Patrick Comerford
Kostas is one of the many tavernas in Piskopianó and Koutouloufári that I came to know and enjoy over three decades of visiting these paired mountainside villages above Hersonissos in Crete.
It stands on the west side of the village square in the resort village of Piskopianó, facing the large, impressive new church and looking down on Ευρώπης (Europis), the street to Koutouloufári, 1 km away on foot. For many years, one of the managers in Kostas would stand at a balcony window each evening, waving to visitors below with his warm greeting, ‘Hello, my friend!’ At the same time, he seemed to play the hits of Demis Roussos from the 1970s and 1980s on a loop, especially ‘Forever and Ever’ and ‘My Friend The Wind’ … for ever and ever.
People who live in these hillside villages know when the wind is their friend in spring and summer. Boreas (Βορέας) is the cold north wind that brings storms, and winter; Eurus (Εὖρος),the east wind, features rarely in ancient Greek literature and art; Notus (Νότος), the south wind, brings the storms of late summer and early autumn, along with rain and mist. But I have also endured the Σορόκος (sorokos) or Σοροκάδα (sorokada), the strong southern wind that blows in from the Sahara, bringing high temperatures, a fearsome red-orange dust, and with it stormy weather and heavy rains that can cause flooding.
On the other hand, Ζέφυρος (Zephyros or Zefyros), the west wind, is truly a friendly wind in Crete, bringing cool breezes to the mountainside villages like Piskopianó and Koutouloufári and to harbour-front restaurants and tavernas in Iraklion, Rethymnon and Chania. It is the most gentle and the mildest of the winds, associated with flowers and springtime, and brings light spring and early summer breezes. So, understandably, the west wind gives its name to Ζέφυρος (Zefyros), an award-winning taverna at the old Venetian harbour in Rethymnon.
The ancient Greek noun ζέφυρος refers to the wind that blows from the west. His name is found in Mycenaean Greek (Linear B). Traditionally, Zephyros has been linked to the word ζόφος (zóphos) meaning ‘darkness’ or ‘west’. For example, the Greek colony of Epizephyrian Locris (Λοκροὶ Ἐπιζεφύριοι) in southern Italy was west of Greece.
In Greek mythology, Zephyros (Ζέφυρος) was one of several wind gods or the Anemoi. He and Boreas are the two are the most prominent wind gods. Zephyros was the son of Eos, the goddess of the dawn, and Astraeus, and was known for his unrequited love for the Spartan prince Hyacinthus.
Zephyrus falls in love with Hyacinthus, who rejects him and instead becomes the lover of Apollo. One day when Hyacinthus and Apollo are discus throwing, Zephyrus deflects Apollo’s discus, redirecting it onto Hyacinthus's head and fatally wounding him. Hyacinthus’s blood then becomes a new flower, the hyacinth.
Ovid calls Zephyrus, Boreas, Eurus and Notus the ‘the Astraean brothers’ in reference to their paternity. However, in Athens in the 5th century BCE, Aeschylus in his play Agamemnon says Zephyrus is the son of the goddess Gaia, the mother earth, but does not name his father.
In the Odyssey, Zephyrus and his brothers live on the island of Aeolia, where Zeus entrusted Aeolus with keeping the winds. When Odysseus and his crew arrive, Aeolus hosts them for a month. As they leave, Aeolus gives Odysseus a bag holding all the winds, apart from Zephyrus, who is let free to blow Odysseus’s ship gently back to Ithaca. Odysseus’s crew foolishly open the bag, thinking it contains treasure, and set free all the other winds, blowing the ships back to Aeolia. Many years later, when Odysseus leaves Calypso, Poseidon unleashes all four winds in rage to drown Odysseus in the sea.
Like the other wind gods, Zephyrus is depicted in ancient Greek art with wings, and so at times it is hard to tell him from Eros. In ancient vases, he is most commonly pursuing the young Hyacinthus or holding him in his arms.
The frieze on the Tower of the Winds, the clocktower or horologion in the Roman agora in Athens, depicts Zephyrus alongside seven other wind gods above the sundials, with Zephyrus as a beardless youth carrying a cloak full of flowers. On the eastern frieze of the Pergamon Altar, now in Berlin, Zephyrus and the other three wind gods are in the shape of horses who pull Hera’s chariot.
Zephyrus’s Roman equivalent was Favonius (the ‘favouring’), who held dominion over plants and flowers. Favonius is connected with the adjective favonian, pertaining to the west wind. However, Zephyrus was also honoured used by Romans. Some later authors describe Favonius as having wings in his head. The Roman poet Horace writes:
quid fles, Asterie, quem tibi candidi
primo restituent vere Favonii?
Why do you weep, Asterie, for the man whom the bright west winds
will restore to you at the beginning of spring?
Geoffrey Chaucer wrote of the ‘swete breth’ of Zephyrus. A soft, gentle breeze may be referred to as a zephyr, as in William Shakespeare’s Cymbeline Act 4 Scene 2):
They are as gentle
As zephyrs blowing below the violet,
Not wagging his sweet head.
The west wind is a gentle breeze and sweet breathe on a spring or summer evening in Crete, whether your eating out in one of the restaurants in Piskopianó and Koutouloufári looking out across Hersonissos towards the sea or at Zefyros in Rethymnon, looking out across the old Venetian harbour. After these harsh winter days in England, I am already looking forward to these experiences later this year – perhaps even listening once again to Demis Roussos (1946-2015), whose paternal grandparents were from Crete.
My friend the wind will come from the hills
When dawn will rise, he'll wake me again
My friend the wind will tell me a secret
He shares with me, he shares with me
My friend the wind will come from the north
With words of love, she whispered for me
My friend the wind will say she loves me
And me alone, and me alone
I’ll hear her voice and the words
That he brings from Helenimou
Sweet as a kiss are the songs of Aghapimou
Soft as the dew is the touch of Manoulamou
Oh oh oh
We’ll share a dream where I'm never away from Helenimou
Blue are the days like the eyes of Aghapimou
Far from the world will I live with Manoulamou
Oh oh oh
My friend the wind go back to the hills
And tell my love a day will soon come
Oh friendly wind you tell a secret
You know so well, oh you know so well
I’ll hear her voice and the words
That he brings from Helenimou
Sweet as a kiss are the songs of Aghapimou
Soft as the dew is the touch of Manoulamou
Oh oh oh
La la la, Helenimou
La la la, Aghapimou
La la la, Manoulamou
Previous words in this series:
1, Neologism, Νεολογισμός.
2, Welcoming the stranger, Φιλοξενία.
3, Bread, Ψωμί.
4, Wine, Οίνος and Κρασί.
5, Yogurt, Γιαούρτι.
6, Orthodoxy, Ορθοδοξία.
7, Sea, Θᾰ́λᾰσσᾰ.
8,Theology, Θεολογία.
9, Icon, Εἰκών.
10, Philosophy, Φιλοσοφία.
11, Chaos, Χάος.
12, Liturgy, Λειτουργία.
13, Greeks, Ἕλληνες or Ρωμαίοι.
14, Mañana, Αύριο.
15, Europe, Εὐρώπη.
16, Architecture, Αρχιτεκτονική.
17, The missing words.
18, Theatre, θέατρον, and Drama, Δρᾶμα.
19, Pharmacy, Φᾰρμᾰκείᾱ.
20, Rhapsody, Ραψῳδός.
21, Holocaust, Ολοκαύτωμα.
22, Hygiene, Υγιεινή.
23, Laconic, Λακωνικός.
24, Telephone, Τηλέφωνο.
25, Asthma, Ασθμα.
26, Synagogue, Συναγωγή.
27, Diaspora, Διασπορά.
28, School, Σχολείο.
29, Muse, Μούσα.
30, Monastery, Μοναστήρι.
31, Olympian, Ολύμπιος.
32, Hypocrite, Υποκριτής.
33, Genocide, Γενοκτονία.
34, Cinema, Κινημα.
35, autopsy and biopsy
36, Exodus, ἔξοδος
37, Bishop, ἐπίσκοπος
38, Socratic, Σωκρατικὸς
39, Odyssey, Ὀδύσσεια
40, Practice, πρᾶξις
41, Idiotic, Ιδιωτικός
42, Pentecost, Πεντηκοστή
43, Apostrophe, ἀποστροφή
44, catastrophe, καταστροφή
45, democracy, δημοκρατία
46, ‘Αρχή, beginning, Τέλος, end
47, ‘Αποκάλυψις, Apocalypse
48, ‘Απόκρυφα, Apocrypha
49, Ἠλεκτρον (Elektron), electric
50, Metamorphosis, Μεταμόρφωσις
51, Bimah, βῆμα
52, ἰχθύς (ichthýs) and ψάρι (psari), fish.
53, Τὰ Βιβλία (Ta Biblia), The Bible
54, Φῐλοξενῐ́ᾱ (Philoxenia), true hospitality
55, εκκλησία (ekklesia), the Church
56, ναός (naos) and ἱερός (ieros), a church
57, Χριστούγεννα (Christougenna), Christmas
58, ἐπιφάνεια (epipháneia), θεοφάνεια, (theopháneia),
Epiphany and Theophany
59, Ζέφυρος (Zéphuros), the West Wind
60, Series to be continued.
