Editing Zephyrus (section)

=== Other myths ===
[[File:Hyacinthus and Zephyrus 3.jpg|thumb|Zephyr and Hyacinth engaging in [[intercrural sex]] on a red-figure vase (5th century BCE)]]

In his most notable myth, Zephyrus fell in love with a beautiful Spartan prince named [[Hyacinth (mythology)|Hyacinthus]], who nevertheless rejected him<ref>[[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:dialogues-of-the-gods#section14 14: Apollo and Hermes]</ref> and became the lover of another god, [[Apollo]].{{sfn|Forbes Irving|1990|pages=280–281}} One day when the prince and Apollo were playing at  [[discus throw|discus-throwing]], Zephyrus deflected the course of Apollo's discus, redirecting it right onto Hyacinthus's head and fatally wounding him. Hyacinthus' blood then became a new flower, the hyacinth.{{efn|The flower that the ancient Greeks believed Hyacinthus turned into was not however what is today known as the hyacinth, as the ancient description does not match.<ref>{{Citation | last = Raven | first = J. E. | year = 2000 | title = Plants and Plant Lore in Ancient Greece | location = Oxford | publisher = Leopard Head Press | isbn = 978-0-904920-40-6 | pages = 26–27}}</ref> The flower most likely to have been the ancient hyacinth is the [[Delphinium|larkspur]], while other candidates include the [[Iris (plant)|iris]] and [[gladiolus italicus]].<ref>{{cite book | pages = [https://books.google.com/books?id=FlbjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA71 71–76] | title = Roots and Routes: Poetics at New College of California | first1 = Patrick James | last1 = Dunagan | first2 =  Marina | last2 = Lazzara | first3 =  Nicholas James | last3 = Whittington | publisher = Vernon Press | date = 2020 | location = [[Delaware]], United States | isbn = 978-1-64889-052-9 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FlbjDwAAQBAJ}}</ref>}} In some versions, Zephyrus is supplanted by his brother Boreas as the wind-god who bore a one-sided love for the beautiful prince.{{sfn|Smith|1873|loc= s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DH%3Aentry+group%3D17%3Aentry%3Dhyacinthus-bio-1 Hyacinthus]}} Zephyrus's role in this myth reflects his connection to flowers and springtime as the gentle west wind, who, in spite of his traditional gentleness, is nonetheless a harsh lover, like all the winds.{{sfn|Forbes Irving|1990|pages= 280–281}} Not every version of this tale features Zephyrus, however, and his participation is a secondary narrative; in many of them he is absent, and Hyacinthus's death stems from a genuine accident on Apollo's part.{{sfn|Hard|2004|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA58 58]}}{{sfn|Forbes Irving|1990|pages= 280–281}}

On another occasion, another beautiful youth named [[Cyparissus]] ("cypress") and Zephyrus became lovers.<ref>[[Servius (grammarian)|Servius]], ''On the Aeneid'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D3%3Acommline%3D680 3.680]</ref><ref>{{cite web | author = Rosemary M. Wright | title = A Dictionary of Classical Mythology: Summary of Transformations | website = mythandreligion.upatras.gr | url = http://mythandreligion.upatras.gr/english/m-r-wright-a-dictionary-of-classical-mythology/ | access-date = January 3, 2023 | publisher = [[University of Patras]]}}</ref> The youth, wanting to preserve his beauty, fled to Mount Cassium in [[Syria]], where he became transformed into a cypress tree.{{sfn|Forbes Irving|1990|pages=260–261}}{{sfn|Hard|2004|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA571 571]}} This myth, which might be of Hellenistic origin, seems to have been modeled after that of Apollo and [[Daphne]].{{sfn|Hard|2004|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA571 571]}} It also, along with Zephyrus's role in Hyacinthus's story, fits the pattern–also fit by his brother Boreas–of a wind god appearing in the story of the origin of a plant.{{sfn|Forbes Irving|1990|pages=260-261}} In all other narratives, however, Zephyrus is absent, and the role of Cyparissus's divine partner is filled by Apollo; furthermore, Cyparissus is transformed into a cypress by Apollo at his own request after accidentally killing his own pet deer, which caused him much sorrow.{{sfn|Forbes Irving|1990|pages=260–261}}

Zephyrus also features in some of the dialogues by the satirical author [[Lucian]] of [[Samsat|Samosata]]; in the ''Dialogues of the Sea Gods'', he appears in two dialogues with his brother Notus, the god of the south wind. In the first, they discuss the Argive princess [[Io (mythology)|Io]] and how she was loved and got turned into a heifer by Zeus in order to hide from his jealous wife [[Hera]],<ref>[[Lucian]], ''Dialogues of the Sea Gods'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:dialogues-of-the-sea-gods#vii 7: South Wind and West Wind I]</ref> while in the second, Zephyrus enthusiastically recounts the scene he has just witnessed of how Zeus transformed into a bull, tricked another princess, the [[Phoenicia]]n [[Europa (mythology)|Europa]], into riding him, transported her to [[Crete]] and then mated with her while Notus expresses his jealousy and complains of seeing nothing noteworthy.<ref>
[[Lucian]], ''Dialogues of the Sea Gods'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:dialogues-of-the-sea-gods#xv 15: South Wind and West Wind II]</ref>