Skiron is a god of the Greek tradition.
The dry north-west wind that heralds winter.
Skiron, also Skeiron, called Caurus or Corus in Roman tradition, is the Greek god of the dry north-west wind, also called Argestes in the wind rose. On the Tower of the Winds in Athens, he tips an inverted bronze vessel from which glowing ash pours.
He heralds winter and withers vegetation. He is only thinly attested: Skiron is generally regarded as a Megarian local variant of Argestes, without a myth of his own and without his own rite.
Type: god of the dry, cold north-west wind
Origin: Greek cultural sphere, Megarian local variant of Argestes
Texts: Aristotle (Meteorologica), Vitruvius, Seneca
Period: Aristotle to the Imperial era
Appearance: bearded man with an inverted brazier
The attestations range from Aristotle to the Imperial era; Vitruvius and Seneca contribute the Latin name forms.
The Greek cultural sphere, with Athens and Megara: the name Skiron is the Megarian term for the north-west wind.
Thin: Skiron is mostly a local variant of Argestes; he becomes most tangible on the Tower of the Winds and in ancient wind lore.
Greek: The etymology is uncertain. Suggestions include a link to the Attic festival of Skira, to skiros, meaning dark, or to the Skironian Rocks near Megara. In Roman tradition the wind is called Caurus or Corus.
Appearance
On the Tower of the Winds, Skiron is a bearded, unkempt man tipping an inverted bronze vessel or brazier, from which glowing ash pours. The image stands for desiccation and the onset of winter.
Effect
Skiron is a dry, cold north-west wind. He heralds winter and withers vegetation; for farmers he was thus a harbinger of the barren season.
The key aspects of the north-west wind at a glance.
The Megarian name form of the north-west wind Argestes in the ancient wind rose; thinly attested, with no myth of his own.
The turn towards the cold season: Skiron dries out the land, withers vegetation and heralds winter.
Bearded, unkempt man tipping an inverted bronze brazier from which glowing ash pours; depicted this way on the Tower of the Winds.
Dry, cold wind from the north-west, the counterpart to the moist Lips; a harbinger of winter in ancient wind lore.
No cult of his own is attested; Skiron belongs to the collective offerings for the Anemoi and has no ritual of his own.
Identical with Argestes and Olympias, called Caurus and Corus in Roman tradition; related through the wind rose to Maestro and Mistral.
Aristotle names the northwest wind Argestes and lists Olympias and Skiron, the Megarian designation, as local variants. On the Tower of the Winds in Athens, the wind stands under the name Skiron on the northwest side; the Roman name is Caurus or Corus.
The origin of the name is uncertain: discussed are a connection to the Attic festival of Skira, to skiros, dark, or to the Skironian Rocks near Megara. In the wind rose, Skiron forms the dry counterpart to the moist Lips in the southwest; his cold neighbour to the north is Boreas.
Through the Tower of the Winds, Vitruvius and Seneca, Skiron carried on into the European wind rose, into the circle of Maestro and Mistral. He is a fixed part of ancient wind lore.
In terms of religious studies, Skiron is thinly attested as a wind god and is mostly a local variant of Argestes. Important clarification: the robber Sk(e)iron of Megara, whom Theseus killed, is a separate legendary figure and not the wind god; there is only a geographical overlap at the Skironian Rocks, no mythological identity. His cardinal direction is northwest.
No separate cult for Skiron is documented. Like the other directional winds, he belongs to the collective offerings to the Anemoi; he has no ritual of his own. This fits his overall profile: Skiron is mostly a local variant of Argestes, a name within the wind rose, not a god with an established cult community.
Skiron is identical with Argestes and Olympias, the northwest wind, and corresponds to the Roman Caurus and Corus. Within the Greek wind rose he is the dry counterpart to the moist Lips; his cold relatives are Boreas in the north and Kaikias in the northeast. Through Vitruvius and Seneca, his line extends to the modern wind names Maestro and Mistral.
Which wind is Skiron?
The northwest wind, also called Argestes in the wind rose, Roman Caurus or Corus, dry and cold.
What does he carry on the Tower of the Winds?
An overturned bronze vessel from which glowing ashes pour, a sign of desiccation.
Is Skiron the robber whom Theseus killed?
No. That is a separate legendary figure; there is only a name overlap at the Skironian Rocks.
Recommended internal links:
Further standard works in the bibliography.
As the Greek northwest wind, in the technical language of the winds the Argestes, Skiron remains a quiet figure of ancient wind lore: not a hero of his own myths, but the bearded man with the ash basin who announces winter.
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