Among the four Anemoi, the divine winds, Notus was both feared and respected. Farmers watched for his signs in the color of clouds and the direction of birds, while sailors whispered his name before late voyages. He could bless the fields with rain or break them with wind; his power lay in unpredictability. To the Greeks, he was a reminder that nature’s warmth could also carry its own destruction.
| Aspect | Notus | Boreas | Zephyrus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direction & Domain | South wind — hot, humid, bringer of late-summer storms | North wind — cold, dry, bringer of winter | West wind — mild, fertile, herald of spring |
| Symbolism | Transition, storm, purification, and renewal through release | Strength, battle, endurance, and northern fury | Fertility, love, gentle change, and rebirth |
| Depiction | Winged figure pouring water from a jar — symbol of summer rain | Bearded warrior blowing icy gusts | Youthful god with flowers or gentle breeze |
| Roman Equivalent | Auster | Aquilo | Favonius |
Origins & Family Lineage of Notus
Notus was born from twilight and dawn — the union of Astraeus, titan of the stars, and Eos, the rosy-fingered goddess who opened each morning. From their meeting came the Anemoi, the four directional winds that governed the rhythm of the sky: Boreas of the north, Zephyrus of the west, Eurus of the east, and Notus of the south.
Unlike his brothers, Notus was not known for bringing comfort or cold. His gift was rain — sudden, powerful, and charged with life. The poets called him the “moist wind,” the voice of late summer that carried both growth and decay. His breath arrived when the fruits had ripened and the sea turned restless, a season balanced between abundance and warning.
In the cosmic order of the Greeks, each wind had its place, but Notus marked transition. He reminded mortals that every harvest owed its life to forces that could just as easily undo it. Where Boreas froze and Zephyrus revived, Notus dissolved — washing the world clean before the next beginning.
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| Relief of Notus (the South Wind) on the Tower of the Winds, Athens — marble frieze depicting the god pouring water from a jar. © C. Messier — Source: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). |
Depictions and Symbols — The Face of the South Wind
In ancient art, Notus rarely stood still. He was motion itself — a figure carved or painted in the act of pouring, flying, or breaking through clouds. On the Tower of the Winds in Athens, his image faces south, a muscular man tipping a water jar, from which streams descend toward the earth. That gesture alone captures his essence: rain descending from heat, the weight of summer giving way to storm.
Greek potters and sculptors used simple details to mark him apart from his brothers. His wings were darker, often tinged with red or bronze to evoke the sun-scorched air of the south. His drapery clung to his body as if already wet, and his expression was focused — not furious like Boreas, not playful like Zephyrus, but heavy with intent.
Writers described his arrival in sensory terms: the smell of rain on dry stone, the sudden stillness before thunder, the way dust rose before the first drop. For the Greeks, Notus wasn’t a distant god to imagine; he was one they could feel. Every humid wind and distant rumble was his passing presence.
The Nature of Notus — Storms, Seasons, and the Power of Change
Notus was not cruel by nature — only inevitable. His storms were the voice of a world that had grown too full, a season that needed release. To the Greeks, his coming at the end of summer marked both fulfillment and decline: crops heavy with fruit, seas swollen with heat, skies gathering their final breath before the fall.
The ancients didn’t separate blessing from danger; they saw them as twin faces of the same divine truth. When Notus blew, he carried rain that could revive or destroy, depending on how mortals received it. His winds soaked the fields that fed them, yet they could flatten the same harvest if ignored. This balance made him a god of warning — one who reminded humanity that control was an illusion.
In philosophy and poetry alike, he symbolized change that cannot be resisted. Hesiod called his winds “the breath of the ending sun,” and later writers imagined him as the sigh of the world before sleep. Through Notus, nature taught the lesson that every abundance must yield, and that even warmth carries the promise of departure.
🌧️ Notus at a Glance
- Greek Name: Notus (Νότος)
- Roman Equivalent: Auster
- Domain: South Wind — bearer of heat, rain, and late-summer storms
- Parents: Astraeus (Titan of stars) and Eos (Goddess of dawn)
- Siblings: Boreas (North), Zephyrus (West), Eurus (East)
- Symbol: Water jar, dark clouds, and moist air
- Depiction: Winged man pouring water — symbol of rain and renewal
- Personality: Unpredictable yet necessary — a force of cleansing and balance
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Worship and Cult — Honoring the South Wind
Unlike the thunder of Zeus or the radiant glory of Apollo, the winds of Greece were worshipped quietly. Notus did not have great temples, but his presence was felt in every shrine that honored the changing sky. Farmers poured wine into the soil before harvest season, whispering his name to ask for rain that nourishes but does not destroy.
Some local cults in Laconia and Attica offered small altars to the four Anemoi together. These were usually placed near hillsides or river sources — places where wind and water met. The Tower of the Winds in Athens itself served as both monument and observatory, its eight sides aligned to each divine direction. To the south, Notus stood carved in marble, pouring water from his jar as the ancients once did in ritual form.
Later, Roman devotion reimagined him as Auster, god of the southern wind, who governed the moist air of summer storms. Sailors in Italy and Sicily left offerings before long voyages, praying that his breath would fill their sails without rage. Through such small acts, his legacy passed from storm to symbol — from feared weather to divine rhythm.
Art and Legacy — From the Tower of the Winds to Modern Symbolism
Though centuries have passed since the Greeks prayed to the winds, Notus still moves through the world — not in temples, but in symbols. The marble relief of the Tower of the Winds in Athens remains his most vivid likeness: a strong, winged figure tilting a jar, frozen in the act of giving rain to the earth. That single motion, captured in stone, became the enduring image of generosity mixed with danger.
Artists of the Renaissance revived him under his Roman name Auster, painting him as a dusky, cloud-bound spirit whose breath stirred both ships and hearts. His presence appeared in weather charts, maritime maps, and baroque ceiling frescoes — a reminder that even science could not forget the poetry of air.
In language, his legacy softened. The Latin auster gave rise to “austere” and “austral,” words that still carry warmth and solemnity. Every modern sailor who fears the “southern squall” repeats an echo of his myth. Notus became what the Greeks always knew he was — a force both creative and consuming, the sigh of a world that renews itself through release.
Comparative Myth — Southern Winds Across Cultures
Across the ancient world, the south wind carried the same message: warmth, rain, and the uneasy border between life and decay. While the Greeks called him Notus, the Romans named him Auster, and to both, he was the breath that came from burning lands — both blessing and warning.
In Egypt, the south wind arrived from Nubia, bringing heat and dust before the Nile’s renewal. It was both feared and welcomed, a herald of the floods that gave Egypt its life. In Mesopotamia, the southern winds were servants of the storm god Adad, known to strike with lightning and rain that cleansed the fields. The Hebrews too spoke of a “south wind” in the Psalms — gentle and fruitful, in contrast to the destructive east.
Even far beyond the Mediterranean, cultures tied the southern current to transition. In India, monsoon winds marked the shift from dry to fertile; in North Africa, the desert winds carried the breath of gods unseen. Everywhere, the south wind embodied the same paradox: it could wither or restore, depending on the balance of the world.
Through Notus, Greece gave this invisible force a face — a reminder that every storm holds the seed of calm that follows.
The Philosophy of the Wind — Notus and the Balance of the World
To the Greeks, wind was not just air in motion — it was the pulse of the cosmos. Every direction carried a temperament, a moral weight, and a lesson about change. Boreas taught endurance, Zephyrus renewal, Eurus uncertainty — but Notus revealed the truth of excess. His breath came when the world was full, when the soil had yielded all it could, and the sky grew heavy with what it must release.
Ancient thinkers saw in him the mirror of human nature. The same warmth that ripened crops could also destroy them, just as passion and pride could undo what patience built. In Hesiod’s and later Stoic writings, wind became the image of the soul — invisible yet shaping all things. Notus, then, was not a villain but a teacher: a reminder that harmony required surrender.
This idea survived long after his name faded. Philosophers of the Hellenistic age used the word notios to describe the turning of the seasons, the moment when creation bends back toward rest. Every storm, they said, is a kind of mercy — the world’s way of breathing out before it can begin again.
Legacy in Language and Modern Culture
Notus may no longer be worshipped, but his breath still lingers in the way people speak about storms, change, and release. In modern meteorology, the word notos survives in terms like “austral,” meaning southern, and in the naming of warm air currents that drift from the tropics. Every chart that marks a southern front unknowingly echoes the myth of the god who carried both life and loss.
Writers and poets rediscovered him as a metaphor for inevitability — the moment when beauty passes into transformation. His presence in art and literature reminds us that not all power comes through fury; sometimes it arrives quietly, as a humid breeze before rain. In that stillness, the ancients heard divinity, and so do we.
The myth of Notus endures because it tells a simple truth: that creation and destruction are not opposites but partners. Every storm that bends the earth also prepares it to bloom again. And in the hush after the rain, when the air turns soft and full, the Greeks would have said — Notus has breathed.
🔑 Key Takeaways
- Notus is the Greek god of the South Wind — warm, moist, and linked to late-summer storms.
- He represents transition and release: rain that nourishes fields yet can break harvests when excess prevails.
- Ancient iconography shows him as a winged figure pouring water from a jar — the classic sign of storm-bringing rain.
- In worship, he appears in shared shrines of the Anemoi and later in Rome as Auster, keeper of humid southern squalls.
- His legacy survives in language and climate terms (austral, southern fronts), echoing the Greek idea that creation and destruction walk together.
Frequently Asked Questions about Notus
Who is Notus in Greek mythology?
Notus is the Greek god of the South Wind, known for bringing heat, rain, and late-summer storms.
What does Notus symbolize?
He represents transition and cleansing — the moment when abundance turns toward renewal through storm and rain.
Who were the parents of Notus?
He was the son of Astraeus, the Titan of stars, and Eos, the goddess of dawn, making him one of the four Anemoi winds.
How was Notus depicted in Greek art?
He was often shown as a winged man pouring water from a jar — a symbol of the southern rains that follow summer’s heat.
What is the Roman equivalent of Notus?
The Romans called him Auster, the god of the southern wind and summer squalls.
Did the Greeks worship Notus?
He was honored indirectly through shrines to the Anemoi and seasonal offerings for balanced weather and safe harvests.
What is Notus’s legacy today?
His name lives on in words like “austral” and in southern winds that still shape weather patterns across the world.
Sources & Rights
- Apollodorus. The Library. Translated by Sir James George Frazer. Harvard University Press, 1921.
- Hesiod. Theogony. Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Harvard University Press, 1914.
- Homeric Hymns. Hymn to the Winds. Translated by Martin L. West. Harvard University Press, 2003.
- Pausanias. Description of Greece. Translated by W.H.S. Jones and H.A. Ormerod. Harvard University Press, 1918.
- Ovid. Metamorphoses. Translated by A.D. Melville. Oxford University Press, 1986.
- Burkert, Walter. Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical. Harvard University Press, 1985.
- Boardman, John. Greek Art. Thames & Hudson, 1996.
- Beazley, J.D. Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.
- Rusten, Jeffrey. “The Anemoi: Winds and Weather in Classical Mythology.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 105 (2009): 83–101.
Written by H. Moses — All rights reserved © Mythology and History
