Classical compass winds
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Classical compass winds refers to the naming and association of wind
s in Mediterranean classical antiquity
(Ancient Greece
and Rome
) with the points of geographic direction and orientation. Ancient wind rose
s typically had twelve winds and thus twelve points of orientation – sometimes reduced to eight or increased to twenty-four.
Originally conceived as a branch of meteorology
, the classical wind rose had only a tentative relationship with actual navigation
. The Classical 12-point wind rose was eventually displaced by the modern compass rose
(8-point, 16-point and 32-point), adopted by seafarers during the Middle Ages
.
s. It is probable that for ancient settled populations, local physical landmarks (e.g. mountains, deserts, settlements) were the initial and most immediate markers of general direction ("towards the coast", "towards the hills", "towards the lands of Xanadu", etc.). Astral phenomena, in particular the position of the sun
at dawn and dusk, were also used to denote direction.
The association of geographic direction with wind
was another source. It was probably farming populations, attentive to rain and temperature for their crops, that noticed the qualitative differences in winds – some were humid, others dry, some hot, others cold – and that these qualities depended on where the wind was blowing from. Local directional names were used to refer to the winds, eventually giving the wind itself a proper name
, irrespective of the observer's position. This was likely furthered by sailors who, far from landmarks at sea, nonetheless recognized a particular wind by its qualities and referred to it by a familiar name. The final step, completing the circle, was to use the winds' proper names of the winds to denote general cardinal directions of the compass rose
. This would take a little longer to work itself through.
, there is frequent reference to four cardinal directions. The names of the directions seem to be associated with physical landmarks for the ancient Israelites living in the region of Judea
, e.g. East
is referred to as kedem, which derives from "edom" ("red"), and may be a reference to the color of the rising dawn
, or the red sandstone cliffs of the Land of Edom
to the east; North
is referred to as saphon, from Mount Zaphon
on the northern edge of Syria, South
is often negev, from the Negev
desert to the south, and West
is yam ("sea", meaning the Mediterranean Sea
). Orientation seems to be to the East, in the direction of the rising sun, with the result that the terms kedem, saphon and negev became generalized with "facing", "left" and "right" side of anything.
The association of cardinal directions with winds is implied at several places in the Old Testament. "Four winds" are referred to in the Bible in several places. Kedem (East) is used frequently as the name of a scorching wind that blows from the east. There are several passages referring to the scattering of people "to all the winds".
Astral phenomena
were used to define four cardinal points
: arctos (ἄρκtος, "bear", the Ursa Major
, for North), anatole (ὰνατολή, "sunrise" or eous "dawn", East), mesembria (μεσημβρία, "noon", South) and dusis (δύσις, "sunset" or hesperus, "evening", West). Heraclitus
, in particular, suggests that a meridian
drawn between the north (arctos) and its opposite could be used to divide East from West. Homer
already spoke of Greeks sailing with the Ursa Major
(or "Wagon") for orientation. The identification of the Pole Star
(in the Ursa Minor
) as the better indicator of the North seems to have emerged a little later (it is said Thales
introduced this, probably learned from Phoenicia
n seafarers).
Distinct from these cardinal points, the ancient Greeks had four wind
s (Anemoi
). It is alleged that the peoples of early Greece
only conceived of two winds – the winds from the north, known as Boreas (βoρέας), and the winds from the south, known as Notos (νόtος). But two more winds – Eurus (εΰρος) from the east and Zephyrus (ζέφυρος) from the west – were added soon enough.
The etymology of the names of the four archaic Greek winds is uncertain. Among tentative propositions is that Boreas might come from "boros", an old variant of "oros" (Greek
for "mountains", which were to the north geographically). An alternative hypothesis is that it may come from "boros" meaning "voracious". Another is that it comes from the phrase ὰπὸ της βoης ("from the roar"), a reference to its violent and loud noise. Notos probably comes from "notios" ("moist", a reference to the warm rains and storms brought from the south). Eurus and Zephyrus seem to come from "brightness" (q.v.Eos
) and "gloominess" ("zophos") respectively, doubtlessly a reference to sunrise
and sunset
.
(c.800 BCE) refers to the four winds by name – Boreas, Eurus, Notos, Zephyrus – in his Odyssey
, and in the Iliad
. However, at some points, Homer seems to imply two more – a northwest wind and a southwest wind. Some have taken this to imply that Homer may have had as many as eight winds. However, others remain unconvinced, and insist Homer only had a four-wind rose.
Writing several centuries later, Strabo
(c.10 BC) notes that some contemporaries took Homer's ambiguity to imply that the Homeric system may already anticipate the summer and winter distinction later made famous by Aristotle
. This refers to the fact that the "east" (sunrise) and "west" (sunset) are not stable on the horizon, but depend on the season, i.e. during the winter, the sun rises and sets a little further south than in the summer, Consequently, the Homeric system may have had six winds – Boreas (N) and Notos (S) on the meridian axis, and the other four on diagonals: Zephyrus (NW), Eurus (NE), Apeliotes (SE) and Argestes (SW).
Strabo, quoting Posidonius
notes that Homer sometimes used epithets of qualitative attributes to append ordinal directions to the cardinal winds, e.g. as western winds bring rain, then when Homer says a "stormy Boreas" he means a different wind from a "loud Boreas" (i.e. wet north = NW, loud north = N) Nonetheless, while it seems that Homer may have realized that there were more than four winds, he did not use those epithets systematically enough to permit us to conclude that he also embraced a six- or eight-point windrose. Other classical writers, e.g. Pliny the Elder
, are adamant that Homer mentioned only four winds.
Hesiod
(c.700 BCE) in his Theogony (c.735) gives the four winds mythical personification as gods, the Anemoi
(Ἄνεμοι), the children of the Titan
gods Astraeus
(stars) and Eos
(dawn). But Hesiod himself refers to only three winds by name – Boreas, Notos and Zephyros – which he called the "good winds" and the "children of the morning" (engendering a little confusion, as it might be read as they were all easterly winds – although curious that Eurus is not among them). Hesiod refers to other "bad winds", but not by name.
The Greek physician Hippocrates
(c.400 BCE), in his On Airs, Water and Places, refers to four winds, but designates them not by their Homeric names, but rather from the cardinal direction from which they blow (arctos, anatole, dusis, etc.) He does, however, recognize six geographic points - north, south and the summer and winter risings and settings - using the latter to set the boundaries for the four general winds.
, in his Meteorology
(c.340 BCE), introduced a ten-to-twelve wind system. One reading of his system is that there are eight principal winds: Aparctias (N), Caecias (NE), Apeliotes (E), Eurus (SE), Notos (S), Lips (SW), Zephyrus (W) and Argestes (NW). Aristotle then goes on to add two half-winds, Thrascias (NNW) and Meses (NNE), noting that they "have no contraries". Later, however, Aristotle suggests the Phoenicias wind for the SSE (blows locally in some places), but suggests nothing for SSW. So, seen this way, Aristotle really has an asymmetric windrose of ten winds, as two winds are effectively missing or only local.
Notice that in the Aristotelean system, old Eurus is shunted from its traditional position in the cardinal East by Apeliotes (ὰπηλιώτης), meaning "from the Sun" or from "the heat of the Sun". Old Boreas is mentioned only as an alternative name to Aparctias (ὰπαρκτίας), which means "from the Bear", that is, the Ursa Major
, the Arctic circle
. Among the new winds are the Argestes (ὰργέστης) meaning "clearing" or "brightening", a reference to the northwest wind sweeping away clouds. Argestes's variants, Olympias (όλυμπίας) and Sciron (σκίρων) are local Athenian
names, a reference to Mount Olympus
and the Sciros rocks in Megara
. The remaining winds also seem to be geographical. Caecias (καικίας) means from Caicus, a river in Mysia
, a region northeast of the Aegean. Lips (λίψ) means "from Libya
", to the southwest of Greece (although an alternative theory connects it to "leibo", λείβω, same root as libation
, meaning pouring, because this wind brought rain). Phoenicias (φοινικίας) comes "from Phoenicia
" (to the southeast of Greece) and Thrascias (θρασκίας) from Thrace
(in Aristotle's day, Thrace covered a larger area than today, including the north-northwest of Greece). Finally, Meses (μέσης) might simply mean "middle", presumably because it was a half-wind.
The implication of reading Thrascias and Meses as half-winds, and the others as principal winds, is that this implies Aristotle's construction is asymmetric. Specifically, the half-winds would be at 22½° on either side of the North, while the principal eight would be at 45° angles from each other. However, an alternative hypothesis is that they will be more equally spaced around 30° from each other. By way of guidance, Aristotle mentions that the easterly and westerly positions are that of the sun
as seen on the horizon at dawn and at dusk at different times of the year. Using his alphabetical notation, Aristotle notes that during the summer solstice
the sun rises at Z (Caecis) and sets at E (Argestes); during the equinox
, it rises at B (Apeliotes) and sets at A (Zephyrus), and finally during the winter solstice
it rises at Δ (Eurus) and sets at Γ (Lips). So drawn on a compass rose, Aristotle's explanation yields four parallels:
Assuming the viewer is centered at Athens
, it has been calculated that this construction would yield a symmetric compass rose with approximately 30° angles all around.
If set out on a compass card, Aristotle's system could be conceived of as a twelve-wind rose with four cardinal winds (N, E, S, W), four "solsticial winds" (loosely speaking, NW, NE, SE, SW), two "polar winds" (roughly NNW, NNE) and two "non-winds" (SSW, SSE).
Aristotle explicitly groups Aparctias (N) and the half-winds Thrascias (NNW) and Meses (NNE) together as "north winds" and Argestes (NW) and Zephyrus (W) together as "west winds" — but he goes on to note that both the north and west winds could be classified as "generally northerly" (Boreae), since they all tend to be cold. Similarly Lips (SW) and Notos (S) are "south winds" and Eurus (SE) and Apeliotes (E) are "east winds", but once again, both south and east winds are "generally southerly" (Notiae) because are all relatively warm (Aristotle reasons that as the sun rises in the east, then it heats east winds longer than west winds). With this general classification, Aristotle manages to account for the archaic Greek two-wind system.
The exception to this system is Caecias (NE), which Aristotle notes is "half north and half east", and thus neither generally northern nor generally southern. The local Phoenicias (SSE), is also designated as "half south and half east".
Aristotle goes on to discuss the meteorological properties of the winds, e.g. that the winds on the NW-SE axis are generally dry, while the NE-SW winds are wet (NE producing heavier clouds than SW). N and NNE bring snow. Winds from the whole northwestern sector (NW, NNW, N) are described as cold, strong, cloud-clearing winds that can bring lightning and hurricanes with them. Aristotle also makes special note of the periodic bending summer Etesian
winds, which comes from different directions depending on where the observer lives.
Aristotle had aggrandized the wind system beyond Homer to ten winds, but he left it unbalanced. It would be left to subsequent geographers to either add two more winds (to SSW and SSE) to make it into a symmetric 12-wind compass (as Timosthenes
would do), or subtract two winds (NNW and NNE) to make it into a symmetric 8-wind compass (as Eratosthenes
would do).
of Eresos, Aristotle's successor in the Peripatetic school, in his On Weather Signs and "On Winds" (c.300 BCE), adopted the same wind system as Aristotle, with only some slight differences, e.g. Theophrastus misspelled Thrascias as "Thracias" and seemed to distinguish between Apractias and Boreas (perhaps as "North by west" and "North" wind respectively).
In the pseudo-Aristotelean
fragment Ventorum Situs
(often attributed to Theophrastus
), there is an attempt to derive the etymology
of the winds. As they are often named after a particular locality from where they seem to blow, different places in the Hellenistic world have come up with variant local names for the winds. In the list given in the Ventorum Situs:
(c.250 CE), in his Geographia, gives the eight principal winds. But Agathemerus goes on to note that nearly five hundred years earlier, the navigator Timosthenes
of Rhodes
(c.282 BCE) had developed a system of 12 winds by adding four winds to the eight. (Agathemerus is, of course, incorrect – Aristotle had at least ten winds, not eight).
Timosthenes's list (according to Agathemerus) was Aparctias (N), Boreas (not Meses, NNE), Caecias (NE), Apeliotes (E), Eurus (SE), "Phoenicias is also called Euronotos" (SSE), Notos (S), "Leuconotos alias Libonotos" (first mention, SSW), Lips (SW), Zephyrus (W), Argestes (NW) and "Thrascias alias Circius" (NNW).
In many ways, Timosthenes marks a significant step in the evolution of the compass rose. Depending on how Ventorum Situs is dated, Timosthenes can be credited with turning Aristotle's asymmetric ten-wind compass into to a symmetric twelve-wind compass, by introducing the SSW wind (Leuconotos/Libonotos) omitted by Aristotle and Theophrastus and assigning the compound "Euronotos" (already alluded to by Aristotle, no mention of Theophrastus's Orthonotos here) in place of the local Phoenicias (SSE). His highlighting of the Italian "Circius" as a major variant of Thrascias (NNW) could be the first indication of the notorious Mistral
wind of the west Mediterranean. Another major change in Timoesthenes is that he shunts Boreas out of the North position and into NNE (replacing Meses) – which will become customary in later authors.
Timosthenes is also significant for being perhaps the first Greek to go beyond treating these "winds" merely as meteorological phenomena and to begin viewing them properly as points of geographic direction. Timosthenes (through Agathemerus) assigns each of the 12 winds to geographical locations and peoples (relative to Rhodes
):
Modern scholars to conjecture that Timosthenes, in his lost periplus
, might have made ample use of these winds for sailing directions (which may help explain Agathemerus's eagerness to credit Timosthenes for "inventing" the twelve winds).
(Timosthenes's geographic list above is reproduced almost verbatim centuries later, in the 8th C. work of John of Damascus
and a Prague manuscript from the early 1300s.)
The pseudo-Aristotelean work De Mundo (normally attributed to a anonymous copier of Posidonius
, probably written between 50 BCE and 140 CE), the winds are named practically identically to Timosthenes (e.g. Aparctias alone in the North, Boreas shunted to NNE, Euronotus instead of Phoenicias, Circius as alternate of Thrascias). The differences of De Mundo from Timosthenes are that (1) it introduces Libophoenix as another name for Libonotos (Leuconotos not mentioned); (2) two alternates to Argestes are mentioned – Iapyx (as in the Ventorum) and Olympias (as in Aristotle) (Timosthenes mentions no variants for this wind), (3) like Aristotle, De Mundo refers to a collective of north winds, the Boreae.
of Cyrene (c.200 BCE), realizing that many winds presented only slight variations, reduced twelve winds down to eight principal winds. Eratosthenes's own work has been lost, but the story is reported by Vitruvius
, who goes on to say Eratosthenes came to this conclusion in the course of measuring the circumference of the earth, and felt there were really only eight equally sized sectors, and that other winds were but local variations of these eight principal winds. If true, that would make Eratosthenes the inventor of the eight-wind compass rose
.
It is worth nothing that Eratosthenes was a disciple of Timosthenes and is said to have drawn principally from his work. But it is interesting to note how they part ways on this. Both recognized that Aristotle's ten-wind rose was unbalanced, but while Timosthenes restored balance by adding two winds to make it a symmetric twelve, Eratosthenes deducted two wind to make it a symmetric eight.
It seems that, in practical appeal, Eratosthenes's reduction may have won the day. The famous "Tower of the Winds
" in Athens
exhibits only eight winds rather than the ten of Aristotle or the twelve of Timosthenes. The tower is said to have been built by Andronicus of Cyrrhus
(c. 50 BCE) but is commonly dated anytime after 200 BCE (that is, after Eratosthenes). It gives as its eight winds Boreas (not Aparctias, N), Caecias (SE), Apeliotes (E), Eurus (SE), Notos (S), Lips (SW), Zephyrus (W) and Sciron (NW, variant of Argestes). Boreas' reappearance in the North slot in place of Aparctias is notable. The figures on the tower are represented figuratively as gods (Anemoi
). It is believed the tower was topped with a weather vane
.
, in his Georgics
(c.29 BCE) refers to several of the winds by their old Greek names (e.g. Zephyrus, Eurus, Boreas), and introduces a few new Latin names – notably, "black Auster", "cold Aquilo" and "frigid Caurus".
, in his Naturales quaestiones
(c.65 CE), mentions the Greek names of some of the major winds, and goes on to note that Roman scholar Varro
had said there were twelve winds. As given by Seneca, the Latin names of the twelve winds are:
(for the derivation of the Latin etymologies, see the section on Isidore of Seville below).
Oddly, Seneca says the meridian
line arises from Euronotus (SSW), not Auster (S), and that the "highest" point in the north is Aquilo (NNE), not Septentrio (N). This might imply an awareness of magnetic declination
, the difference between the magnetic north (compass
north, in this case Aquilo) and the true north
(Pole Star
, Septentrio).
in his Natural History (C.77 CE) after noting that twelve was an exaggeration, goes on to note that the "moderns" have reduced it to eight. He lists them as Septentrio (N), Aquilo (NNE), Subsolanus (E), Vulturnus (SE), Auster (S), Africus (SW), Favonius (W) and Corus (NW).
Notice that Caecias (NE) is not part of this octet. Instead, Pliny puts the half-wind Aquilo (NNE) there instead. It seems Pliny is aware Aquilo is a half-wind, because since he says it lies "in between Septentrio and the summer sunrise" (although in a later chapter he places it at the summer sunrise). If the first version is taken, this means Pliny's eight-wind compass is asymmetric. Pliny goes on to mention that Aquilo is also "named Aparctias and Boreas" (the Boreas identification with NNE is already in Timosthenes, but Aparctias's demotion from the N is novel).
When he goes on to discuss half-winds, Pliny re-introduces Caecis as lying "between Aquilo and Subsolanus", thus restoring it effectively to its NE position. Evidently reading Aristotle, Pliny tries to insert long-lost Meses again "between Boreas (= Aquilo) and Caecis", thus placing Meses in a position that (in a modern 32-point compass) would be called "Northeast by north". Confusing matters, in a later chapter, Pliny goes on to say that Aquilo, in the summer, turns into the Etesian
winds, the periodic wind already referred to by Aristotle. Pliny also mentions, for the other half-winds, Phoenicias (for SSE, not Euronotus), Libonotus (SSW), and Thrascias (NNW).
It is apparent Pliny had recently read Aristotle and sought to resurrect some of the abandoned Aristotelean names (Boreas/Aparctias, Meses, Etesian winds, Phoenicias, he even mentions Olympias and Sciron as local Greek winds), albeit they appear rather awkwardly when inserted into the contemporary 12-wind compass schema.
-raised Latin writer Aulus Gellius
, possibly inspired by the Tower of the Winds in that city, reduces the Latin rose to from twelve to eight winds, the principal winds, for which he gives both the Latin and Greek terms. He lists them as:
Among the novelties is the disappearance of Caecias (NE, like in Pliny), although he does make a later note that "Caecias" is mentioned in Aristotle (but does not give it a position). Aquilo/Boreas seem well-enthroned at NE. Another surprise is the re-emergence of Eurus in the East, where it has not been seen since Homer. He seems to treat Eurus as a Latin name, giving the Aristotelean Apeliotes as the Greek equivalent, and reducing Subsolanus to a mere variant "from Roman sailors". With Eurus now absent in the SE, Euronotus (previously SSE) is promoted to the vacant SE position. Finally, a new name, Caurus, is introduced as the NW wind. This is almost certainly a misspelling of Corus (NW).
Aulus Gellius gives some information about local winds. He mentions Circius as a local wind in Gaul
, known for its dizzying, circular motion, and notes its alternate spelling Cercius in Hispania
(probably a reference to the Mistral
) He also notes Iapyx (already mentioned, but first here explained as a local wind from Iapygia in Apulia
) and periodic regional Etesian
winds and the "Prodromi" (NW fore-winds, in Greek, πρόδρομοι).
(wind-vane) dating from the 2nd or 3rd Century CE, held by the Vatican Museums
. Divided into twelve equal sides, on each of its sides, it has inscribed the names of the classical winds, both in Greek and in Latin. The Vatican table lists them as follows:
There are several spelling mistakes, both in Greek (Aparkias, Apheliotes, Thrakias) and Latin (Chorus with an h, Solanus minus Sub). The principle error of the Vatican table is the misplacement of Vulturnus in NE rather than SE, with the result that the old Greek Eurus now resumes its place in Latin. This error will be repeated later. There is also a significant new Latin name, Austroafricus, in place of Libonotus, and Circius in place of Thrascias (although the latter was already anticipated by Timosthenes). The old "Iapyx" (of the Venturum Situs) also makes a comeback (in Greek).
set about compiling much of Classical knowledge in his Etymologiae
(c.620 CE). In the chapter on winds, Isidore provided a list practically identical to that of the marble Roman amenoscope held at the Vatican. Isidore also tried to supply the etymology of each of the terms:
, who flourished in the late 1st Century BCE, precedes all the Latin writers mentioned above: Seneca, Pliny, Aulus Gellius, etc. As such, his system of winds perhaps ought to be considered before the others. But Seneca quotes Varro
as the source of his 12-wind system, and Varro wrote before Vitruvius. Moreover, Vitruvius's system is sufficiently distinct and peculiar to defy comparison with the others, and merits treatment in a special category all its own.
Vitruvius, in his De architectura
(c.15 BCE), makes a rather approving mention of Eratosthenes
's reduction of the winds from twelve to eight principal winds. But Vitrivius then goes on to note there are many other winds, only slightly different from the core eight, which have been given a name of their own in the past. In a rather hurried fashion, Vitruvius relates an ample list of two variations on either side of the eight principal winds, which yield up a wind rose of 24 winds. Although the 24 winds might be easier to draw equally spaced at 15° from each other, they are easier to list using modern half- and quarter-wind notation. No insinuation about degrees should be read into either case (principal winds are in bold):
Many of the names in Vitruvius's list have appeared before elsewhere. Among the changes worth noting is the insertion of Gallicus (probably the Mistral
) and Supernas (probably a local Alps
lake breeze) in the very NE, nudging Aquilo (old NNE) to the NE (almost as in Pliny – perhaps the source of his confusion?). Old Boreas (now separate from Aquilo) is shunted further east – it has never been so far displaced from its ancient perch in the North. Caecias disappears from the NE altogether (although it appears on some enumerations of Vitruvius's list and will make a comeback with Seneca). Carbas, already noted as a Cyrene variant for the SE, is placed in the northeast quadrant. Latin Vulturnus is rightfully in the southeast, adjoining its Greek alternate Eurus. Greek Argestes is given here separately, adjoining Favonius in the west, albeit below its usual northwesterly quadrant. Leuconotos, previously a variant for Libonotus, is separated off and sent to the southeast quadrant (where Euronotos/Euroauster used to be, which seem to have disappeared altogether). There is nonetheless a similar-sounding Eurocircias nearby in the southeast, which might be the Biblical euroaquilo
.
Among other things worth noting, Solanus does not have its sub prefix and the wind Caurus (mentioned later by Aulus Gellius) is inserted between Corus and Circius (with old Thrascias given a separate position above that). Notice that Caurus and Corus are treated differently here, rather than one as just a misspelling of the other. Altanus is probably is a local reference to a seaborne breeze.
Vitruvius's 24-wind list does not seem to have impressed later Roman writers (Seneca, Pliny, etc.), who all went back to 12 or 8-wind systems. Vitruvius's treatment has a touch of carelessness. He does not bother assigning Latin-to-Greek equivalents, give variants or provide any descriptions of the winds. It seems as if he is merely making a long list of all the wind names he has heard, giving each their own separate position in a single system, regardless of duplication. The shifts of some old Greek winds (Boreas, Eurus, Argestes, Leuconotos) into non-traditional positions (sometimes even in the wrong quadrant), could reflect the relative positions of Greece and Italy – or could simply indicate that Vitruvius did not much care for this exercise, and assigned their names roughly just to get a nice symmetric system of two off-winds for every principal wind. One can almost detect a touch of mockery in his construction, almost as if to ridicule elaborate wind systems that try to push beyond the basic eight winds.
Although usually ignored, Vitruvius's list of 24 winds re-emerged occasionally. Vitruvius's list of winds was articulated again in Georgius Agricola's De Re Metallica (1556). (Per happenstance, 24-point compasses were used in celestial astronomy/astrology and in Chinese geography, but these are unrelated to Vitruvius.)
, preserved the 12-wind system for posterity.
chronicler Einhard
, in his Vita Karoli Magni
(c.830), claimed that Charlemagne
himself adopted the classical 12-wind system, replacing the Greek-Latin names with an entirely new set of Germanic names of his own invention. Einhard's lists Charlemagne's nomenclature as follows (giving their equivalence to the Latin names in St. Isidore's list):
It is interesting to note that Charlemagne's nomenclature resolves the half-wind dilemma (e.g. NNE vs. NE) by word order – Northeast and Eastnorth – giving neither a priority over the other (thus closer to NNE and ENE, with NE itself absent).
The Frankish suffix -roni means "running from" (similar to the modern English "-ern" in "Northern"). The etymology of Nord is uncertain (the suggestion from Sanskrit
nara, water, might imply "rainy quarter", but this is speculative); Ost means "place of shining" (dawn, from the same Proto-Indo-European
root that yielded the Greek Eos and Latin Auster), Sund, from "Sun-tha" meaning "the sunned place" and Vuest from Vues-tha meaning the "dwelling place" (as in, the place of rest at dusk, same root as Sanksrit vas, dwelling, and Latin vespera, evening)).
Charlemagne's nomenclature is clearly the source of the modern cardinal direction
s (North, East, South, West) as found in most west European languages, both Germanic (German, Dutch, English, etc.) as well as Romance ones (French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese).
translated Aristotle's Meteorology, and scholars like Ibn Sinna and Ibn Rushd provided commentaries on it and expanded on it for their own systems.
The 9th C. pseudo-Olympiodorus
's Commentary on Aristotle's Meteorology (translated by Hunayn ibn Ishaq
) gave the following Arabic names for the 12 Greek winds:
s in the early 1300s, originally in Genoa
, but soon in Venice
and Majorca too, are believed to be constructed on the basis of sailing directions long written down in the piloting handbooks (portolani) of Mediterranean seafarers. The directions, maps and nautical magnetic compass, which emerged almost simultaneously, were articulated in an eight-point compass system, with the following names:
From these eight principal winds, 16-wind roses could be constructed with half-winds (NNE, ENE, etc.) which merely combined the names of the principal winds (e.g. NNE would be Greco-Tramontana, ENE Greco-Levante, and so on). 32-wind roses, which were already present in the early 1300s charts, relied on placing quarter-winds in between (the names of the quarter-winds were also just combinations of names of the principal winds (see Boxing the compass
).
The eight compass winds are evidently from the Italian
-tinged lingua franca
in the Mediterranean Sea during the High and Late Middle Ages
Of the eight winds, only two can be traced to prior Classical winds – Ostra (S) from the Latin Auster, and Libeccio (SW) from the Greek Lips – but the others seem to be largely conceived autonomously.
Levante (rising, E) and Ponente (setting, W) are self-evidently related to the sun's position, but are etymologically quite different from the classical terms (which might refer to lightness, darkness or the sun itself, but none explicitly refer to the verbs rising or setting). Tramontana (N), Italianate for "over the mountains", most probably relates to the Alps
of northern Italy, has nothing to do with the classical Aparctias-Septentrio (although it may have a faint connection with the old Greek Boreas, which lingered in Venetian
parlance as the Bora
of the Adriatic Sea
). The Maestro is, as noted, the west Mediterranean Mistral
, a wind already given in the Latin rose as Circius, but the name here is novel.
Two Arabic words stand out: Scirocco (SE) from the Arabic al-Sharq
(east) and the variant Garbino (SW), from the Arabic al-Gharb (west) (both of which, incidentally, translate to rising and setting respectively). In addition, there is the puzzle of Greco (NE). As Greece lies to the southeast of Italy, this suggests strongly that the Greco wind was named in the south Mediterranean, most probably in 10th-11th C. Arab Sicily
(Byzantine-held Calabria and Apulia was to the northeast of Arab Sicily). A substantial part of sailing knowledge acquired by the Medieval Italian seafarers came not from their Roman ancestors, but rather from Arab seafarers via Arab-Norman Sicily.
While sailors probably could not care less about the source, scholars trained in the classics of Isidore and Aristotle, were not so easily won over. The classical 12-wind rose was still being taught in the academies well into the 15th C., e.g. in Pierre d'Ailly
's Ymago Mundo (using St. Isidore's version). Several scholastically-constructed mappa mundi
inserted the classical 12-winds. Among these, are the 8th C. Beatus of Liébana
mappa mundi, the 10th C. Reichenau T-O map, the 12th C. Henry of Mainz mappa mundi (c.1110), the 13th C. Ebstorf map
, and the 14th C. Ranulf Higden world map. Many mariners' portolan chart
s tipped their hat to classical and clerical authority by inserting indicators of the 12 classical winds on their nautical charts – not, of course, on a compass rose
, but rather cartgographers might inscribe the names or initials of the classical winds on small colored disks or coins, scattering them along the edges of the map, well out of the way.
As early as 1250, the English scholastic Matthew Paris
, in his Liber Accidentalist, attempted to reconcile the classical 12 winds he was taught with the "new" Mediterranean wind rose. In one effort, Matthew Paris assigned the 12 classical names to N, E, S, W and the half-winds (NNE, ENE, ESE, etc.), leaving the principal diagonals NE, SE, SW and NW vacant. Thus Septentrio to N, Aquilo to NNE, Vulturnus to ENE, Subsolanus to E, Eurus to ESE, Euroauster to SSE, Auster to S, and so on. (Indeed, this assignment is frequently used by many authors (but not this article) to explain the classical 12-wind system in modern terms). In a second effort, he decided to conjure up 16 classical-sounding names for all 16 winds of the mariner's rose. In his construction (noted on a scribbled corner), he seemed to contemplate the following:
But Paris did not go beyond jotting these names down on a corner of the manuscript.
In a note in his 1558 atlas, the Portuguese
cartographer Diogo Homem
made one final attempt to reconcile the classical twelve with the mariner's eight by assigning 8 of the 12 to the principal winds of the compass, and the remaining four to the half-winds NNW, NNE, SSE and SSW. In Homem's assignment:
Homem's assignment of the 12 classical names to the modern compass happens correspond exactly to the assignment we have been using throughout this article.
. Changes in name or position from the prior listing are highlighted in bold. We omit Vitruvius's 24-wind list because it is too idiosyncratic (and does not fit the table).
Secondary:
Wind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...
s in Mediterranean classical antiquity
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
(Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
and Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
) with the points of geographic direction and orientation. Ancient wind rose
Compass rose
A compass rose, sometimes called a windrose, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions — North, East, South and West - and their intermediate points. It is also the term for the graduated markings found on the traditional...
s typically had twelve winds and thus twelve points of orientation – sometimes reduced to eight or increased to twenty-four.
Originally conceived as a branch of meteorology
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
, the classical wind rose had only a tentative relationship with actual navigation
Navigation
Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...
. The Classical 12-point wind rose was eventually displaced by the modern compass rose
Compass rose
A compass rose, sometimes called a windrose, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions — North, East, South and West - and their intermediate points. It is also the term for the graduated markings found on the traditional...
(8-point, 16-point and 32-point), adopted by seafarers during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
.
Origins
It is uncertain when or why the human sense of geographic orientation and direction became associated with windWind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...
s. It is probable that for ancient settled populations, local physical landmarks (e.g. mountains, deserts, settlements) were the initial and most immediate markers of general direction ("towards the coast", "towards the hills", "towards the lands of Xanadu", etc.). Astral phenomena, in particular the position of the sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
at dawn and dusk, were also used to denote direction.
The association of geographic direction with wind
Wind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...
was another source. It was probably farming populations, attentive to rain and temperature for their crops, that noticed the qualitative differences in winds – some were humid, others dry, some hot, others cold – and that these qualities depended on where the wind was blowing from. Local directional names were used to refer to the winds, eventually giving the wind itself a proper name
Proper name
"A proper name [is] a word that answers the purpose of showing what thing it is that we are talking about" writes John Stuart Mill in A System of Logic , "but not of telling anything about it"...
, irrespective of the observer's position. This was likely furthered by sailors who, far from landmarks at sea, nonetheless recognized a particular wind by its qualities and referred to it by a familiar name. The final step, completing the circle, was to use the winds' proper names of the winds to denote general cardinal directions of the compass rose
Compass rose
A compass rose, sometimes called a windrose, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions — North, East, South and West - and their intermediate points. It is also the term for the graduated markings found on the traditional...
. This would take a little longer to work itself through.
Biblical
In the Hebrew BibleHebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
, there is frequent reference to four cardinal directions. The names of the directions seem to be associated with physical landmarks for the ancient Israelites living in the region of Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
, e.g. East
East
East is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.East is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of west and is perpendicular to north and south.By convention, the right side of a map is east....
is referred to as kedem, which derives from "edom" ("red"), and may be a reference to the color of the rising dawn
Dawn
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of the twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the presence of weak sunlight, while the sun itself is still below the horizon...
, or the red sandstone cliffs of the Land of Edom
Edom
Edom or Idumea was a historical region of the Southern Levant located south of Judea and the Dead Sea. It is mentioned in biblical records as a 1st millennium BC Iron Age kingdom of Edom, and in classical antiquity the cognate name Idumea was used to refer to a smaller area in the same region...
to the east; North
North
North is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.North is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west.By convention, the top side of a map is north....
is referred to as saphon, from Mount Zaphon
Mount Aqraa
Mount Aqraʻ ; also known as Zaphon in the Bible, and Mount Casius to the Greeks) is a mountain located near the mouth of the Orontes River on the Syrian-Turkish border around north of Ugarit....
on the northern edge of Syria, South
South
South is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.South is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to east and west.By convention, the bottom side of a map is south....
is often negev, from the Negev
Negev
The Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The Arabs, including the native Bedouin population of the region, refer to the desert as al-Naqab. The origin of the word Neghebh is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...
desert to the south, and West
West
West is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.West is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of east and is perpendicular to north and south.By convention, the left side of a map is west....
is yam ("sea", meaning the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
). Orientation seems to be to the East, in the direction of the rising sun, with the result that the terms kedem, saphon and negev became generalized with "facing", "left" and "right" side of anything.
The association of cardinal directions with winds is implied at several places in the Old Testament. "Four winds" are referred to in the Bible in several places. Kedem (East) is used frequently as the name of a scorching wind that blows from the east. There are several passages referring to the scattering of people "to all the winds".
Greek
Unlike the Biblical Israelites, the early Greeks maintained two separate and distinct systems of cardinal directions and winds, at least for a while.Astral phenomena
Greek astronomy
Greek astronomy is astronomy written in the Greek language in classical antiquity. Greek astronomy is understood to include the ancient Greek, Hellenistic, Greco-Roman, and Late Antiquity eras. It is not limited geographically to Greece or to ethnic Greeks, as the Greek language had become the...
were used to define four cardinal points
Cardinal Points
Cardinal Points is a student newspaper published in Plattsburgh, New York which serves the SUNY Plattsburgh community. The newspaper publishes 3,000 copies every Friday morning throughout the semester, from February until May 12...
: arctos (ἄρκtος, "bear", the Ursa Major
Ursa Major
Ursa Major , also known as the Great Bear, is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. It can best be seen in April...
, for North), anatole (ὰνατολή, "sunrise" or eous "dawn", East), mesembria (μεσημβρία, "noon", South) and dusis (δύσις, "sunset" or hesperus, "evening", West). Heraclitus
Heraclitus
Heraclitus of Ephesus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor. He was of distinguished parentage. Little is known about his early life and education, but he regarded himself as self-taught and a pioneer of wisdom...
, in particular, suggests that a meridian
Meridian (geography)
A meridian is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface from the North Pole to the South Pole that connects all locations along it with a given longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by its latitude. Each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude...
drawn between the north (arctos) and its opposite could be used to divide East from West. Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
already spoke of Greeks sailing with the Ursa Major
Ursa Major
Ursa Major , also known as the Great Bear, is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. It can best be seen in April...
(or "Wagon") for orientation. The identification of the Pole Star
Pole star
The term "Pole Star" usually refers to Polaris, which is the current northern pole star, also known as the North Star.In general, however, a pole star is a visible star, especially a prominent one, that is approximately aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation; that is, a star whose apparent...
(in the Ursa Minor
Ursa Minor
Ursa Minor , also known as the Little Bear, is a constellation in the northern sky. Like the Great Bear, the tail of the Little Bear may also be seen as the handle of a ladle, whence the name Little Dipper...
) as the better indicator of the North seems to have emerged a little later (it is said Thales
Thales
Thales of Miletus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Miletus in Asia Minor, and one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition...
introduced this, probably learned from Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
n seafarers).
Distinct from these cardinal points, the ancient Greeks had four wind
Wind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...
s (Anemoi
Anemoi
In Greek mythology, the Anemoi were Greek wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction from which their respective winds came , and were each associated with various seasons and weather conditions...
). It is alleged that the peoples of early Greece
Greek Dark Ages
The Greek Dark Age or Ages also known as Geometric or Homeric Age are terms which have regularly been used to refer to the period of Greek history from the presumed Dorian invasion and end of the Mycenaean Palatial civilization around 1200 BC, to the first signs of the Greek city-states in the 9th...
only conceived of two winds – the winds from the north, known as Boreas (βoρέας), and the winds from the south, known as Notos (νόtος). But two more winds – Eurus (εΰρος) from the east and Zephyrus (ζέφυρος) from the west – were added soon enough.
The etymology of the names of the four archaic Greek winds is uncertain. Among tentative propositions is that Boreas might come from "boros", an old variant of "oros" (Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
for "mountains", which were to the north geographically). An alternative hypothesis is that it may come from "boros" meaning "voracious". Another is that it comes from the phrase ὰπὸ της βoης ("from the roar"), a reference to its violent and loud noise. Notos probably comes from "notios" ("moist", a reference to the warm rains and storms brought from the south). Eurus and Zephyrus seem to come from "brightness" (q.v.Eos
Eos
In Greek mythology, Eos is the Titan goddess of the dawn, who rose from her home at the edge of Oceanus, the ocean that surrounds the world, to herald her brother Helios, the Sun.- Greek literature :...
) and "gloominess" ("zophos") respectively, doubtlessly a reference to sunrise
Sunrise
Sunrise is the instant at which the upper edge of the Sun appears above the horizon in the east. Sunrise should not be confused with dawn, which is the point at which the sky begins to lighten, some time before the sun itself appears, ending twilight...
and sunset
Sunset
Sunset or sundown is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon in the west as a result of Earth's rotation.The time of sunset is defined in astronomy as the moment the trailing edge of the Sun's disk disappears below the horizon in the west...
.
Homer
The archaic Greek poet HomerHomer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
(c.800 BCE) refers to the four winds by name – Boreas, Eurus, Notos, Zephyrus – in his Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
, and in the Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
. However, at some points, Homer seems to imply two more – a northwest wind and a southwest wind. Some have taken this to imply that Homer may have had as many as eight winds. However, others remain unconvinced, and insist Homer only had a four-wind rose.
Writing several centuries later, Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
(c.10 BC) notes that some contemporaries took Homer's ambiguity to imply that the Homeric system may already anticipate the summer and winter distinction later made famous by Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
. This refers to the fact that the "east" (sunrise) and "west" (sunset) are not stable on the horizon, but depend on the season, i.e. during the winter, the sun rises and sets a little further south than in the summer, Consequently, the Homeric system may have had six winds – Boreas (N) and Notos (S) on the meridian axis, and the other four on diagonals: Zephyrus (NW), Eurus (NE), Apeliotes (SE) and Argestes (SW).
Strabo, quoting Posidonius
Posidonius
Posidonius "of Apameia" or "of Rhodes" , was a Greek Stoic philosopher, politician, astronomer, geographer, historian and teacher native to Apamea, Syria. He was acclaimed as the greatest polymath of his age...
notes that Homer sometimes used epithets of qualitative attributes to append ordinal directions to the cardinal winds, e.g. as western winds bring rain, then when Homer says a "stormy Boreas" he means a different wind from a "loud Boreas" (i.e. wet north = NW, loud north = N) Nonetheless, while it seems that Homer may have realized that there were more than four winds, he did not use those epithets systematically enough to permit us to conclude that he also embraced a six- or eight-point windrose. Other classical writers, e.g. Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
, are adamant that Homer mentioned only four winds.
Hesiod
Hesiod
Hesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. His is the first European poetry in which the poet regards himself as a topic, an individual with a distinctive role to play. Ancient authors credited him and...
(c.700 BCE) in his Theogony (c.735) gives the four winds mythical personification as gods, the Anemoi
Anemoi
In Greek mythology, the Anemoi were Greek wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction from which their respective winds came , and were each associated with various seasons and weather conditions...
(Ἄνεμοι), the children of the Titan
Titan (mythology)
In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of powerful deities, descendants of Gaia and Uranus, that ruled during the legendary Golden Age....
gods Astraeus
Astraeus
In Greek mythology, Astraeus or Astraeos was an astrological deity and the Titan-god of the dusk. In Hesiod's Theogony and in the Bibliotheca, Astraeus is a second-generation Titan, descended from Crius and Eurybia. However, Hyginus wrote that he was descended directly from Tartarus and Gaia, and...
(stars) and Eos
Eos
In Greek mythology, Eos is the Titan goddess of the dawn, who rose from her home at the edge of Oceanus, the ocean that surrounds the world, to herald her brother Helios, the Sun.- Greek literature :...
(dawn). But Hesiod himself refers to only three winds by name – Boreas, Notos and Zephyros – which he called the "good winds" and the "children of the morning" (engendering a little confusion, as it might be read as they were all easterly winds – although curious that Eurus is not among them). Hesiod refers to other "bad winds", but not by name.
The Greek physician Hippocrates
Hippocrates
Hippocrates of Cos or Hippokrates of Kos was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles , and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine...
(c.400 BCE), in his On Airs, Water and Places, refers to four winds, but designates them not by their Homeric names, but rather from the cardinal direction from which they blow (arctos, anatole, dusis, etc.) He does, however, recognize six geographic points - north, south and the summer and winter risings and settings - using the latter to set the boundaries for the four general winds.
Aristotle
The ancient Greek philosopher AristotleAristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, in his Meteorology
Meteorology (Aristotle)
Meteorology is a treatise by Aristotle which contains his theories about the earth sciences. These include early accounts of water evaporation, weather phenomena, and earthquakes....
(c.340 BCE), introduced a ten-to-twelve wind system. One reading of his system is that there are eight principal winds: Aparctias (N), Caecias (NE), Apeliotes (E), Eurus (SE), Notos (S), Lips (SW), Zephyrus (W) and Argestes (NW). Aristotle then goes on to add two half-winds, Thrascias (NNW) and Meses (NNE), noting that they "have no contraries". Later, however, Aristotle suggests the Phoenicias wind for the SSE (blows locally in some places), but suggests nothing for SSW. So, seen this way, Aristotle really has an asymmetric windrose of ten winds, as two winds are effectively missing or only local.
| North (N) | Aparctias (ὰπαρκτίας) (variant Boreas (βoρέας)) |
the top meridian |
| North-Northeast (NNE) | Meses (μέσης) | the polar "rise" |
| Northeast (NE) | Caecias (καικίας) | the summer sunrise |
| East (E) | Apeliotes (ὰπηλιώτης) | the equinox sunrise |
| Southeast (SE) | Eurus (εΰρος) (variant Euronoti (εὺρόνοtοi)) |
the winter sunrise |
| South-Southeast (SSE) | No wind (except local Phoenicias (φοινικίας) |
|
| South (S) | Notos (νόtος) | the bottom meridian. |
| South-Southwest (SSW) | No wind | |
| Southwest (SW) | Lips (λίψ) | the winter sunset |
| West (W) | Zephyrus (ζέφυρος) | the equinox sunset |
| Northwest (NW) | Argestes (ὰργέστης) (Variants: Olympias(όλυμπίας), Sciron (σκίρων) |
the summer sunset. |
| North-Northwest (NNW) | Thrascias (θρασκίας) | the polar "set" |
Notice that in the Aristotelean system, old Eurus is shunted from its traditional position in the cardinal East by Apeliotes (ὰπηλιώτης), meaning "from the Sun" or from "the heat of the Sun". Old Boreas is mentioned only as an alternative name to Aparctias (ὰπαρκτίας), which means "from the Bear", that is, the Ursa Major
Ursa Major
Ursa Major , also known as the Great Bear, is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. It can best be seen in April...
, the Arctic circle
Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....
. Among the new winds are the Argestes (ὰργέστης) meaning "clearing" or "brightening", a reference to the northwest wind sweeping away clouds. Argestes's variants, Olympias (όλυμπίας) and Sciron (σκίρων) are local Athenian
Attica
Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...
names, a reference to Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, about 100 kilometres away from Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. Mount Olympus has 52 peaks. The highest peak Mytikas, meaning "nose", rises to 2,917 metres...
and the Sciros rocks in Megara
Megara
Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King...
. The remaining winds also seem to be geographical. Caecias (καικίας) means from Caicus, a river in Mysia
Mysia
Mysia was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor or Anatolia . It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the east, Phrygia on the southeast, Lydia on the south, Aeolis on the southwest, Troad on the west and by the Propontis on the north...
, a region northeast of the Aegean. Lips (λίψ) means "from Libya
Ancient Libya
The Latin name Libya referred to the region west of the Nile Valley, generally corresponding to modern Northwest Africa. Climate changes affected the locations of the settlements....
", to the southwest of Greece (although an alternative theory connects it to "leibo", λείβω, same root as libation
Libation
A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid as an offering to a god or spirit or in memory of those who have died. It was common in many religions of antiquity and continues to be offered in various cultures today....
, meaning pouring, because this wind brought rain). Phoenicias (φοινικίας) comes "from Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
" (to the southeast of Greece) and Thrascias (θρασκίας) from Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
(in Aristotle's day, Thrace covered a larger area than today, including the north-northwest of Greece). Finally, Meses (μέσης) might simply mean "middle", presumably because it was a half-wind.
The implication of reading Thrascias and Meses as half-winds, and the others as principal winds, is that this implies Aristotle's construction is asymmetric. Specifically, the half-winds would be at 22½° on either side of the North, while the principal eight would be at 45° angles from each other. However, an alternative hypothesis is that they will be more equally spaced around 30° from each other. By way of guidance, Aristotle mentions that the easterly and westerly positions are that of the sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
as seen on the horizon at dawn and at dusk at different times of the year. Using his alphabetical notation, Aristotle notes that during the summer solstice
Summer solstice
The summer solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet's semi-axis in a given hemisphere is most inclined towards the star that it orbits. Earth's maximum axial tilt to our star, the Sun, during a solstice is 23° 26'. Though the summer solstice is an instant in time, the term is also...
the sun rises at Z (Caecis) and sets at E (Argestes); during the equinox
Equinox
An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator...
, it rises at B (Apeliotes) and sets at A (Zephyrus), and finally during the winter solstice
Winter solstice
Winter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice, astronomical event* Winter Solstice , former band* Winter Solstice: North , seasonal songs* Winter Solstice , 2005 American film...
it rises at Δ (Eurus) and sets at Γ (Lips). So drawn on a compass rose, Aristotle's explanation yields four parallels:
- (1) the "ever-visible circle", i.e. the Arctic circleArctic CircleThe Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....
, the boundaries of the circumpolar starCircumpolar starA circumpolar star is a star that, as viewed from a given latitude on Earth, never sets , due to its proximity to one of the celestial poles...
s (stars which do not set) connecting half-winds IK), - (2) the summer solstice (connecting EZ),
- (3) the equinox (connecting AB)
- (4) winter solstice (connecting ΓΔ).
Assuming the viewer is centered at Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, it has been calculated that this construction would yield a symmetric compass rose with approximately 30° angles all around.
If set out on a compass card, Aristotle's system could be conceived of as a twelve-wind rose with four cardinal winds (N, E, S, W), four "solsticial winds" (loosely speaking, NW, NE, SE, SW), two "polar winds" (roughly NNW, NNE) and two "non-winds" (SSW, SSE).
Aristotle explicitly groups Aparctias (N) and the half-winds Thrascias (NNW) and Meses (NNE) together as "north winds" and Argestes (NW) and Zephyrus (W) together as "west winds" — but he goes on to note that both the north and west winds could be classified as "generally northerly" (Boreae), since they all tend to be cold. Similarly Lips (SW) and Notos (S) are "south winds" and Eurus (SE) and Apeliotes (E) are "east winds", but once again, both south and east winds are "generally southerly" (Notiae) because are all relatively warm (Aristotle reasons that as the sun rises in the east, then it heats east winds longer than west winds). With this general classification, Aristotle manages to account for the archaic Greek two-wind system.
The exception to this system is Caecias (NE), which Aristotle notes is "half north and half east", and thus neither generally northern nor generally southern. The local Phoenicias (SSE), is also designated as "half south and half east".
Aristotle goes on to discuss the meteorological properties of the winds, e.g. that the winds on the NW-SE axis are generally dry, while the NE-SW winds are wet (NE producing heavier clouds than SW). N and NNE bring snow. Winds from the whole northwestern sector (NW, NNW, N) are described as cold, strong, cloud-clearing winds that can bring lightning and hurricanes with them. Aristotle also makes special note of the periodic bending summer Etesian
Etesian
The etesians ', sometimes found in the Latin form etesiae), meltemi μελτέμι , or meltem are the strong, dry north windsof the Aegean Sea, which blow from about mid-May to mid-September...
winds, which comes from different directions depending on where the observer lives.
Aristotle had aggrandized the wind system beyond Homer to ten winds, but he left it unbalanced. It would be left to subsequent geographers to either add two more winds (to SSW and SSE) to make it into a symmetric 12-wind compass (as Timosthenes
Timosthenes
Timosthenes of Rhodes was a Greek navigator and geographer.In the 280s-270s BCE, Timosthenes served as the admiral and chief pilot of the navy of King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt. He wrote a periplus in ten books , and was much admired and cited by other geographers such as Eratosthenes and...
would do), or subtract two winds (NNW and NNE) to make it into a symmetric 8-wind compass (as Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek mathematician, poet, athlete, geographer, astronomer, and music theorist.He was the first person to use the word "geography" and invented the discipline of geography as we understand it...
would do).
Theophrastus
TheophrastusTheophrastus
Theophrastus , a Greek native of Eresos in Lesbos, was the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He came to Athens at a young age, and initially studied in Plato's school. After Plato's death he attached himself to Aristotle. Aristotle bequeathed to Theophrastus his writings, and...
of Eresos, Aristotle's successor in the Peripatetic school, in his On Weather Signs and "On Winds" (c.300 BCE), adopted the same wind system as Aristotle, with only some slight differences, e.g. Theophrastus misspelled Thrascias as "Thracias" and seemed to distinguish between Apractias and Boreas (perhaps as "North by west" and "North" wind respectively).
In the pseudo-Aristotelean
Pseudo-Aristotle
Pseudo-Aristotle is a general cognomen for authors of philosophical or medical treatises who attributed their work to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, or whose work was later attributed to him by others....
fragment Ventorum Situs
The Situations and Names of Winds
The Situations and Names of Winds is a spurious work sometimes attributed to Aristotle. The text lists winds blowing from twelve different directions and their alternative names used in different places...
(often attributed to Theophrastus
Theophrastus
Theophrastus , a Greek native of Eresos in Lesbos, was the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He came to Athens at a young age, and initially studied in Plato's school. After Plato's death he attached himself to Aristotle. Aristotle bequeathed to Theophrastus his writings, and...
), there is an attempt to derive the etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
of the winds. As they are often named after a particular locality from where they seem to blow, different places in the Hellenistic world have come up with variant local names for the winds. In the list given in the Ventorum Situs:
- Boreas (N) is given the variant "Pagreus" in MallusMallusMallus or Mallos was an ancient city of Cilicia Campestris lying near the mouth of the Pyramus river, in Anatolia. In ancient times, the city was situated at the mouth of the Pyramus , on a hill opposite Magarsus which served as its port. The district was called from it, Mallotis...
; no mention of Aparctias. - Meses (NNE) is given the variant "Caunias" in RhodesRhodesRhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
and "Idyreus" in PamphyliaPamphyliaIn ancient geography, Pamphylia was the region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus . It was bounded on the north by Pisidia and was therefore a country of small extent, having a coast-line of only about 75 miles with a breadth of...
; - Caecias (NE) is called "Thebanas" in Lesbos, in some localities also called Boreas and Caunias.
- Apeliotes (E) is called "Potameus" in TripoliTripoli, LebanonTripoli is the largest city in northern Lebanon and the second-largest city in Lebanon. Situated 85 km north of the capital Beirut, Tripoli is the capital of the North Governorate and the Tripoli District. Geographically located on the east of the Mediterranean, the city's history dates back...
(PhoeniciaPhoeniciaPhoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
), "Syriandus" in the Gulf of IssusGulf of IskenderunThe Gulf of İskenderun is a gulf or inlet of the Levantine Sea, the easternmost part of Mediterranean Sea, of which it forms the easternmost tip, on the southern coast of Turkey near its border with Syria. It also contains the northernmost point of the Levantine Sea...
, "Marseus" in TripoliTripoliTripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
(Libya), "Hellespontias" in EuboeaEuboeaEuboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
, CreteCreteCrete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, Proconnesus, TeosTeosTeos or Teo was a maritime city of Ionia, on a peninsula between Chytrium and Myonnesus, colonized by Orchomenian Minyans, Ionians, and Boeotians. The city is situated on a low hilly narrow strip of land connecting two larger areas of land . Teos ranked among twelve cities comprising the Ionian...
and CyreneCyrene, LibyaCyrene was an ancient Greek colony and then a Roman city in present-day Shahhat, Libya, the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times.Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar...
, "Berecyntias" in SinopeSinop, TurkeySinop is a city with a population of 36,734 on İnce Burun , by its Cape Sinop which is situated on the most northern edge of the Turkish side of Black Sea coast, in the ancient region of Paphlagonia, in modern-day northern Turkey, historically known as Sinope...
, and "Cataporthmias" in SicilySicilySicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
. - Eurus (SE) is called "Scopelus" in AegaeAigai (Aeolian)Aigai or Aegae was an ancient Greek city in Aeolis . Aegae is mentioned by both Herodotus and Strabo as being a member of the Aeolian dodecapolis. It was also an important sanctuary of Apollo...
and "Carbas" in CyreneCyrene, LibyaCyrene was an ancient Greek colony and then a Roman city in present-day Shahhat, Libya, the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times.Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar...
. Makes note that some also call it "Phonecias". - Phonecias (SSE) is not mentioned by its old name but rather as Orthonotos, a new name which can be translated as the "true south wind".
- Notos (S) is said to be derived from "unhealthy" and "damp".
- Previously unnamed (SSW) is given a name for perhaps the first time, as Leuconotos, on account that it is a "sky-clearing" south wind,
- Lips (SW) is said to get its name from LibyaAncient LibyaThe Latin name Libya referred to the region west of the Nile Valley, generally corresponding to modern Northwest Africa. Climate changes affected the locations of the settlements....
, - Zephyrus (W) is left unexplained,
- Argestes (NW) is cited by a new variant Iapyx (unexplained here; although in other writings, the name is connected to IapygesIapygesThe Iapyges or Iapygians were an Indo-European people who inhabited the heel of Italy before being absorbed by the Romans.-Identity:The Iapyges have unknown origins but could have been from Illyria....
in ApuliaApuliaApulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
); it is also called "Scylletinus" in TarentumTarantoTaranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....
, and elsewhere as "Pharangites" for Mount PangaeusPangaion hillsThe Pangaion Hills , ancient forms: Pangaeon, Pangaeum, Homeric name: Nysa are a mountain range in Greece, approximately 40 km from Kavala. The highest elevation is 1,956 m and the mountaintop name is Koutra...
; - Thrakias (NNW – note different spelling) is given the local variants "Strymonias" (in ThraceThraceThrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
), "Sciron" (in MegarisMegarisThis is also the ancient Greek name of a small island off Naples, site of the Castel dell'Ovo.Megaris or the Megarid was a small but populous state of ancient Greece, west of Attica and north of Corinthia, whose inhabitants were adventurous seafarers, credited with deceitful propensities...
), "Circias" (in ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and SicilySicilySicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, which later works will tie to the MistralMistral (wind)The mistral is a strong, cold and usually dry regional wind in France, coming from the north or northwest, which accelerates when it passes through the valleys of the Rhone and the Durance Rivers to the coast of the Mediterranean around the Camargue region. It affects the northeast of the plain...
) and "Olympias" (in EuboeaEuboeaEuboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
, Lesbos) (note: Aristotle gave Olympias as the variant of Argestes (NW)).
Timosthenes
The Greek-Roman physician AgathemerusAgathemerus
Agathemerus was a Greek geographer who during the Roman Greece period published a small two-part geographical work titled A Sketch of Geography in Epitome , addressed to his pupil Philon. The son of Orthon, Agathemerus is speculated to have lived in the 3rd century...
(c.250 CE), in his Geographia, gives the eight principal winds. But Agathemerus goes on to note that nearly five hundred years earlier, the navigator Timosthenes
Timosthenes
Timosthenes of Rhodes was a Greek navigator and geographer.In the 280s-270s BCE, Timosthenes served as the admiral and chief pilot of the navy of King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt. He wrote a periplus in ten books , and was much admired and cited by other geographers such as Eratosthenes and...
of Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
(c.282 BCE) had developed a system of 12 winds by adding four winds to the eight. (Agathemerus is, of course, incorrect – Aristotle had at least ten winds, not eight).
Timosthenes's list (according to Agathemerus) was Aparctias (N), Boreas (not Meses, NNE), Caecias (NE), Apeliotes (E), Eurus (SE), "Phoenicias is also called Euronotos" (SSE), Notos (S), "Leuconotos alias Libonotos" (first mention, SSW), Lips (SW), Zephyrus (W), Argestes (NW) and "Thrascias alias Circius" (NNW).
In many ways, Timosthenes marks a significant step in the evolution of the compass rose. Depending on how Ventorum Situs is dated, Timosthenes can be credited with turning Aristotle's asymmetric ten-wind compass into to a symmetric twelve-wind compass, by introducing the SSW wind (Leuconotos/Libonotos) omitted by Aristotle and Theophrastus and assigning the compound "Euronotos" (already alluded to by Aristotle, no mention of Theophrastus's Orthonotos here) in place of the local Phoenicias (SSE). His highlighting of the Italian "Circius" as a major variant of Thrascias (NNW) could be the first indication of the notorious Mistral
Mistral (wind)
The mistral is a strong, cold and usually dry regional wind in France, coming from the north or northwest, which accelerates when it passes through the valleys of the Rhone and the Durance Rivers to the coast of the Mediterranean around the Camargue region. It affects the northeast of the plain...
wind of the west Mediterranean. Another major change in Timoesthenes is that he shunts Boreas out of the North position and into NNE (replacing Meses) – which will become customary in later authors.
Timosthenes is also significant for being perhaps the first Greek to go beyond treating these "winds" merely as meteorological phenomena and to begin viewing them properly as points of geographic direction. Timosthenes (through Agathemerus) assigns each of the 12 winds to geographical locations and peoples (relative to Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
):
- Aparctias (N) are the "Scythians above ThraceThraceThrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
", - Boreas (NNE) are "PontusPontusPontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...
, MaeotisSea of AzovThe Sea of Azov , known in Classical Antiquity as Lake Maeotis, is a sea on the south of Eastern Europe. It is linked by the narrow Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea to the south and is bounded on the north by Ukraine mainland, on the east by Russia, and on the west by the Ukraine's Crimean...
and the SarmatiansSarmatiansThe Iron Age Sarmatians were an Iranian people in Classical Antiquity, flourishing from about the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD....
" - Caecias (NE) is "the Caspian SeaCaspian SeaThe Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
and the SakaSakaThe Saka were a Scythian tribe or group of tribes....
s", - Apeliotes (E) are "the BactriaBactriaBactria and also appears in the Zend Avesta as Bukhdi. It is the ancient name of a historical region located between south of the Amu Darya and west of the Indus River...
ns" - Eurus (SE) are "the IndiansIndus RiverThe Indus River is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses through China and India.Originating in the Tibetan plateau of western China in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the river runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and...
", - Phoenicias/Euronotos (SSE) is "the Red SeaRed SeaThe Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
and "Aethiopia" (prob.AxumAksumite EmpireThe Kingdom of Aksum or Axum, also known as the Aksumite Empire, was an important trading nation in northeastern Africa, growing from the proto-Aksumite Iron Age period ca. 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD...
) - Notos (S) are the " "Aethiopians beyond Egypt" (NubiaNubiaNubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...
) - Leuconotos/Libonotos (SSW) are "the GaramantesGaramantesThe Garamantes were a Saharan people who used an elaborate underground irrigation system, and founded a prosperous Berber kingdom in the Fezzan area of modern-day Libya, in the Sahara desert. They were a local power in the Sahara between 500 BC and 700 AD.There is little textual information about...
beyond SyrtesGulf of SidraGulf of Sidra is a body of water in the Mediterranean Sea on the northern coast of Libya; it is also known as Gulf of Sirte or the Great Sirte or Greater Syrtis .- Geography :The Gulf of Sidra has been a major centre for tuna fishing in the Mediterranean for centuries...
", - Lips (SW) are "the Ethiopians in the west beyond the Mauroi" (NumidiaNumidiaNumidia was an ancient Berber kingdom in part of present-day Eastern Algeria and Western Tunisia in North Africa. It is known today as the Chawi-land, the land of the Chawi people , the direct descendants of the historical Numidians or the Massyles The kingdom began as a sovereign state and later...
, Mauri people) - Zephyrus (W) lie "the Pillars of HerculesPillars of HerculesThe Pillars of Hercules was the phrase that was applied in Antiquity to the promontories that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. The northern Pillar is the Rock of Gibraltar in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar...
and the beginning of Africa and Europe" - Argestes (NW) is "IberiaIberian PeninsulaThe Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
or HispaniaHispaniaAnother theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
" - Thrascias/Circius (NNW) are "the Celts".
Modern scholars to conjecture that Timosthenes, in his lost periplus
Periplus
Periplus is the Latinization of an ancient Greek word, περίπλους , literally "a sailing-around." Both segments, peri- and -plous, were independently productive: the ancient Greek speaker understood the word in its literal sense; however, it developed a few specialized meanings, one of which became...
, might have made ample use of these winds for sailing directions (which may help explain Agathemerus's eagerness to credit Timosthenes for "inventing" the twelve winds).
(Timosthenes's geographic list above is reproduced almost verbatim centuries later, in the 8th C. work of John of Damascus
John of Damascus
Saint John of Damascus was a Syrian monk and priest...
and a Prague manuscript from the early 1300s.)
The pseudo-Aristotelean work De Mundo (normally attributed to a anonymous copier of Posidonius
Posidonius
Posidonius "of Apameia" or "of Rhodes" , was a Greek Stoic philosopher, politician, astronomer, geographer, historian and teacher native to Apamea, Syria. He was acclaimed as the greatest polymath of his age...
, probably written between 50 BCE and 140 CE), the winds are named practically identically to Timosthenes (e.g. Aparctias alone in the North, Boreas shunted to NNE, Euronotus instead of Phoenicias, Circius as alternate of Thrascias). The differences of De Mundo from Timosthenes are that (1) it introduces Libophoenix as another name for Libonotos (Leuconotos not mentioned); (2) two alternates to Argestes are mentioned – Iapyx (as in the Ventorum) and Olympias (as in Aristotle) (Timosthenes mentions no variants for this wind), (3) like Aristotle, De Mundo refers to a collective of north winds, the Boreae.
Eratosthenes and the Tower of Winds
It is said that the geographer EratosthenesEratosthenes
Eratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek mathematician, poet, athlete, geographer, astronomer, and music theorist.He was the first person to use the word "geography" and invented the discipline of geography as we understand it...
of Cyrene (c.200 BCE), realizing that many winds presented only slight variations, reduced twelve winds down to eight principal winds. Eratosthenes's own work has been lost, but the story is reported by Vitruvius
Vitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....
, who goes on to say Eratosthenes came to this conclusion in the course of measuring the circumference of the earth, and felt there were really only eight equally sized sectors, and that other winds were but local variations of these eight principal winds. If true, that would make Eratosthenes the inventor of the eight-wind compass rose
Compass rose
A compass rose, sometimes called a windrose, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions — North, East, South and West - and their intermediate points. It is also the term for the graduated markings found on the traditional...
.
It is worth nothing that Eratosthenes was a disciple of Timosthenes and is said to have drawn principally from his work. But it is interesting to note how they part ways on this. Both recognized that Aristotle's ten-wind rose was unbalanced, but while Timosthenes restored balance by adding two winds to make it a symmetric twelve, Eratosthenes deducted two wind to make it a symmetric eight.
It seems that, in practical appeal, Eratosthenes's reduction may have won the day. The famous "Tower of the Winds
Tower of the Winds
The Tower of the Winds, also called horologion , is an octagonal Pentelic marble clocktower on the Roman agora in Athens. The structure features a combination of sundials, a water clock and a wind vane...
" in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
exhibits only eight winds rather than the ten of Aristotle or the twelve of Timosthenes. The tower is said to have been built by Andronicus of Cyrrhus
Andronicus of Cyrrhus
Andronicus of Cyrrhus or Andronicus Cyrrhestes,son of Hermias, was a Greek astronomer who flourished about 100 BC....
(c. 50 BCE) but is commonly dated anytime after 200 BCE (that is, after Eratosthenes). It gives as its eight winds Boreas (not Aparctias, N), Caecias (SE), Apeliotes (E), Eurus (SE), Notos (S), Lips (SW), Zephyrus (W) and Sciron (NW, variant of Argestes). Boreas' reappearance in the North slot in place of Aparctias is notable. The figures on the tower are represented figuratively as gods (Anemoi
Anemoi
In Greek mythology, the Anemoi were Greek wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction from which their respective winds came , and were each associated with various seasons and weather conditions...
). It is believed the tower was topped with a weather vane
Weather vane
A weather vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. They are typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building....
.
Roman
The Greek wind system was adopted by the Romans, partly under their Greek nomenclature, but increasingly also under new Latin names. Roman poet VirgilVirgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
, in his Georgics
Georgics
The Georgics is a poem in four books, likely published in 29 BC. It is the second major work by the Latin poet Virgil, following his Eclogues and preceding the Aeneid. It is a poem that draws on many prior sources and influenced many later authors from antiquity to the present...
(c.29 BCE) refers to several of the winds by their old Greek names (e.g. Zephyrus, Eurus, Boreas), and introduces a few new Latin names – notably, "black Auster", "cold Aquilo" and "frigid Caurus".
Seneca
The Roman writer SenecaSeneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...
, in his Naturales quaestiones
Naturales quaestiones
Naturales quaestiones is an encyclopedia of the natural world written by Seneca around 65 AD. It is much shorter than the Naturalis Historia produced by Pliny the Elder some ten years later, however.-Content:...
(c.65 CE), mentions the Greek names of some of the major winds, and goes on to note that Roman scholar Varro
Varro
Varro was a Roman cognomen carried by:*Marcus Terentius Varro, sometimes known as Varro Reatinus, the scholar*Publius Terentius Varro or Varro Atacinus, the poet*Gaius Terentius Varro, the consul defeated at the battle of Cannae...
had said there were twelve winds. As given by Seneca, the Latin names of the twelve winds are:
| North (N) | Septentrio | |
| North-Northeast (NNE) | Aquilo | |
| Northeast (NE) | Caecias | same as Greek |
| East (E) | Subsolanus | |
| Southeast (SE) | Vulturnus | with variant Eurus also used. |
| South-Southeast (SSE) | Euronotus | Same as Timosthenes |
| South (S) | Auster | with Notus used as variant |
| South-Southwest (SSW) | Libonotus | Same as Timosthenes |
| Southwest (SW) | Africus | |
| West (W) | Favonius | with variant Zephyrus also used. |
| Northwest (NW) | Corus | with variant Argestes also used |
| North-Northwest (NNW) | Thrascias | same as Greek. |
(for the derivation of the Latin etymologies, see the section on Isidore of Seville below).
Oddly, Seneca says the meridian
Meridian (geography)
A meridian is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface from the North Pole to the South Pole that connects all locations along it with a given longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by its latitude. Each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude...
line arises from Euronotus (SSW), not Auster (S), and that the "highest" point in the north is Aquilo (NNE), not Septentrio (N). This might imply an awareness of magnetic declination
Magnetic declination
Magnetic declination is the angle between magnetic north and true north. The declination is positive when the magnetic north is east of true north. The term magnetic variation is a synonym, and is more often used in navigation...
, the difference between the magnetic north (compass
Compass
A compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions – north, south, east, and west. Intermediate directions are also defined...
north, in this case Aquilo) and the true north
True north
True north is the direction along the earth's surface towards the geographic North Pole.True geodetic north usually differs from magnetic north , and from grid north...
(Pole Star
Pole star
The term "Pole Star" usually refers to Polaris, which is the current northern pole star, also known as the North Star.In general, however, a pole star is a visible star, especially a prominent one, that is approximately aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation; that is, a star whose apparent...
, Septentrio).
Pliny
Pliny the ElderPliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
in his Natural History (C.77 CE) after noting that twelve was an exaggeration, goes on to note that the "moderns" have reduced it to eight. He lists them as Septentrio (N), Aquilo (NNE), Subsolanus (E), Vulturnus (SE), Auster (S), Africus (SW), Favonius (W) and Corus (NW).
Notice that Caecias (NE) is not part of this octet. Instead, Pliny puts the half-wind Aquilo (NNE) there instead. It seems Pliny is aware Aquilo is a half-wind, because since he says it lies "in between Septentrio and the summer sunrise" (although in a later chapter he places it at the summer sunrise). If the first version is taken, this means Pliny's eight-wind compass is asymmetric. Pliny goes on to mention that Aquilo is also "named Aparctias and Boreas" (the Boreas identification with NNE is already in Timosthenes, but Aparctias's demotion from the N is novel).
When he goes on to discuss half-winds, Pliny re-introduces Caecis as lying "between Aquilo and Subsolanus", thus restoring it effectively to its NE position. Evidently reading Aristotle, Pliny tries to insert long-lost Meses again "between Boreas (= Aquilo) and Caecis", thus placing Meses in a position that (in a modern 32-point compass) would be called "Northeast by north". Confusing matters, in a later chapter, Pliny goes on to say that Aquilo, in the summer, turns into the Etesian
Etesian
The etesians ', sometimes found in the Latin form etesiae), meltemi μελτέμι , or meltem are the strong, dry north windsof the Aegean Sea, which blow from about mid-May to mid-September...
winds, the periodic wind already referred to by Aristotle. Pliny also mentions, for the other half-winds, Phoenicias (for SSE, not Euronotus), Libonotus (SSW), and Thrascias (NNW).
It is apparent Pliny had recently read Aristotle and sought to resurrect some of the abandoned Aristotelean names (Boreas/Aparctias, Meses, Etesian winds, Phoenicias, he even mentions Olympias and Sciron as local Greek winds), albeit they appear rather awkwardly when inserted into the contemporary 12-wind compass schema.
Aulus Gellius
In his Attic Nights (written c.159), the AthensAthens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
-raised Latin writer Aulus Gellius
Aulus Gellius
Aulus Gellius , was a Latin author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome, where he held a judicial office...
, possibly inspired by the Tower of the Winds in that city, reduces the Latin rose to from twelve to eight winds, the principal winds, for which he gives both the Latin and Greek terms. He lists them as:
- N – Septentrio (Latin), Aparctias (Greek)
- NE – Aquilo (Latin), Boreas (Greek)
- E – Eurus (Latin), Apeliotes (Greek), Subsolanus ("to Roman sailors")
- SE – Vulturnus (Latin), Euronotus (Greek)
- S – Auster (Latin), Notos (Greek)
- SW – Africus (Latin), Lips (Greek)
- W – Favonius (Latin), Zephyrus (Greek)
- NW – Caurus (Latin), Argestes (Greek)
Among the novelties is the disappearance of Caecias (NE, like in Pliny), although he does make a later note that "Caecias" is mentioned in Aristotle (but does not give it a position). Aquilo/Boreas seem well-enthroned at NE. Another surprise is the re-emergence of Eurus in the East, where it has not been seen since Homer. He seems to treat Eurus as a Latin name, giving the Aristotelean Apeliotes as the Greek equivalent, and reducing Subsolanus to a mere variant "from Roman sailors". With Eurus now absent in the SE, Euronotus (previously SSE) is promoted to the vacant SE position. Finally, a new name, Caurus, is introduced as the NW wind. This is almost certainly a misspelling of Corus (NW).
Aulus Gellius gives some information about local winds. He mentions Circius as a local wind in Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
, known for its dizzying, circular motion, and notes its alternate spelling Cercius in Hispania
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
(probably a reference to the Mistral
Mistral (wind)
The mistral is a strong, cold and usually dry regional wind in France, coming from the north or northwest, which accelerates when it passes through the valleys of the Rhone and the Durance Rivers to the coast of the Mediterranean around the Camargue region. It affects the northeast of the plain...
) He also notes Iapyx (already mentioned, but first here explained as a local wind from Iapygia in Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
) and periodic regional Etesian
Etesian
The etesians ', sometimes found in the Latin form etesiae), meltemi μελτέμι , or meltem are the strong, dry north windsof the Aegean Sea, which blow from about mid-May to mid-September...
winds and the "Prodromi" (NW fore-winds, in Greek, πρόδρομοι).
Vatican table
The "Vatican table" is a marble Roman anemoscopeAnemoscope
An anemoscope is a device invented to show the direction of the wind, or to foretell a change of wind direction or weather.Hygroscopic devices, in particular those utilizing catgut, were considered as very good anemoscopes, seldom failing to foretell the shifting of the wind.The ancient anemoscope...
(wind-vane) dating from the 2nd or 3rd Century CE, held by the Vatican Museums
Vatican Museums
The Vatican Museums , in Viale Vaticano in Rome, inside the Vatican City, are among the greatest museums in the world, since they display works from the immense collection built up by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries, including some of the most renowned classical sculptures and...
. Divided into twelve equal sides, on each of its sides, it has inscribed the names of the classical winds, both in Greek and in Latin. The Vatican table lists them as follows:
| Wind | Latin inscription | Greek inscription | Greek read as: | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | Septentrio | AΠAPKIAC | Aparkias (ὰπαρκίας) | Greek misspelling. |
| NNE | Aquilo | BOPEAC | Boreas (βoρέας) | as in Timosthenes |
| NE | Vulturnus | KAIKIAC | Caecias (καικίας) | Vulturnus (normally SE) is in wrong place. This should be 'Caecias'. |
| E | Solanus | AΦHAIωTNS | Apheliotes (ὰφηλιώτης) | Greek misspelling. New Latin name (normally Subsolanus). |
| SE | Eurus | EYPOC | Eurus (εΰρος) | New Latin name. Vulturnus should be here. |
| SSE | Euroauster | EYPONOTOC | Euronotos (εὺρόνοtος)) | New Latin name (normally Euronotus) |
| S | Auster | NOTOC | Notos (νόtος) | |
| SSW | Austroafricus | AIBONOTOC | Libonotos (λιβόνοtος) | New Latin name (normally, Libonotus) |
| SW | Africus | AIΨ | Lips (λίψ) | |
| W | Favonius | ZEΦYPOC | Zephyrus (ζέφυρος) | |
| NW | Chorus | IAΠYZ | Iapyx (ιαπίξ) | Latin name misspelled (normally Corus) |
| NNW | Circius | ΘPAKIAC | Thrakias (θρακίας) | Greek misspelled, New Latin name (normally Thrascias), from Timosthenes |
There are several spelling mistakes, both in Greek (Aparkias, Apheliotes, Thrakias) and Latin (Chorus with an h, Solanus minus Sub). The principle error of the Vatican table is the misplacement of Vulturnus in NE rather than SE, with the result that the old Greek Eurus now resumes its place in Latin. This error will be repeated later. There is also a significant new Latin name, Austroafricus, in place of Libonotus, and Circius in place of Thrascias (although the latter was already anticipated by Timosthenes). The old "Iapyx" (of the Venturum Situs) also makes a comeback (in Greek).
Isidore of Seville
Centuries later, after the fall of Rome, Isidore of SevilleIsidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
set about compiling much of Classical knowledge in his Etymologiae
Etymologiae
Etymologiae is an encyclopedia compiled by Isidore of Seville towards the end of his life. It forms a bridge between a condensed epitome of classical learning at the close of Late Antiquity and the inheritance received, in large part through Isidore's work, by the early Middle Ages...
(c.620 CE). In the chapter on winds, Isidore provided a list practically identical to that of the marble Roman amenoscope held at the Vatican. Isidore also tried to supply the etymology of each of the terms:
- Septentrio (N) – Isidore correctly relates it to the Arctic circleArctic CircleThe Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....
("circle of seven stars", i.e. the Ursa MinorUrsa MinorUrsa Minor , also known as the Little Bear, is a constellation in the northern sky. Like the Great Bear, the tail of the Little Bear may also be seen as the handle of a ladle, whence the name Little Dipper...
). Septentrio means "commander of the seven", and the Pole StarPole starThe term "Pole Star" usually refers to Polaris, which is the current northern pole star, also known as the North Star.In general, however, a pole star is a visible star, especially a prominent one, that is approximately aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation; that is, a star whose apparent...
is indeed the chief star of the Ursa Minor. - Aquilo (NNE) – Isidore relates it to water (acqua), because but probably from "aquilus", because it soaks up water from the ground. Pliny says the surface of the earth "announces the approach" of Aquilo by drying, and the approach of Auster, by becoming moist "without any apparent cause". Alternative etymologies is that it derives from aquilus ("dark"), meaning either dark rainclouds (although it is not usually characterized as wet) or simply because it blows from the "land of darkness" (the far north)
- Vulturnus (NE) – (normally SE, but placed mistakenly by Isidore in the NE, as in the Vatican table). Isidore derives its etymology from alte tornat ("thundering high"). Earlier, Seneca said it was named after a battle (reported by Livy) in which the funneling wind threw dirt into the eyes of Roman soldiers and delivered their defeat. Both are almost certainly incorrect. It is probably an old local wind, named after the hills of VolturnoVolturnoThe Volturno is a river in south-central Italy.-Geography:It rises in the Abruzzese central Apennines of Samnium near Rocchetta a Volturno and flows southeast as far as its junction with the Calore River near Caiazzo and runs south as far as Venafro, and then turns southwest, past Capua, to...
, southeast of Rome. Others believe it related to vulsi ("demolisher", from vellere), because of its storminess. - Subsolanus (E) – Isidore says it is from sub ortu solis ("from under the rising sun"). Concordant with Aulus Gellius, who further notes it is a name coined by Roman sailors.
- Eurus (SE) – from the Greek EusEusEus is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.-References:*...
(dawn) - Euroauster (SSE) – compound of Eurus and Auster
- Auster (S) – Isidore derives it from "hauriendo aquas" (drawing up water), a reference to its humidity. First mentioned in VirgilVirgilPublius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
as the "black Auster", which "saddens all the sky" with rain. Possibly related to "austerus" (harsh, hot) or to shine (from a light quarter). - Austroafricus (SSW) – compound of Auster and Africus.
- Africus (SW) – Isidore deduces it correctly "from Africa", a direct translation of the Greek Lips ("from Libya").
- Favonius (W) – Isidore is probably correct in relating it to "favere", a favorable wind. He speaks of it as coming in the Spring, melting the winter frost and reviving vegetation and crops. It has also been related as a mild wind that cleared clouds and relieved the summer heat.
- Corus (NW) – Isidore spells it Corus and says it is the same as the Caurus (the "frigid Caurus" mentioneed earlier by Virgil, but treated as distinct in Vitruvius). Isidore relates it to a 'chorusGreek chorusA Greek chorus is a homogenous, non-individualised group of performers in the plays of classical Greece, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action....
' of dancers,who "surround" heavy clouds and keep them in place. Aulus Gellius had already said something similar, but in reference to Caecias (a NE wind), not Corus. Others have related Corus to cover, conceal, because it relates to clouds, or perhaps the shower? - Circius (NNW) – Isidore sees its circular or "bending" etymology and (perhaps a little confusingly) suggests its name is because it "bends into" Corus. Pliny and Aulus Gellius had already identified the Circius as the MistralMistral (wind)The mistral is a strong, cold and usually dry regional wind in France, coming from the north or northwest, which accelerates when it passes through the valleys of the Rhone and the Durance Rivers to the coast of the Mediterranean around the Camargue region. It affects the northeast of the plain...
– Pliny calling it the violent wind of NarbonneNarbonneNarbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
, driving waves across to OstiaOstia AnticaOstia Antica is a large archeological site, close to the modern suburb of Ostia , that was the location of the harbour city of ancient Rome, which is approximately 30 km to the northeast. "Ostia" in Latin means "mouth". At the mouth of the River Tiber, Ostia was Rome's seaport, but, due to...
, while Aulus Gellius called it a local wind in GaulGaulGaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
, known for its dizzying, circular motion, and notes its alternate spelling Cercius in HispaniaHispaniaAnother theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
Isidore gives the Spanish name to be Gallicus, because it arises in Gaul.
Vitruvius's 24-wind rose
Chronologically, VitruviusVitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....
, who flourished in the late 1st Century BCE, precedes all the Latin writers mentioned above: Seneca, Pliny, Aulus Gellius, etc. As such, his system of winds perhaps ought to be considered before the others. But Seneca quotes Varro
Varro
Varro was a Roman cognomen carried by:*Marcus Terentius Varro, sometimes known as Varro Reatinus, the scholar*Publius Terentius Varro or Varro Atacinus, the poet*Gaius Terentius Varro, the consul defeated at the battle of Cannae...
as the source of his 12-wind system, and Varro wrote before Vitruvius. Moreover, Vitruvius's system is sufficiently distinct and peculiar to defy comparison with the others, and merits treatment in a special category all its own.
Vitruvius, in his De architectura
De architectura
' is a treatise on architecture written by the Roman architect Vitruvius and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus, as a guide for building projects...
(c.15 BCE), makes a rather approving mention of Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek mathematician, poet, athlete, geographer, astronomer, and music theorist.He was the first person to use the word "geography" and invented the discipline of geography as we understand it...
's reduction of the winds from twelve to eight principal winds. But Vitrivius then goes on to note there are many other winds, only slightly different from the core eight, which have been given a name of their own in the past. In a rather hurried fashion, Vitruvius relates an ample list of two variations on either side of the eight principal winds, which yield up a wind rose of 24 winds. Although the 24 winds might be easier to draw equally spaced at 15° from each other, they are easier to list using modern half- and quarter-wind notation. No insinuation about degrees should be read into either case (principal winds are in bold):
| N | Septentrio |
| N by E | Gallicus |
| NNE | Supernas |
| NE | Aquilo |
| ENE | Boreas |
| E by N | Carbas |
| East | Solanus |
| E by S | Ornithiae (periodic) |
| ESE | Eurocircias |
| SE | Eurus |
| SSE | Vulturnus |
| S by E | Leuconotos |
| S | Auster |
| S by W | Altanus |
| SSW | Libonotus |
| SW | Africus |
| WSW | Subvesperus |
| W by S | Argestes |
| W | Favonius |
| W by N | Etesiae (periodic) |
| WNW | Circius |
| NW | Caurus |
| NNW | Corus |
| N by W | Thrascias |
Many of the names in Vitruvius's list have appeared before elsewhere. Among the changes worth noting is the insertion of Gallicus (probably the Mistral
Mistral (wind)
The mistral is a strong, cold and usually dry regional wind in France, coming from the north or northwest, which accelerates when it passes through the valleys of the Rhone and the Durance Rivers to the coast of the Mediterranean around the Camargue region. It affects the northeast of the plain...
) and Supernas (probably a local Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
lake breeze) in the very NE, nudging Aquilo (old NNE) to the NE (almost as in Pliny – perhaps the source of his confusion?). Old Boreas (now separate from Aquilo) is shunted further east – it has never been so far displaced from its ancient perch in the North. Caecias disappears from the NE altogether (although it appears on some enumerations of Vitruvius's list and will make a comeback with Seneca). Carbas, already noted as a Cyrene variant for the SE, is placed in the northeast quadrant. Latin Vulturnus is rightfully in the southeast, adjoining its Greek alternate Eurus. Greek Argestes is given here separately, adjoining Favonius in the west, albeit below its usual northwesterly quadrant. Leuconotos, previously a variant for Libonotus, is separated off and sent to the southeast quadrant (where Euronotos/Euroauster used to be, which seem to have disappeared altogether). There is nonetheless a similar-sounding Eurocircias nearby in the southeast, which might be the Biblical euroaquilo
Euroclydon
Euroclydon is a cyclonic tempestuous northeast wind which blows in the Mediterranean. It is the modern Gregalia or Levanter.-Notable references:...
.
Among other things worth noting, Solanus does not have its sub prefix and the wind Caurus (mentioned later by Aulus Gellius) is inserted between Corus and Circius (with old Thrascias given a separate position above that). Notice that Caurus and Corus are treated differently here, rather than one as just a misspelling of the other. Altanus is probably is a local reference to a seaborne breeze.
Vitruvius's 24-wind list does not seem to have impressed later Roman writers (Seneca, Pliny, etc.), who all went back to 12 or 8-wind systems. Vitruvius's treatment has a touch of carelessness. He does not bother assigning Latin-to-Greek equivalents, give variants or provide any descriptions of the winds. It seems as if he is merely making a long list of all the wind names he has heard, giving each their own separate position in a single system, regardless of duplication. The shifts of some old Greek winds (Boreas, Eurus, Argestes, Leuconotos) into non-traditional positions (sometimes even in the wrong quadrant), could reflect the relative positions of Greece and Italy – or could simply indicate that Vitruvius did not much care for this exercise, and assigned their names roughly just to get a nice symmetric system of two off-winds for every principal wind. One can almost detect a touch of mockery in his construction, almost as if to ridicule elaborate wind systems that try to push beyond the basic eight winds.
Although usually ignored, Vitruvius's list of 24 winds re-emerged occasionally. Vitruvius's list of winds was articulated again in Georgius Agricola's De Re Metallica (1556). (Per happenstance, 24-point compasses were used in celestial astronomy/astrology and in Chinese geography, but these are unrelated to Vitruvius.)
Medieval Transition
The Classical age ended with the struggle between the 12-wind rose and the 8-wind rose unresolved. Loosely speaking, it seemed as if classically-minded geographers favored the 12-wind system, but those of more practical bent preferred the 8-wind system. As the Dark Ages advanced, it could be expected for the 8-wind rose to prevail, but the guardians of classical knowledge, such as St. Isidore of SevilleIsidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
, preserved the 12-wind system for posterity.
Charlemagne
The FrankishFranks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
chronicler Einhard
Einhard
Einhard was a Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the Vita Karoli Magni, "one of the most precious literary bequests of the early Middle Ages."-Public life:Einhard was from the eastern...
, in his Vita Karoli Magni
Vita Karoli Magni
Vita Karoli Magni is a biography of Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, written by Einhard.-Literary context:...
(c.830), claimed that Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
himself adopted the classical 12-wind system, replacing the Greek-Latin names with an entirely new set of Germanic names of his own invention. Einhard's lists Charlemagne's nomenclature as follows (giving their equivalence to the Latin names in St. Isidore's list):
- (N) Nordroni
- (NNE)Nordostroni
- (NE) Ostnordroni
- (E) Ostroni
- (SE) Ostsundroni
- (SSE) Sundostroni
- (S) Sundroni
- (SSW) Sundvuestroni
- (SW) Vuestsundroni
- (W) Vuestroni
- (NW) Vuestnordroni
- (NNW) Nordvuestroni
It is interesting to note that Charlemagne's nomenclature resolves the half-wind dilemma (e.g. NNE vs. NE) by word order – Northeast and Eastnorth – giving neither a priority over the other (thus closer to NNE and ENE, with NE itself absent).
The Frankish suffix -roni means "running from" (similar to the modern English "-ern" in "Northern"). The etymology of Nord is uncertain (the suggestion from Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
nara, water, might imply "rainy quarter", but this is speculative); Ost means "place of shining" (dawn, from the same Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
root that yielded the Greek Eos and Latin Auster), Sund, from "Sun-tha" meaning "the sunned place" and Vuest from Vues-tha meaning the "dwelling place" (as in, the place of rest at dusk, same root as Sanksrit vas, dwelling, and Latin vespera, evening)).
Charlemagne's nomenclature is clearly the source of the modern cardinal direction
Cardinal direction
The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are the directions of north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials: N, E, S, W. East and west are at right angles to north and south, with east being in the direction of rotation and west being directly opposite. Intermediate...
s (North, East, South, West) as found in most west European languages, both Germanic (German, Dutch, English, etc.) as well as Romance ones (French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese).
Arab translators
In the Early Middle Ages, Arab scholars came into contact with the Greek works. Yahya ibn al Bitriq and Hunayn ibn IshaqHunayn ibn Ishaq
Hunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Assyrian Nestorian Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating Greek scientific and medical works into Arabic and Syriac during the heyday of the Islamic Abbasid Caliphate.Ḥunayn ibn Isḥaq was the most productive...
translated Aristotle's Meteorology, and scholars like Ibn Sinna and Ibn Rushd provided commentaries on it and expanded on it for their own systems.
The 9th C. pseudo-Olympiodorus
Olympiodorus the Younger
Olympiodorus the Younger was a Neoplatonist philosopher, astrologer and teacher who lived in the early years of the Byzantine Empire, after Justinian's Decree of 529 A.D. which closed Plato's Academy in Athens and other pagan schools...
's Commentary on Aristotle's Meteorology (translated by Hunayn ibn Ishaq
Hunayn ibn Ishaq
Hunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Assyrian Nestorian Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating Greek scientific and medical works into Arabic and Syriac during the heyday of the Islamic Abbasid Caliphate.Ḥunayn ibn Isḥaq was the most productive...
) gave the following Arabic names for the 12 Greek winds:
- (N) šimāl
- (NNE) mis
- (NE) nis
- (E) şaban
- (SE) azyab
- (SSE) nu'āmā
- (S) janūb
- (SSW) hayf
- (SW) hur jūj
- (W) dabūr
- (NW) mahwa
- (NNW) jirbiyā
The Mariner's Windrose
The sudden emergence of Mediterranean portolan chartPortolan chart
Portolan charts are navigational maps based on realistic descriptions of harbours and coasts. They were first made in the 14th century in Italy, Portugal and Spain...
s in the early 1300s, originally in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, but soon in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and Majorca too, are believed to be constructed on the basis of sailing directions long written down in the piloting handbooks (portolani) of Mediterranean seafarers. The directions, maps and nautical magnetic compass, which emerged almost simultaneously, were articulated in an eight-point compass system, with the following names:
- (N) Tramontana
- (NE) Greco
- (E) Levante
- (SE) Scirocco
- (S) Ostro
- (SW) Libeccio or Garbino
- (W) Ponente
- (NW) Maestro
From these eight principal winds, 16-wind roses could be constructed with half-winds (NNE, ENE, etc.) which merely combined the names of the principal winds (e.g. NNE would be Greco-Tramontana, ENE Greco-Levante, and so on). 32-wind roses, which were already present in the early 1300s charts, relied on placing quarter-winds in between (the names of the quarter-winds were also just combinations of names of the principal winds (see Boxing the compass
Boxing the compass
Boxing the compass is the action of naming all thirty-two points of the compass in clockwise order. Such names are formed by the initials of the cardinal directions and their intermediate ordinal directions, and are very handy to refer to a heading in a general or colloquial fashion, without...
).
The eight compass winds are evidently from the Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
-tinged lingua franca
Mediterranean Lingua Franca
The Mediterranean Lingua Franca or Sabir was a pidgin language used as a lingua franca in the Mediterranean Basin from the 11th to the 19th century.-History:...
in the Mediterranean Sea during the High and Late Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
Of the eight winds, only two can be traced to prior Classical winds – Ostra (S) from the Latin Auster, and Libeccio (SW) from the Greek Lips – but the others seem to be largely conceived autonomously.
Levante (rising, E) and Ponente (setting, W) are self-evidently related to the sun's position, but are etymologically quite different from the classical terms (which might refer to lightness, darkness or the sun itself, but none explicitly refer to the verbs rising or setting). Tramontana (N), Italianate for "over the mountains", most probably relates to the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
of northern Italy, has nothing to do with the classical Aparctias-Septentrio (although it may have a faint connection with the old Greek Boreas, which lingered in Venetian
Venetian language
Venetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken as a native language by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy, where of five million inhabitants almost all can understand it. It is sometimes spoken and often well understood outside Veneto, in Trentino, Friuli, Venezia...
parlance as the Bora
Bora (wind)
Bora or Bura is a northern to north-eastern katabatic wind in the Adriatic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, and Turkey....
of the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
). The Maestro is, as noted, the west Mediterranean Mistral
Mistral (wind)
The mistral is a strong, cold and usually dry regional wind in France, coming from the north or northwest, which accelerates when it passes through the valleys of the Rhone and the Durance Rivers to the coast of the Mediterranean around the Camargue region. It affects the northeast of the plain...
, a wind already given in the Latin rose as Circius, but the name here is novel.
Two Arabic words stand out: Scirocco (SE) from the Arabic al-Sharq
Mashriq
Mashriq or Mashreq is derived from the Arabic consonantal root sh-r-q relating to the east or the sunrise, and essentially means "east"...
(east) and the variant Garbino (SW), from the Arabic al-Gharb (west) (both of which, incidentally, translate to rising and setting respectively). In addition, there is the puzzle of Greco (NE). As Greece lies to the southeast of Italy, this suggests strongly that the Greco wind was named in the south Mediterranean, most probably in 10th-11th C. Arab Sicily
Emirate of Sicily
The Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state on the island of Sicily , which existed from 965 to 1072.-First Arab invasions of Sicily:...
(Byzantine-held Calabria and Apulia was to the northeast of Arab Sicily). A substantial part of sailing knowledge acquired by the Medieval Italian seafarers came not from their Roman ancestors, but rather from Arab seafarers via Arab-Norman Sicily.
While sailors probably could not care less about the source, scholars trained in the classics of Isidore and Aristotle, were not so easily won over. The classical 12-wind rose was still being taught in the academies well into the 15th C., e.g. in Pierre d'Ailly
Pierre d'Ailly
Pierre d'Ailly was a French theologian, astrologer, and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church....
's Ymago Mundo (using St. Isidore's version). Several scholastically-constructed mappa mundi
Mappa mundi
Mappa mundi is a general term used to describe medieval European maps of the world. These maps range in size and complexity from simple schematic maps an inch or less across to elaborate wall maps, the largest of which was 11 ft. in diameter...
inserted the classical 12-winds. Among these, are the 8th C. Beatus of Liébana
Beatus of Liébana
Saint Beatus of Liébana was a monk, theologian and geographer from the Kingdom of Asturias, in modern northern Spain, who worked and lived in the Picos de Europa mountains of the region of Liébana, in what is now Cantabria and his feast day is February 19.-Biography:He created an important...
mappa mundi, the 10th C. Reichenau T-O map, the 12th C. Henry of Mainz mappa mundi (c.1110), the 13th C. Ebstorf map
Ebstorf Map
The Ebstorf Map is an example of a mappa mundi similar to the Hereford Map, made by Gervase of Ebstorf, who was possibly the same man as Gervase of Tilbury, some time in the thirteenth century....
, and the 14th C. Ranulf Higden world map. Many mariners' portolan chart
Portolan chart
Portolan charts are navigational maps based on realistic descriptions of harbours and coasts. They were first made in the 14th century in Italy, Portugal and Spain...
s tipped their hat to classical and clerical authority by inserting indicators of the 12 classical winds on their nautical charts – not, of course, on a compass rose
Compass rose
A compass rose, sometimes called a windrose, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions — North, East, South and West - and their intermediate points. It is also the term for the graduated markings found on the traditional...
, but rather cartgographers might inscribe the names or initials of the classical winds on small colored disks or coins, scattering them along the edges of the map, well out of the way.
As early as 1250, the English scholastic Matthew Paris
Matthew Paris
Matthew Paris was a Benedictine monk, English chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire...
, in his Liber Accidentalist, attempted to reconcile the classical 12 winds he was taught with the "new" Mediterranean wind rose. In one effort, Matthew Paris assigned the 12 classical names to N, E, S, W and the half-winds (NNE, ENE, ESE, etc.), leaving the principal diagonals NE, SE, SW and NW vacant. Thus Septentrio to N, Aquilo to NNE, Vulturnus to ENE, Subsolanus to E, Eurus to ESE, Euroauster to SSE, Auster to S, and so on. (Indeed, this assignment is frequently used by many authors (but not this article) to explain the classical 12-wind system in modern terms). In a second effort, he decided to conjure up 16 classical-sounding names for all 16 winds of the mariner's rose. In his construction (noted on a scribbled corner), he seemed to contemplate the following:
- (N) – Aquilo g.e. septentrio
- (NNE) – Boreas aquilonaris
- (NE) – Vulturnus borealis
- (ENE) – Boreas orientalis
- (E) – Subsolanus, calidus et siccus
- (ESE) – Eurus orientalis
- (SE) – Euro-nothus
- (SSE) – Euro-auster, Egipcius?
- (S) – Auster meridionalis
- (SSW) – Euroauster affricanus
- (SW) – Eurus procellosus
- (WSW) – Africus occidentalis
- (W) – Zephyrus blandus g.e. favonius
- (WNW) – Chorus occidentalis
- (NW) – Circius choralis
- (NNW) – Circius aquilonaris
But Paris did not go beyond jotting these names down on a corner of the manuscript.
In a note in his 1558 atlas, the Portuguese
Kingdom of Portugal
The Kingdom of Portugal was Portugal's general designation under the monarchy. The kingdom was located in the west of the Iberian Peninsula, Europe and existed from 1139 to 1910...
cartographer Diogo Homem
Diogo Homem
Diogo Homem was a Portuguese cartographer, son of Lopo Homem and member of a family of cartographers. Due to a crime of murder, in which he was connivent, he was forced to exile from Portugal, first in England, and then in Venice. It was there that he produced numerous manuscript atlases and...
made one final attempt to reconcile the classical twelve with the mariner's eight by assigning 8 of the 12 to the principal winds of the compass, and the remaining four to the half-winds NNW, NNE, SSE and SSW. In Homem's assignment:
- Septentrio = Tramontana (N)
- Aquilo or Boreas = Greco-Tramontana (NNE)
- Caecias or Hellespontus = Greco (NE)
- Subsolanus or Eurus = Levante (E)
- Vulturnus = Scirocco (SE)
- Euronotus = Ostro-Scirocco (SSE)
- Auster or Notus = Ostro (S)
- Libonotus = Ostro-Libeccio (SSW)
- Africus or Lips = Libeccio (SW)
- Favonius or Zephyrus = Ponente (W)
- Corus or Caurus = Maestro (NW)
- Circius = Maestro-Tramontana (NNW)
Homem's assignment of the 12 classical names to the modern compass happens correspond exactly to the assignment we have been using throughout this article.
Comparative table of classical winds
The following table summarizes the chronological evolution of the names of the winds in classical antiquityClassical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
. Changes in name or position from the prior listing are highlighted in bold. We omit Vitruvius's 24-wind list because it is too idiosyncratic (and does not fit the table).
| Greek | N | NNE | NE | E | SE | SSE | S | SSW | SW | W | NW | NNW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinal Points | arctos (ἄρκtος) |
anatole (ὰνατολή) |
mesembria (μεσημβρία) |
dusis (δύσις) |
||||||||
| Homer Homer In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is... (4-wind version) |
Boreas (βoρέας) |
Eurus (εΰρος) |
Notos (νόtος) |
Zephyrus (ζέφυρος) |
||||||||
| Homer Homer In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is... (6-wind version) |
Boreas | Eurus | Apeliotes | Notos | Agrestes | Zephyrus | ||||||
| Aristotle Aristotle Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology... |
Aparctias or Boreas |
Meses | Caecias | Apeliotes | Eurus or Euronoti |
No wind (locally, Phoenicias) |
Notos | No wind | Lips | Zephyrus | Argestes, (local Olympias or Sciron) |
Thrascias |
| Aristotle Aristotle Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology... (in Greek Greek language Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;... ) |
ὰπαρκτίας, βoρέας |
μέσης | καικίας | ὰπηλιώτης | εΰρος, εὺρόνοtοi |
(φοινικίας) | νόtος | λίψ | ζέφυρος | ὰργέστης, (όλυμπίας, σκίρων) |
θρασκίας | |
| Theophrastus Theophrastus Theophrastus , a Greek native of Eresos in Lesbos, was the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He came to Athens at a young age, and initially studied in Plato's school. After Plato's death he attached himself to Aristotle. Aristotle bequeathed to Theophrastus his writings, and... |
Aparctias or Boreas |
Meses | Caecias | Apeliotes | Eurus | (Phoenicias) | Notos | Lips | Zephyrus | Argestes | Thrakias | |
| Ventorum Situs The Situations and Names of Winds The Situations and Names of Winds is a spurious work sometimes attributed to Aristotle. The text lists winds blowing from twelve different directions and their alternative names used in different places... |
Boreas | Meses | Caecias | Apeliotes | Eurus | Orthonotos | Notos | Leuconotos | Lips | Zephyrus | Iapyx or Argestes |
Thrakias |
| Timosthenes Timosthenes Timosthenes of Rhodes was a Greek navigator and geographer.In the 280s-270s BCE, Timosthenes served as the admiral and chief pilot of the navy of King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt. He wrote a periplus in ten books , and was much admired and cited by other geographers such as Eratosthenes and... |
Aparctias | Boreas | Caecias | Apeliotes | Eurus | Euronotos | Notos | Leuconotos or Libonotos |
Lips | Zephyrus | Argestes | Thrascias or Circius |
| De Mundo | Aparctias | Boreas | Caecias | Apeliotes | Eurus | Euronotos | Notos | Libonotos or Libophoenix |
Lips | Zephyrus | Argestes or Iapyx, or Olympias |
Thrascias or Circius |
| Tower of the Winds Tower of the Winds The Tower of the Winds, also called horologion , is an octagonal Pentelic marble clocktower on the Roman agora in Athens. The structure features a combination of sundials, a water clock and a wind vane... |
Boreas | Caecias | Apeliotes | Eurus | Notos | Lips | Zephyrus | Sciron | ||||
| Roman | N | NNE | NE | E | SE | SSE | S | SSW | SW | W | NW | NNW |
| Seneca Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero... |
Septentrio | Aquilo | Caecias | Subsolanus | Vulturnus or Eurus |
Euronotus | Auster or Notus |
Libonotus | Africus | Favonius or Zephyrus |
Corus or Argestes |
Thrascias |
| Pliny Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian... |
Septentrio | Aquilo or Boreas or Aparctias (Meses at NW by N) |
Caecias | Subsolanus | Vulturnus | Phoenicias | Auster | Libonotus | Africus | Favonius | Corus | Thrascias |
| Aulus Gellius Aulus Gellius Aulus Gellius , was a Latin author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome, where he held a judicial office... |
Septentrio Aparctias |
Aquilo Boreas |
Eurus Apeliotes Subsolanus |
Vulturnus Euronotus |
Auster Notus |
Africus Lips |
Favonius Zephyrus |
Caurus Argestes |
||||
| Vatican Table | Septentrio Aparkias (ὰπαρκίας) |
Aquilo Boreas (βoρέας) |
Vulturnus Caecias (καικίας) |
Solanus Apheliotes (ὰφηλιώτης) |
Eurus Eurus (εΰρος) |
Euroauster Euronotos (εὺρόνοtος) |
Auster Notos (νόtος) |
Austroafricus Libonotos (λιβόνοtος) |
Africus Lips (λίψ) |
Favonius Zephyrus (ζέφυρος) |
Chorus Iapyx (ιαπίζ) |
Circius Thrakias (θρακίας) |
| Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"... |
Septentrio | Aquilo | Vulturnus | Subsolanus | Eurus | Euroauster | Auster | Austroafricus | Africus | Favonius | Corus | Circius |
| Medieval | N | NNE | NE | E | SE | SSE | S | SSW | SW | W | NW | NNW |
| Charlemagne Charlemagne Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800... |
Nordroni | Nordostroni | Ostnordroni | Ostroni | Ostsundroni | Sundostroni | Sundroni | Sundvuestroni | Vuestsundroni | Vuestroni | Vuestnordroni | Nordvuestroni |
| Hunayn ibn Ishaq Hunayn ibn Ishaq Hunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Assyrian Nestorian Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating Greek scientific and medical works into Arabic and Syriac during the heyday of the Islamic Abbasid Caliphate.Ḥunayn ibn Isḥaq was the most productive... |
šimāl | mis | nis | şaban | azyab | nu'āmā | janūb | hayf | hur jūj | dabūr | mahwa | jirbiyā |
| Diogo Homem Diogo Homem Diogo Homem was a Portuguese cartographer, son of Lopo Homem and member of a family of cartographers. Due to a crime of murder, in which he was connivent, he was forced to exile from Portugal, first in England, and then in Venice. It was there that he produced numerous manuscript atlases and... |
Tramontana | Greco-Tramontana | Greco | Levante | Scirocco | Ostro-Scirocco | Ostro | Ostro-Libeccio | Libeccio | Ponente | Maestro | Maestro-Tramontana |
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(159 CE) Noctes Atticae, 1853 ed. Leipzig: Teubner, vol.1) (English: 1795 Below trans.The Attic nights of Aulus Gellius, London: Johnson vol.1)
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- AristotleAristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
Meteorologia, 1854 ed.Aristotelis Opera Omnia, Graece et Latine, Vol. 3, Paris: Firmin-Didot. (p.588ff (Engl. E.B. Webster, online)(Engl. trans. E.S. Forster, 1914, in The Works of Aristotle vol. 3,online txt)
- EinhardEinhardEinhard was a Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the Vita Karoli Magni, "one of the most precious literary bequests of the early Middle Ages."-Public life:Einhard was from the eastern...
(c.830 CE) Vita Karoli Imperatoris (1882 ed., Freiburg: Mohr online; (S.E. Turner 1880 trans, Life of Charlemagne, New York: American Book Company. online)
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(c.700 BCE) Theogonia (Paley ed. 1861, Epics of Hesiod, London: Bell online).
- HippocratesHippocratesHippocrates of Cos or Hippokrates of Kos was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles , and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine...
, De aere, aquis et locis libellus, (Multi-language (Greek, Latin, French, English) translation, 1881 Hippocrates on Airs,Waters, Places. London: Wyman & Sons. online)
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(c.800 BCE) The Iliad (Greek & W.C. Green transl., 1884, London: Longmans, vol. 1, vol. 2)
- HomerHomerIn the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
(c.800 BCE) The Odyssey (Bks I-XII, Greek & G.H. Palmer trans. 1895, Boston:Houghton Mifflin. online)
- Isidore of SevilleIsidore of SevilleSaint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
(c.620 CE), Etymologiarum, (Migne, 1850, editor, Patrologia: Sancti Isidori Hispalensis Episcopi opera omnia, vol.3 & 4, Paris. online (Eng. trans. P. Throop (2005) Isidore of Seville's Etymologies: Complete English Translation. Charlotte, Virginia: Medieval MS.)
- John of DamascusJohn of DamascusSaint John of Damascus was a Syrian monk and priest...
(8th C., CE) "Orthodoxou Pisteos/De Fide Orthodoxa" (As published in J.P. Migne, 1864, editors, Patrologiæ Graeca, vol. 94: Joannis Damascene. Paris. p.796ff
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(c. 77 CE) Naturalis Historiae. (Latin: Mayhoff ed., 1906, Leipzig: Teubner, vol. 1) (English: J.Bostock & H.T. Riley transl., 1855, The Natural History of Pliny. London: H.G. Bohn. vol 1. (Bks 1 – 5), vol.4 (Bks 18-23)
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(c.65 CE) Naturales quaestiones, (Bks 1-7, 1819 ed., Göttingen: Vandenhoek. online(Trans., T. Lodge, 1620, Works, both Moral and Natural. London p.759ff)
- StraboStraboStrabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
(c. 7 BC) The Geography of Strabo (Hamilton and Falconer transl., 1856-57. London: Bohn. vol.1, vol.2, vol.3)
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(c.300 BC) De Signes and De Venti (J.G. Wood translation, 1894 in J.G. Wood and G.J. Symons, editor, Theophrastus of Eresus on Winds and Weather Signs. London: Stanford. online). For a different translation (with Greek text), "Concerning Weather Signs", in A. Hort trans. (Loeb edition), 1916,Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants and Minor works on Odoùrs and Weather signs", Vol. II. p.391)
- VirgilVirgilPublius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
(c.29 BCE) Georgics (J.Martyn trans., 1811 ed., London: Dutton online)
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(c.15 BCE) De Architectura Libri Decem (1892 ed., Leipzig: Holtze online) (M.H. Morgan 1914 translation as The Ten Books on Architecture, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. online)
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