Norm on CHEERS.
Anyone ever see an old-fashioned wind-vane with the letters B, E, N, and Z instead of N, E, S, and W? I think they’re most common in Europe. In the Observatory in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, the compass around the Foucault pendulum-pit says B, E, N, Z too.
Snug, thanks for the info in your post. That was fascinating! I never knew any of that.
[Insert obligatory Rush Limbaugh joke here…]