Apeliotes, bringer of fruit from the sunrise

Apeliotes is a god of the Greek tradition.

The mild east wind that brings fruit and grain.

Apeliotes

Apeliotes, known in Rome as Subsolanus, is the Greek god of the mild, moist east wind. His name means the one coming from the sun, that is, the wind from the direction of sunrise.

At the Tower of the Winds in Athens he appears as a friendly bringer of fruit and grain: a beardless young man whose full garment signals the fertility of the rain-bringing east wind. He has no mythology of his own; his place is the systematic wind rose of ancient meteorology.

At a glance: Apeliotes

Type: god of the mild, moist east wind
Origin: Greek cultural sphere, wind rose of ancient meteorology
Texts: Aristotle (Meteorologica), Theophrastus, Vitruvius
Period: Aristotle to the Imperial era
Appearance: beardless young man with fruit and grain

Textual history

Period of the Texts

Attestation spans from Aristotle to the Imperial era. Apeliotes is documented above all in the wind lore of the Meteorologica and at the Tower of the Winds.

Area of Diffusion

The Greek cultural sphere, with Athens as the centre of tradition: there Apeliotes stands at the Tower of the Winds on the east side.

Sources

The source material is sparse: Aristotle, Theophrastus and Vitruvius mention him, but a mythology of his own is lacking.

Name and variants

Greek: Apeliotes combines apó, from, and hélios, sun: the wind from the sunrise, the one coming from the sun. In Rome he is called Subsolanus, as recorded by Aulus Gellius, literally the wind beneath the sun.

Form and effect

Appearance

At the Tower of the Winds, Apeliotes is a beardless young man with a friendly expression. He wears a garment filled with fruit and grain; the image points to the fertility that the mild, moist east wind brings to the fields.

Effect

Apeliotes is a warm, moist, rain-bringing wind, favourable for agriculture. He is not a storm wind; among the winds of the Greeks he counts as one of the benevolent figures.

Profile: Apeliotes

The key aspects of the east wind at a glance.

Cultural Context

A wind god of the ancient wind rose without a mythology of his own; in Aristotle he displaces the older Euros from the eastern sector.

Domain

The mild, moist east wind: rain-bringing and favourable for agriculture, and therefore of particular importance to farmers.

Depiction

A beardless young man with a friendly expression, wearing a garment filled with fruit and grain; so depicted at the Tower of the Winds in Athens.

Function

Bringer of rain and fertility from the direction of the sunrise; the fixed representative of the east in the wind rose.

Cult

A cult of his own is not attested. Apeliotes belongs to the collective cults of the Anemoi with their wind offerings; a distinct rite of his own is absent.

Frequently syncretised with Euros, and known in Rome as Subsolanus; as a favourable wind he is close to other winds thought to promote fertility.

Named for the sunrise: his place in the eastern sector

The name combines apó, from, and hélios, sun: Apeliotes is the wind from the sunrise. In the Meteorologica, Aristotle places him in the eastern sector of the wind rose, thereby displacing the older Euros, who in this scheme moves to the southeast.

At the Tower of the Winds in Athens, Apeliotes stands on the east side, between the fields of Kaikias in the northeast and Euros in the southeast. In Rome he bears the name Subsolanus, as recorded by Aulus Gellius. No narrative tradition of his own has formed around him; he is a figure of wind lore, not of mythic poetry.

Lasting influence on the compass tradition

Apeliotes is a fixed part of ancient and modern wind roses. Through the Tower of the Winds his iconography carried over into the European compass tradition.

In terms of religious studies, Apeliotes represents the systematic wind rose of ancient meteorology. An important clarification: the southeast assignment is a later, Roman-influenced scheme; at the Tower of the Winds and in Aristotle, Apeliotes is the east wind, while Euros moves to the southeast. The two are frequently merged.

Wind offerings instead of a distinct cult

A cult of his own for Apeliotes is not attested; this should be honestly noted. He belongs to the collective cults of the Anemoi, the wind gods, to whom the Greeks made shared wind offerings. A distinct mythology or rite of his own is lacking; those who wished to petition the mild east wind turned to the winds as a whole.

Euros, Subsolanus and the favourable winds

Apeliotes is most closely connected with Euros, with whom he is often syncretised, ever since Aristotle’s wind rose redistributed the sectors. In Rome he corresponds to Subsolanus. As a mild, fertility-promoting east wind, he is close to other winds regarded as favourable; his counterpart within his own system is the hail-bringing neighbour Kaikias. An overview of all the Greek wind gods can be found on the page about the Anemoi.

Frequently asked questions about Apeliotes

What does the name Apeliotes mean?

The one coming from the sun, that is, the wind from the direction of sunrise, in the east.

Is Apeliotes a storm wind?

No. He is a mild, moist, rain-bringing wind, favourable for agriculture.

Is he the east or southeast wind?

In Aristotle and at the Tower of the Winds, he is the east wind; the southeast assignment is later and Roman in origin.

Further links

Literature (selection)

Further standard works in the bibliography.

As the Greek east wind and wind of the sunrise, Apeliotes belongs to the friendly figures of the ancient wind rose: not a god of storms, but the quiet bringer of rain, fruit and grain.