XLIX] Studies in primitive Greek religion. 35 



ture of the winds appears iu the interesting account Pausa- 

 nias gives of the ceremonies performed at Titane to sooth 

 these powers. Secret nocturnal rites, we are told, were doiie by 

 the priests into four 23its whioh, no doubt, were thought of as 

 the dwelling-places of the four main winds ^). 



The author of the small treatise entitled the Life of Ho- 

 mer, commonly ascribed to Plutarch, says that the poet accu- 

 rately determined the nature of the winds, deriving their origin 

 from the waters: „the water is changed into air, and the 

 winds are nothing but flowing air" 2). Similarly Theophrastus in 

 his treatise On the Winds speaks about winds which blow „from 

 rivers and lakes, and from the earth in general", and which 

 especially caiise the whirlwinds that ensue in caves and simi- 

 lar places 3). The idea of a chtonic origin, in fact, most 

 naturally presented itself in connection with black whirlwinds 

 such, for instance, as the ivifwv, which was said to burst forth 

 from the interiör of the earth stirring up clouds of dust and 

 upsetting houses *). 



The view that winds-gods are chtonic deities was thus, 

 at least to a certain extent, a natural resulb of observations as 

 to the effects of hurricanes and tempests upon wood, and field, 

 and sea ^). Moreover, is it not in itself a natural association of 



circa claustra fremunt; celsa sedet Aeolus arce 

 seeptra tenens mollitque aninios et temperat iras; 

 ni faciat, maria et terras caelumque profundum 

 quippe ferant rapidi secum vcrrantque per auras", etc. 



1) Paus. II, 12, 1. 



2) Pseudo-Plut. De vita Honi. 9. Cf. Hora. Od. XIX. 440: åvéiiwv 

 fiévog vyQov åévrcov. Ibid. V, 478, 296. — Cf. also Hesiod. Op. et Dies, 625. 

 Theog. 870. 



*) Theopbr. De ventis, c. 24 : . . . al re ÖJtö täjv noxaiiwv xal kifivmv 

 avgai xaJ, okcos al åjiöysLai .... Ibid. c. 26: \4:nd yovv rrjs åjtoyelas xal rfjg 

 roiai^Trfs avgas xal al XQOJial yiyvovxai. avva&goia&évrog rov tygov åégo?, fiå- 

 Xiata bh év rots ycoiXoig ravra yiverat. jcai o^ov nvéovacv al änöytiat. 



*) Theopbr. De venlis, c. 34. Anaxagoras ap. Stob. Ed. I, p. 592. Plin. 

 Hist. nat. II, 48. Arist. De mundo, II, 10, 4. 



*) In the Vedic religion luuch the same ideas seem to have prevailed. 

 Cf. Uldenberg, Beligion des Veda, p. 225: „Von Meere her lassen sie (die Winde) 

 den Regen sich aufmachen und zur Erde strömen ; sie erschlittern die Erde 

 und die Berge; die Wälder beugen sich aus Furcht von den einherziehenden ; 

 sie schaffen Finsterniss am hellen Tage wenn sie die Erde mit den GUssen Pa- 

 januas iiberschweraraen". 



