Zetes

A son of Boreas and Orithyia, and a brother of Calais. Zetes and Calais, called the Boreades, are mentioned among the Argonauts,¹ and are generally described as winged beings,² though some say that they had wings at their heads and feet,³ and others that they had them only at their feet,⁴ or at their shoulders.⁵

Their sister Cleopatra, who was married to Phineus the soothsayer and king in Salmydessus, was found by them when, during their Argonautic expedition, they arrived at Salmydessus. She had been thrown with her sons into prison by Phineus at the instigation of his second wife; but Zetes and Calais liberated them by force, gave the kingdom to their cousins, and sent the second wife of Phineus to her own country, Scythia.⁶

Others relate that the Boreades delivered Phineus from the Harpies; for it had been foretold that the Harpies might be killed by sons of Boreas, but that the sons of Boreas must die, if they should not be able to overtake the Harpies.⁷ Others again state that the Boreades perished in their pursuit of the Harpies,⁸ or that Heracles killed them with his arrows near the island of Tenos.⁹ Different stories were related to account for the anger of Heracles against the Boreades.¹⁰

Their tombs were said to be in Tenos, adorned with sepulchral stelae, one of which was moved whenever the wind blew from the north.¹¹ Calais is also mentioned as the founder of the Campanian town of Cales.¹²

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