BORERS, in Greek mythology, a personification of the north wind. He was said to have carried off the beautiful Oreithyia, a daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens, when he found her leading the dance at a festival or gathering flowers on the banks of the Ilissus. He had before wooed her in vain and now carried her off to his home in Thrace, where they lived as king and queen of the winds and had two sons, Calais and Zetes (q.v.).
To show his friendliness for the Athenians, Boreas wrecked the fleet of Xerxes off the promontory of Sepias in Thessaly (Herod otus, vii. 18g), in return for which they built him a sanctuary or altar near the Ilissus and held a festival (Boreasmos) in his honour. In works of art Boreas was represented as bearded, powerful, draped against cold, and winged. On the Tower of the Winds at Athens he is figured holding a shell, such as is blown by Tritons. Boreas carrying off Oreithyia is the subject of a beautiful bronze relief in the British Museum, also of many painted Greek vases.