Notus

{{short description|South wind god in Greek mythology}} {{other uses}} {{Infobox deity | type = Greek | image = File:Αέρηδες - Νότος 6558.jpg | caption = Notus on the relief of the Tower of the Winds, Athens, Greece. | god_of = God of the South Wind | name = Notus | abode = Sky | script_name = Greek | script = {{lang|grc|Νότος}} | parents = Eos and Astraeus | siblings = Winds (Boreas, Eurus, and Zephyrus), Eosphorus, the Stars, Memnon, Emathion, Astraea }}

In Greek mythology and religion, '''Notus''' ({{langx|grc|Νότος|Nótos|south}}) is the god of the south wind and one of the Anemoi (wind-gods), sons of the dawn goddess Eos and the star-god Astraeus. A desiccating wind of heat, Notus was associated with the storms of late summer and early autumn, wetness, mist, and was seen as a rain-bringer. Unlike his two more notable brothers, Boreas (the god of the north wind) and Zephyrus (the god of the west wind), Notus has little to no unique mythology of his own.

== Etymology == The Greek noun {{lang|grc|νότος}} refers both to the south cardinal direction and the south wind that blows from it.{{sfn|Liddell|Scott|1940|loc=s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=no/tos νότος]}} Its ultimate etymology remains unknown, although a pre-Greek origin seems to be the most likely origin.{{sfn|Beekes|2010|loc=s.v.[https://archive.org/details/etymological-dictionary-of-greek/page/1025/mode/2up?view=theater Νότος]}}

== Family == In Hesiod's ''Theogony'', Notus is the son of Eos, the goddess of the dawn, and Astraeus, her husband. He is the sibling of the other winds, who Hesiod lists as Zephyrus and Boreas.<ref>Hesiod, ''Theogony'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D371 378]. Similarly, see also: Hyginus [https://topostext.org/work/206#0.2 Preface]; Apollodorus [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.2.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 1.2.3]; Nonnus, ''Dionysiaca'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca01nonnuoft/page/216/mode/2up?view=theater 6.28]</ref> Thus, he is brother to the stars and the justice goddess Astraea, and half-brother to the mortals Memnon and Emathion, sons of his mother Eos by the Trojan prince Tithonus. Notus has no known consorts, lovers or offspring.

The ancient Greeks distinguished the three types of wind blowing from the south; the first was notos (the one Notus mostly represents) which blew from various directions in winter and was seen as the rain-bringer that obscured visibility, the second was leukonotos ("white notus") which was milder and cleared up the sky, and the third was the hot bringer of dust, identified with sirocco.<ref>{{cite journal | website = referenceworks-brillonline-com/subjects | url = https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/notus-e825330?s | doi = 10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e825330 | date = 2006 | access-date = April 17, 2023 | last1 = Hünemörder | first1 = Christian | location = Hamburg, Kiel | last2 = Käppel | first2 = Lutz | title = Notus | editor-first1 = Hubert | editor-last1 = Cancik | editor-first2 = Helmuth | editor-last2 = Schneider | translator = Christine F. Salazar| url-access = subscription }}</ref>

== Mythology == thumb|left|Byzantine fresco depicting Notus.

Notus is one of the three wind-gods mentioned by Hesiod, alongside his brothers Boreas and Zephyrus,{{sfn|Kerenyi|1951|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.7346/page/n231/mode/2up?view=theater 205]}} the three wind gods seen as beneficial by the ancient Greeks.<ref>{{cite journal | url = https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/zephyrus-e12216400 | doi = 10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e12216400 | website = referenceworks-brillonline-com/subjects | last = Rausch | first = Sven | location = Hamburg | title = Zephyrus | date = 2006 | editor-first1 = Hubert | editor-last1 = Cancik | editor-first2 = Helmuth | editor-last2 = Schneider | translator = Christine F. Salazar | access-date = April 13, 2023| url-access = subscription }}</ref> Unlike his two more prominent brothers however, Notus has very little mythology, and mostly appears in conjugation with his brothers, with too few unique appearances to differentiate him from the rest.{{sfn|Grimal|1987|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/page/311/mode/2up?view=theater 312]}} In his few appearances in mythology, Notus is usually paired with his full brother Eurus, the god and personification of the east wind.

In his preparation for the Great Deluge, Zeus locked up Boreas and the other cloud-blowing gales, and let Notus free, to rain upon the earth, who let it pour all over the globe, drowning almost everyone.<ref>Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0074%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D253 1.262]</ref>

thumb|Statue of Notus.

In the ''Odyssey'' the winds seem to dwell on the island of Aeolia, as Zeus has made Aeolus keeper of the winds.{{sfn|Myrsiades|2019|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2bcDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT104 104]}} Aeolus receives Odysseus and his crew, and keeps them as guests for a month.<ref>Homer, ''Odyssey'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D10%3Acard%3D1 1-45]</ref> As they part, Aeolus gives Odysseus a bag containing all the winds, except for Zephyrus; although warned not to open the bag, Odysseus's crewmates however foolishly open the bag, thinking it to contain some treasure, and set free Notus along with all the other winds as well, who then blow the ships back to Aeolia.{{sfn|Myrsiades|2019|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2bcDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT104 104]}} Much later, he and Eurus strand Odysseus on Thrinacia, the island of the sun-god Helios, for an entire month.{{sfn|Gantz|1996|page=[https://archive.org/details/early-greek-myth-a-guide-timothy-gantz/page/704/mode/2up?view=theater 705]}}

In the ''Dionysiaca'' meanwhile, he and his brothers live with their father Astraeus; Notus serves water from a jug when Demeter pays a visit.<ref>Nonnus, ''Dionysiaca'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca01nonnuoft/page/216/mode/2up?view=theater 6.28]</ref> In the ''Iliad'', Notus dined together with his brothers in a far away land as Iris visited to summon Boreas and Zephyrus.<ref>Homer, the ''Iliad'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D23%3Acard%3D192 23.192-225]</ref>{{sfn|Hard|2004|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA48 48]}}

In one of his few defining appearances, Notus features in two of the ''Dialogues of the Sea Gods'', a satirical work by Lucian of Samosata. In the first, he and Zephyrus discuss the woes of the Argive princess Io at the hands of Zeus and Hera,<ref>Lucian, ''Dialogues of the Sea Gods'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:dialogues-of-the-sea-gods#vii 7: South Wind and West Wind I]</ref> while in the second Zephyrus enthusiastically describes the marvellous scene of the abduction of Europa by the bull, while Notus admits in disappointment having seen nothing of note.<ref>Lucian, ''Dialogues of the Sea Gods'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:dialogues-of-the-sea-gods#xv 15: South Wind and West Wind II]</ref>

== Iconography == Notus appears rarely in ancient Greek or Roman art. In the Pergamon Altar, which depicts the battle of the gods against the Giants, Notus and the other three wind gods are shown as horse-shaped deities who pull Hera's chariot;<ref>''LIMC'' [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-73ac4ebff2462-9 617 (Venti)]</ref><ref>{{cite book | first = Max | last = Kunze | title = Der grosse Marmoraltar von Pergamon | trans-title = The Large Marble Altar of Pergamon | publisher = Staatliche Museem zu Berlin | language = German | location = Berlin | date = 1988 | pages = 23–24}}</ref> their equine form is also found in Quintus Smyrnaeus's works, where they pull Zeus instead.<ref>Quintus Smyrnaeus, ''Fall of Troy'' [https://archive.org/details/falloftroy00quin/page/500/mode/2up?view=theater 12.189]</ref> In the Tower of the Winds, a Roman-era octagonal clock tower in Athens, Notus is depicted in middle relief as a beardless young man emptying a water-filled pointed amphora, symbolizing rain.<ref>''LIMC'' [https://weblimc.org/page/monument/2071045 363]</ref>

== Auster == For the Romans, Notus was identified with the god Auster ("south"),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=William |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Classical_Dictionary_of_Greek_and_Roma/Srp1GnpRywAC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=A Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography |date=1889 |publisher=J. Murray |pages=112 |language=en}}</ref> closely associated with the sirocco wind. Like Notus himself, Auster has no big role in mythology. The name, Auster, means south and is the root of words such as Australia, literally "south land."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Agency |first=Central Intelligence |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_CIA_World_Factbook_2025_2026/RtQnEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=australia+etymology&pg=PT292&printsec=frontcover |title=The CIA World Factbook 2025-2026 |date=2025-05-13 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-5107-8209-9 |language=en}}</ref>

== Genealogy == {{chart top|Notus's family tree<ref>Hesiod, ''Theogony'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+132 132–138], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+337 337–411], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+453 453–520], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+901 901–906, 915–920]; Caldwell, pp. 8–11, tables 11–14.</ref>|collapsed=no}} {{tree chart/start}} {{tree chart|}} {{tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |URA |y|GAI |~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|y|PON|URA=Uranus|GAI=Gaia|PON=Pontus}} {{tree chart|,|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|.| | | |!}} {{tree chart|!|OCE |y|TET | | | |HYP |y|THE | | | | |CRI |y|EUR|OCE=Oceanus|TET=Tethys|HYP=Hyperion|THE=Theia|CRI=Crius|EUR=Eurybia}} {{tree chart|!| |,|-|^|-|.| | | |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.| | | |,|-|-|^|v|-|-|-|.}} {{tree chart|!|RIV | |OCE | |HEL | |SEL | |EOS |y |AST | |PAL | |PER |RIV=The Rivers|OCE=The Oceanids|HEL=Helios|SEL=Selene<ref>Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in Hesiod, ''Theogony'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+371 371–374], in the ''Homeric Hymn to Hermes'' (4), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=HH+4+99&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138 99–100], Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.</ref>|EOS=Eos|AST=Astraeus|PAL=Pallas|PER=Perses}} {{tree chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.}} {{tree chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |NOT | |ASR | |PLA |NOT='''NOTUS''' Anemoi|ASR=Astraea<ref>Astraea is not mentioned by Hesiod, instead she is given as a daughter of Eos and Astraeus in Hyginus ''Astronomica'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.25.1 2.25.1].</ref>|PLA=Stars}} {{tree chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}} {{tree chart|)|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.| | | |}} {{tree chart|!| | | | |CRO |y|RHE | | | | | | | |COE |y|PHO | | |COE=Coeus|PHO=Phoebe|CRO=Cronus|RHE=Rhea}} {{tree chart|!| |,|-|v|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|v|-|.| | | | | |,|-|^|-|.| | | }} {{tree chart|!|HES |!|HER | |HAD |!|ZEU | | | |LET | |AST | |HES=Hestia|HER=Hera|HAD=Hades|ZEU=Zeus|LET=Leto|AST=Asteria}} {{tree chart|!| | | |!| | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}} {{tree chart|!| | |DEM | | | | | |POS | | | | | | | | | | | | | |DEM=Demeter|POS=Poseidon}} {{tree chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}} {{tree chart|`|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|.}} {{tree chart| | | | |IAP |y|CLY | | | | | |MNE |~|y|~|ZEU |~|y|~|THE |IAP=Iapetus|CLY=Clymene (or Asia)<ref>According to Hesiod, ''Theogony'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+507 507–511], Clymene, one of the Oceanids, the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, at Hesiod, ''Theogony'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+351 351], was the mother by Iapetus of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus, while according to Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D3 1.2.3], another Oceanid, Asia was their mother by Iapetus.</ref>|MNE=Mnemosyne|ZEU=(Zeus)|THE=Themis}} {{tree chart| |,|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|.| | | | | | |!| | | | | |!}} {{tree chart|ATL | |MEN | |PRO | |EPI | | | | |MUS | | | |HOR |ATL=Atlas<ref>According to Plato, ''Critias'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg032.perseus-eng1:113d 113d–114a], Atlas was the son of Poseidon and the mortal Cleito.</ref>|MEN=Menoetius|PRO=Prometheus<ref>In Aeschylus, ''Prometheus Bound'' 18, 211, 873 (Sommerstein, pp. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.445.xml 444–445 n. 2], [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.467.xml 446–447 n. 24], [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.539.xml 538–539 n. 113]) Prometheus is made to be the son of Themis.</ref>|EPI=Epimetheus|MUS=The Muses|HOR=The Horae}} {{tree chart/end}} {{chart bottom}}

== See also == {{portal|Ancient Greece|Ancient Rome|Mythology}}

* Bacab * Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór * Norðri, Suðri, Austri and Vestri * Vayu * List of wind deities

== References == {{reflist}}

== Bibliography == {{refbegin|30em}} * Apollodorus, ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=C431BA809CA4DEA22A15DA9C666F3400?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0022%3atext%3dLibrary Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * {{cite book | author-link = Robert S. P. Beekes | last = Beekes | first = Robert S. P. | title = Etymological Dictionary of Greek | location = Leiden, the Netherlands | publisher = Brill Publications | date = 2010 | volume = 2 | isbn = 978-90-04-17419-1 | series = Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series | editor = Lucien van Beek | url = https://archive.org/details/etymological-dictionary-of-greek}} * {{cite book | url = https://archive.org/details/early-greek-myth-a-guide-timothy-gantz/ | author-link = Timothy Gantz | last = Gantz | first = Timothy | year = 1996 | title = Early Greek Myth: A guide to literary and artistic sources | location = Baltimore, MD | publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press | postscript = ;}} in two volumes: (Vol. 1) {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5360-9}}; (Vol. 2) {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5362-3}}. * {{cite book | author-link = Pierre Grimal | last = Grimal | first = Pierre | title = The Dictionary of Classical Mythology | date = 1987 | publisher = Wiley-Blackwell | isbn = 0-631-13209-0 | url = https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/mode/2up?view=theater | location = New York, USA | translator = A. R. Maxwell-Hyslop}} * {{cite book | last = Hard | first = Robin | title = The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology" | publisher = Psychology Press | date = 2004 | isbn = 9780415186360 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC}} * Hesiod, ''Theogony'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * Homer, ''The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes''. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * Homer; ''The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * {{cite book | title = The Gods of the Greeks | date = 1951 | publisher = Thames and Hudson | location = London, UK | author-link = Károly Kerényi | first = Karl | last = Kerenyi | url = https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.7346/mode/2up?view=theater}} * {{cite book | last = Kunze | first = Max | title = Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) | volume = VII.1. | publisher = Artemis Verlag | location = Zürich and Munich | date = 1994 | isbn = 3-7608-8751-1}} * {{cite book | first1 = Henry George | last1 = Liddell | first2 = Robert | last2 = Scott | title = A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie | location = Oxford | publisher = Clarendon Press | date = 1940 | author1-link = Henry Liddell | author2-link = Robert Scott (philologist)}} [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057 Online version at Perseus.tufts project.] * Lucian, ''The Works of Lucian of Samosata'', translated by H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1905. * {{cite book | title = Reading Homer's Odyssey | first = Kostas | last = Myrsiades | publisher = Bucknell University Press | date = April 5, 2019 | isbn = 9781684481361 | location = Pennsylvania, USA | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2bcDwAAQBAJ}} * Nonnus, ''Dionysiaca''; translated by Rouse, W H D, III Books XXXVI-XLVIII. Loeb Classical Library No. 346, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca03nonnuoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive]. * Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'', translated by Arthur Golding. London. W. Seres. 1567. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0074%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online text at Perseus.tufts project]. * Quintus Smyrnaeus, ''Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall of Troy'', translated by A.S. Way, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1913. [https://archive.org/stream/falloftroy00quin#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive]. {{refend}}

== External links == {{commons category|Notus}} * [https://www.theoi.com/Titan/AnemosNotos.html NOTUS from the Theoi Project]

Category:Anemoi Category:Thunder gods Category:Summer deities Category:Rain deities