Aeolus Engraving

Original engraving by Kupferstich von Leizelt of Aeolus. Vienna, 1793.

 

 

The image is large to show detail, so it does not fit the page so well. 
 Double click on the image and you will see the whole thing,
 though the entire printed part should be visible to you as it is.

This is a copperplate engraving on laid paper.  If you look carefully you will see the line and slight wrinkle that frames the image about an inch out from the black ink on all sides.  This is the mark made by the plate placed under the paper as it is pressed onto the ink in a printing press.  there is a rather large imperial shield watermark on the left overlapping the edge of the image.

 

Aeolus is sitting on his mountaintop, and here opens the door to release the winds.  He is a ruler or controller of the winds rather than blowing out the wind himself.  Just a matter of interpretation I guess. 

The Anemoi were wind gods who were associated with various directions, weather conditions and seasons.

Boreas was the north wind, bringer of winter and cold.

Zephyrus was the west wind for light Spring and early summer breezes.

Notos was the south wind which brought late Summer and Autumn storms.

Eurus was for the unlucky southeast or east winds and did not always appear in the lists of these demi-gods in early times. Apeliotes was sometimes used for this direction in place of Eurus.

There are other winds for other directions and conditions if you care to learn more at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anemoi

 

I must have dozens of my own photos of this tower as we especially loved going to Athens in all our travels, but they are all in old fashioned prints (funny that they seem so old fashioned!).  I had to resort to this Wikipedia photo. 

Inside this tower is a room that had the mechanism(Now gone) attached to a weather vane that showed the wind directions and associated information to those who went inside.

Last time we went there, we were on the Costa Concordia....You know...the one that capsized!

 

Lost John three years ago from next week.