Kaikias is a god of the Greek tradition.
The cold north-easter, who pours out a shield full of hail.
Kaikias, Roman Caecias, is the Greek god of the cold north-east wind. At the Tower of the Winds in Athens, he pours out a shield full of hailstones; he brings cold, hail-bringing summer storms.
For a minor wind, Kaikias is comparatively well attested: Aristotle and Theophrastus both discuss him, and Aristotle records the proverb that Kaikias draws the clouds to himself. Even so, he has no mythology or cult of his own.
Type: God of the cold north-east wind
Origin: Greek cultural sphere, wind rose of ancient meteorology
Texts: Aristotle (Meteorologica), Theophrastus, Vitruvius
Period: Aristotle and Theophrastus through to the imperial era
Appearance: bearded man with a shield full of hailstones
Attested from Aristotle and Theophrastus through to the imperial era; the core sources are ancient wind lore and the Tower of the Winds.
The Greek cultural sphere with Athens; at the Tower of the Winds, Kaikias occupies the north-east side.
Comparatively good for a minor wind: Aristotle, Theophrastus, the cloud proverb and a clear attribute on the Tower of the Winds.
Greek: The etymology of Kaikias is disputed. Suggested links include a connection to kakía, evil, or to Latin caecus, dark; but both remain folk-etymological and uncertain. In Roman tradition he takes the name Caecias.
Appearance
At the Tower of the Winds, Kaikias is a bearded man pouring out a shield full of hailstones. The attribute shows what this wind brings to the land: cold and hail from the north-east.
Effect
Kaikias is a cold north-east wind bringing thunder and hail; he brings fierce summer storms. Among the winds of the Greeks, he thus belongs to the feared weather powers that farmers in particular guarded against.
The key aspects of the north-east wind at a glance.
A minor wind of the ancient wind rose, related to Boreas in Aristotle’s account; well attested, but without any mythology or cult of his own.
Fields and harvests: thunder, hail and fierce summer storms from the north-east strike agriculture above all.
A bearded man pouring out a shield full of hailstones; depicted thus on the north-east side of the Tower of the Winds in Athens.
Cold, thunder and hail; according to the proverb recorded by Aristotle, Kaikias draws the clouds to himself.
No cult of his own is attested; Kaikias is included in the collective offerings to the Anemoi. His fixed feature is the hail shield, not a rite.
Roman Caecias; typologically, the hail-bringer stands close to weather demons of other cultures, such as the South Slavic Ala.
In the Meteorologica, Aristotle places Kaikias half in the north, half in the east, between Boreas and Apeliotes; on the Tower of the Winds he stands on the north-east side. Aristotle also records the proverb that Kaikias draws the clouds to himself: the image of a wind that does not drive away bad weather but gathers it.
The origin of the name is unresolved. Suggested links include a connection to kakía, evil, or to Latin caecus, dark; both remain folk-etymological and uncertain. Only the Roman form of the name, Caecias, under which the north-easter entered Latin wind lore, is certain.
The proverb that Kaikias draws the clouds to himself was taken up by Renaissance humanists in emblem books. Kaikias is a fixed part of the ancient wind rose.
From the perspective of religious studies: for a minor wind, Kaikias is comparatively well attested, through Aristotle, Theophrastus, the proverb and a clear attribute on the Tower, but he has no mythology or cult of his own. The objects on the shield are mostly interpreted as hail, less often as olives.
No cult of his own for Kaikias is attested. Like the other directional winds, he is included in the collective offerings to the Anemoi, through which the Greeks sought to keep the wind powers favourable overall. His fixed feature is the attribute on the Tower of the Winds, the hail shield, rather than a rite of his own; warding off hail and summer storms remained a matter of general wind worship.
In Aristotle’s account, Kaikias is related to Boreas, the great north wind, whose cold harshness he shares; in Roman tradition he takes the name Caecias. As a hail- and storm-bringing wind, he stands typologically close to weather demons of other cultures, such as the South Slavic Ala, who drives hail clouds over the fields. Within his own system, his counterpart is the mild neighbour Apeliotes, while the dry counterpart in the north-west is Skiron.
Which wind is Kaikias?
The north-east wind, Roman Caecias, cold and hail-bringing.
What does he carry on the Tower of the Winds?
A shield full of hailstones, which he pours out.
Did Kaikias have a cult?
No, no cult of his own is attested; he is included in the collective offerings to the winds.
Further standard works in the bibliography.
As the Greek north-east wind, Kaikias is the weather-maker among the minor winds: a hail-bringing wind with a clear image, the shield full of hailstones, and a proverb that carried him all the way into the emblem books of the Renaissance.
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