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Aura (mythology)

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Ancient

Ovid

Ars Amatoria

3.687–746 (pp. 166–171)

3.687–706 (pp. 166, 167)

Near the purple hills of flowery Hymettus there is a sacred spring ... Gentle zephyrs and health-giving breezes sway the varied foliage, and the tips of the grasses tremble. Sweet sleep was upon Cephalus; leaving servants and hounds the youth often rested in this spot when weary, and, “Come, wandering Aura,” was he wont to sing, “come to my bosom and refresh my sultriness.” To his wife’s timid ears some foolish busy-body reported with mindful utterance the sounds he had heard; when Procris heard the name of Aura, a rival, as she thought, she fainted, and was speechless with sudden grief ... When her spirits [cont.]

3.707–736 (pp. 168, 169)

returned, she ... When she drew nigh, she left her comrades in the vale, and herself secretly with silent step bravely entered the wood. What were thy feelings, Procris, when thus frantic thou lurkedst there? What a fire was in thy maddened heart! Soon would she come, that Aura, whoe’er she might be (so didst thou think), and thine own eyes would see the shame. Now dost thou regret thy coming (for thou could’st not wish to find him guilty), now art thou glad: this way and that love sways thy heart. To commend belief there is the name and the place and the informer, and because the mind ever thinks its fears are true. When she saw the mark of a body on the flattened grass, her leaping heart beats within her fearful bosom. And now midday had drawn short the unsubstantial shadows, and evening and morning were equally removed: lo! Cephalus, son of Cyllene, returns from the woods, and scatters spring water on his glowing cheeks. Anxiously, Procris, thou liest hid: he rests on the wonted grass, and cries, “Come, breeze, come tender Zephyrs!” When the name’s pleasing error was manifest to the hapless woman, her reason returned, and the true colour to her face ... Woe is me! the dart has pierced the [cont.]

3.737–746 (pp. 168, 169)

maid. “Alas!” she cries, “thou hast pierced a friendly breast: this spot hath ever a wound from Cephalus. Untimely I die, yet injured by no rival: this will make thee, earth, lie lightly on my bones. Now goes my spirit out upon the air whose name I once suspected: I faint, I die; close my eyes with the hand I love.” He raises to his sad bosom his lady’s dying form, and laves the cruel wound in tears: her spirit passes, and ebbing little by little from her rash breast is caught upon her unhappy lover’s lips.

Metamorphoses

7.690–862 (pp. 390–403)

[Cephalas tells his story:] “It is this weapon makes me weep, thou son of a goddess—who could believe it?—and long will it make me weep if the fates shall give me long life. ...

7.796–822 (pp. 398, 399)

“My joys, Phocus, were the beginning of my woe. These I will describe first. ... But when my hand had had its fill of slaughter of wild creatures, I would come back to the cool shade and the breeze that came forth from the cool valleys. [811] I wooed the breeze, blowing gently on me in my heat; the breeze I waited for. She was my labour’s rest. ‘Come, Aura,’ I remember I used to cry, ‘come soothe me; come into my breast, most welcome one, and, as indeed you do, relieve the heat with which I burn.’ Perhaps I would add, for so my fates drew me on, more endearments, and say: ‘Thou art my greatest joy; thou dost refresh and comfort me; thou makest me to love the woods and solitary places. It is ever my joy to feel thy breath upon my face.’ [821] Some one overhearing these words was deceived by their double meaning; and, thinking that the word ‘Aura’ so often on my lips was a nymph’s name, was convinced that I was in love with [cont.]

7.823–850 (pp. 400, 401)

some nymph. Straightway the rash tell-tale went to Procris with the story of my supposed unfaithfulness ... [Procris] [830] feared a mere nothing, feared an empty name [831] and grieved, poor girl, as over a real rival. And yet she would often doubt and hope in her depth of misery that she was mistaken; she rejected as untrue the story she had heard, and, unless she saw it with her own eyes, would not think her husband guilty of such sin. [835] The next morning, when the early dawn had banished night, I left the house and sought the woods; there, successful, as I lay on the grass, I cried: ‘Come, Aura, come and soothe my toil’—and suddenly, while I was speaking, I thought I heard a groan. Yet ‘Come, dearest,’ I cried again, [839] and as the fallen leaves made a slight rustling sound, I thought it was some beast and hurled my javelin at the place. It was Procris, and, clutching at the wound in her breast, she cried, ‘Oh, woe is me.’ When I recognized the voice of my faithful wife, I rushed headlong towards the sound, beside myself with horror. There I found her dying,... She, though strength failed her, with a [cont.]

7.851–862 (pp. 402, 403)

dying effort forced herself to say these few words: [852] ‘By the union of our love, by the gods above and my own gods, by all that I have done for you, and by the love that still I bear you in my dying hour, the cause of my own death, I beg you, do not let this Aura take my place.’ [856] And then I knew at last that it was a mistake in the name, and I told her the truth. But what availed then the telling? She fell back in my arms and her last faint strength fled with her blood. So long as she could look at anything she looked at me and breathed out her unhappy spirit on my lips. But she seemed to die content and with a happy look upon her face.”

Pliny

Natural History

36.29 (pp. 22, 23)

Equally, there is a controversy about the Cupid Holding a Thunderbolt in the Hall of Octavia. Only one thing is stated with conviction, namely that the figure is that of Alcibiades,c the most handsome youth of that time. In the same salon there are many pleasing works of which the authors are unknown, for example, the Four Satyrs, of whom one is carrying on his shoulders Father Liber dressed in a robe and another is likewise carrying Ariadne^d while a third stops a child crying and a fourth gives a drink to another child out of a mixing-bowl; and the Two Breezes, who are spreading their cloaks like sails [duaeque Aurae velificantes sua veste].

Servius

Commentary on Virgil

6.445

Suda

s.v. Metagenes

Headword: Μεταγένης

Adler number: mu,688

Translated headword: Metagenes

Vetting Status: high

Translation:

Athenian; son of Dylos;[1] comic poet. Amongst his plays are these: Breezes, Blockhead, Thouriopersians,[2] Sacrifice-lover, Homer or Athletes.

Greek Original:

Μεταγένης, Ἀθηναῖος, Δύλου παῖς, κωμικός. τῶν δὲ αὐτοῦ δραμάτων ἐστὶ ταῦτα: Αὖραι, Μαμμάκυθος, Θουριοπέρσαι, Φιλοθύτης, Ὅμηρος ἢ Ἀσκηταί.

Notes:

Old Comedy; OCD(4) s.v.; Kassel-Austin, PCG 7.4-13

[1] The name does not convince; suggested emendations include Diyllos.

[2] cf. tau 672.

Nonnus

Online version at Harvard University Press.

Dionysiaca

1.26–28 (I pp. 4, 5)

Thyone's [Semeles'] son [Dionysos] love-sick for Aura the desirable, boarslayer, daughter of Cybele, mother of the third Bacchus late-born^a [Iacchus].

^aThyone is one of the names of Semele. Aura, for whom see inf., xlviii. 238 ff., was one of the nymphs of Artemis, hence a huntress. There are many traditions about the birth and birthplace of Dionysos, and hence it came to be thought that there were several deities confused. Diodorus (iii.63) gives five, Cicero three (Nat. Deor. iii. 23). the third here is Iacchos.

48.238–257 (III pp. 440–443)

Then he left the halls of Pallene and Thracian Boreas, and went on to Rheia’s house, where the divine court of the prolific Cybele stood on Phrygian soil. There grew Aura the mountain maiden of Rhyndacos, and hunted over the foothills of rocky Dindymon. She was yet unacquainted with love, a comrade of the Archeress. She kept aloof from the notions of unwarlike maids, like a younger Artemis, this daughter of Lelantos; for the father of this [p. 443] stormfoot girl was ancient Lelantos the Titan, who wedded Periboia, a daughter of Oceanos; a manlike maid she was, who knew nothing of Aphrodite. She grew up taller than her yearsmates, a lovely rosy-armed thing, ever a friend of the hills. Often in hunting she ran down the wild bear, and sent her swift lance shooting against the lioness, but she slew no prickets and shot no hares. No, she carried her tawny quiver to shoot down hillranging tribes of ravening lions, with her shafts that were death to wild beasts. Her name was like her doings: Aura the Windmaid could run most swiftly, keeping pace with the highland winds.

48.258–301 (III pp. 442–445)

[Unchaste dream and subsequent anger:] One day in the scorching season of thirsty heat the maiden was asleep, resting from her labours of hunting. Stretching her body on Cybele’s grass, and leaning her head on a bush of chaste^a laurel, she slept at midday, and saw a vision in her dreams ... The maiden awoke, raved against the prudent laurel, upbraided Eros and the Paphian [Aphrodite]—but bold Sleep [Hypnos] she reproached more than all and threatened the Dream [Oneiros]: she was angry with the leaves ... She spoke thus, angry at the plant and Eros and Sleep all together.

48.302–370 (III pp. 444–451)

And once it happened that Artemis queen of the hunt was hunting over the hills ... [spying Artemis bathing, Aura says:] [351] "Artemis, you only have the name of a virgin maid, your rounded breasts are full and soft, ... Why are your arms so tender, why are your breasts not round like Aura's to tell the world themselves of unviolated maidenhood?"

[370] So she spoke in raillery;

48.370–448 (III pp. 450–457)

the goddess listened downcast in boding silence. Waves of anger swelled in her breat, her flashing eyes had death in their look. ... She betook herself to Nemesis, ... [377] [who promises Artemis:] " ... Aura the maid of the hunt shall be a virgin no longer. You shall see her in the bed of a mountain stream weeping fountains of tears for her maiden girdle."

48.421 (III pp. 454–455)

daughter of Lelantos

48.444 (III pp. 456–457)

Her father Lelantos might blame me when he heard

48.470–634 (III pp. 458–471)

Nemesis now flew back to snowbeaten Tauros ... And Eros drove Dionysos mad for the girl with the delicious wound of his arrow, ...

[474] And the god roamed over the hills scourged with a greater fire ... He had no hope of the girl's love, no physic for his passion; [477] ... [574] he dug the earth with his wand ... and poured out ... a purple stream of wine ... [599] Gladly ... When she had drunk ... [621] Then Iobacchos ... tied the girl's feet ... and stole the bridal fruit from Aura asleep. ... [633] ... that hapless girl heavy with wine, unmoving, was wedded to Dionysos;

48.652–688 (III pp. 470–473)

... the bride started up; she shook off ... sleep, the witness of the unpublished nuptials ... that told of a maidenhood ravished ... She was maddened by what she saw. ... she chased the countrymen, slew shepherds ... [664] ... oxherds ... goatherds ... huntsmen ... For she had not yet learnt the cunning heart of Dionysos ... but she made empty the huts of the mountainranging herdsmen and drenched the hills with blood.

48.786–855 (III pp. 481–485)

But the girl went among the high rocks ... There unseen she felt the cruel throes of chidbirth pangs, ... [848] ... A babe came quickly into the light; for even as Artemis yet spoke the word that shot out the delivery, the womb of Aura was loosened, and twin children [Iakkhos (Iacchus) and his brother] came forth of themselves; ...

48.870–886 (III pp. 486, 487)

[Dionysus/Bacchus to Nicaia mother of Telete] "Now at last, Nicaia, you have found consolation for your love. Now again Dionsos has stolen a marriage bed, and ravished another maiden: woodland Aura in the mountains, who shrank once from the vary name of love, has seen a marriage the image of yours. Not you alone drank deceitful wine which stole your maiden girdle; ... I beseech you, hasten to lift up my boy ... [884] Iacchos ...

48.910–916 (III pp. 488, 489)

[She took the babes and] laid them in the den of a lioness for her dinner. ... children.

48.917–927 (III pp. 488, 489)

Then Lelantos's daughter ... an unfamiliar burden in her nursing arm.

48.928–936 (III pp. 490, 491)

After the bed of Bromios, ... turned her into a fountain:

48.936–942 (III pp. 490, 491)

her breasts became ... waters

Bernabé and García-Gasco

"Nonnus and Dionysiac-Orphic Religion" in Brill's Companion to Nonnus

p. 109

In respect to Telete, born from Dionysus' first female lover, Nicaea, after her rape (16.270-291), she only has one function unique to her character; together with her mother, Athena, and the Eleusinian nymphs, she will care for Iacchus (48.948-968), the son of the nymph Aura.⁶³ Iacchus is, at that point, the third person called Dionysus in the poem,⁶⁴ the son that the second Dionysus leaves to the world before his expected apotheosis. In the quoted passage, Nonnus identifies him with Erichthonius, a mythical character with no relation to the religious sphere, and concurrently, with Iacchus, the son of Demeter, a figure of hardly any mythological weight, but with a strong presence in the Eleusinian mysteries

Aurae

Theoi: Aurai

Quintus Smyrnaeus

• Quintus Smyrnaeus, Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall of Troy, Translator: A.S. Way; Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 1913. Internet Archive

The Fall of Troy

1.684

For the Gales [Aurae],

The North-wind's [Boreas'] fleet-winged daughters

Modern

Canciani

p. 52

AURAI

(Αὔρα, Αὔρη, Αὔραι) Personificazione dei venti freschi e leggeri.

(Αὔρα, Αὔρη, Αὔραι) Personification of fresh and light winds.

FONTI LETTERARIE: Sulla loro natura: Aristot. mund. 4, 394b 13; Hesych. s.v. Αὔρα. Figlie di ->Boreas (Q. Smyrn. I, 684) o di ->Okeanos (Pin. O, 2, 71-73). Identificate anche con le sei figlie di Aiolos ricordate da Omero (Od. 10, 6).

Αὗραι era il titolo di una commedia di Metagenes (CAFI p. 704-706). Il nome Aura attribuito a uno dei cani di ->Meleagros (Hyg. fab. 181) allude al movimento proprio alla loro natura.

->Kephalos suscita la gelosia di ->Prokris e ne provoca involontariamente la morte invocando A. (Ov. met 7, 837-862). Secondo un'altra tradizione (Nonn. Dion. 48, 242-947) A. sarebbe figlia del Titano Lelantos e di Periboia, e una delle compagne di ->Artemis; amata nel sonno a sua insaputa da -> Dionysos, partorì due gemelli. Impazzita, ne divorò uno e tentò di gettarsi nel Sangario, quando ->Zeus la tramutò in fonte.

LITERARY SOURCES: On their nature: Aristot. mund. 4, 394b 13; Hesych. s.v. Αὔρα. Daughters of ->Boreas (Q. Smyrn. I, 684) or of ->Okeanos (Pin. O, 2, 71-73). Also identified with the six daughters of Aiolos mentioned by Homer (Od. 10.6).

Αὗραι was the title of a play by Metagenes (CAFI p. 704-706). The name Aura is attributed to one of the dogs of ->Meleagros (Hyg. fab. 181) he alludes to movement precisely to their nature.

->Kephalos provokes the jealousy of ->Prokris and involuntarily provokes his death by invoking A. (Ov. Met 7.837-862). According to another tradition (Nonn. Dion. 48.242-947) A. is the daughter of Titan Lelantos and of Periboia, and one of the companions of ->Artemis; made love to, in her sleep without her knowing it, by -> Dionysos, she gave birth to twins. Crazed, she devours one and tries to throw herself into the Sangario, when ->Zeus turned her into a spring.

CATALOGO

DOCUMENTI GREGI

GREEK DOCUMENTS

Vasi italioti

Italian vases

1.* ... Skyphos lucano. Sydney, Nicholson Mus. 53.30. ... Fine del V sec.a.C - A: Aura, identificata da un'iscrizione, seduta su una roccia.

1.* ... Skyphos Lucano. Sydney, Nicholson Mus. 53.30. ... End of 5th century BC - A: Aura, identified by an inscription, sitting on a rock.

2.* Cratere a volute apulo, fr. Londra, BM F 277. ... Verso la metà del IV sec.a.C. - Sul collo testa femminile con polos, di prospetto, tra racemi; iscrizione. Cratere e collo non pertinenti: ...

2.* Apulian volute crater fragment, London BM F 277. ... Around the middle of the 4th century BC - On the female head neck with polos, of prospect, between racemes; signing up. Irrelevant crater and neck: ...

DOCUMENTI ROMANI

ROMAN DOCUMENTS

Relievo

Relief

4.* Roma, Ara Pacis, pannello orientale sinistro. - ... 9 a.C. - Al centro ->Tellus con due putti, ai lati due figure femminili velificantes sedute rispettivamente su un cigno e su una pistrice.

4.* Roma, Ara Pacis, left eastern panel. ... 9 BC. - In the center ->Tellus with two putti, on the sides two female figures velificantes sitting respectively on a swan and on a pistrice.

p. 53

...

Documenti di dubbia interpretazione

...

20.* Rilievo di marmo. Parigi, Louvre MA 1393. ... Prima metà del II sec.d.C. - Figura femminile stante, frontale, velificans.

...

Documents of dubious interpretation

...

20.* Marble relief. Paris, Louvre MA 1393. ... First half of the second century AD - Standing female figure, frontal, velificans .

...

COMMENTO

La più antica rappresentazione sicura è su skyphos protoitaliota (1): A., identification da un'iscrizione, è raffigurata come una giovane donna seduta su una roccia con dietro il capo il manto gonfiato dal vento, secondo un'iconografia che è ricordata da Plinio (3) per due A. velificantes sua veste: il manto a semicerchio ha precisamente la funzione di eprimere l'azione del vento (Ach.Tat. 1, 1, 12). Sul collo di un cratere apulo (2) una testa femminile con polos tra racemi è identificata come A. da un'iscrizione; ciò non basta però per proporre necessariamente la stessa identificazione per tutte le analoghe rappresentazione che ricorrono nell'arte italica e italiota.

A. sono con tutta probabilità rappresentate sul pannello orientale sinistro dell'Ara Pacis (4), in cui due figure femminili velificantes inquadrano la figura centralale della Tellus; di esse una siede su una pistrice, l'altra su un gigno che sorvola un terrento lacustre con una fonte, indicata da un vaso rovesciato: probablimente esse simboleggiano le A. provenienti dal mare e dalle acque dolci. Lo stesso significato va forse attribuito a una figura sul rilievo con la Tellus da Cartagine (19) e ad un tipo presente sulle lastre Campana (21). Un'A. velificans sua veste è probabilmente rappresentata su monete di Camarina della seconda metà del V e del IV sec. a.C. (7).

Le altre identificazione sono tutte di natura ipotetica, per quanto spesso assai probabili; d'altra parte il significato della velificatio non è univoco. Di incerta esegesi è l'astragalos del Pittore di Sotades (6): A., o Nephelai (->Nephele), queste pure figlie di Okeanos (Aristoph. Nubes 271).

L'identificazione con A. è stata spesso proposta per gli acroteri e sculture rappresentati figure femminili con le vesti agitate dal vento (10-12. 15). Anche qui l'esegesi va affronta caso per caso, è identificazione a volte più plausibili possono essere suggerite dal contesto cui appartenevano le figure (10. 16). A. piuttosto che ->Nereides sono invece probabilmente le figure femminili del monumento funerio di Xanthos (15), a cui piedi si vedono animali marini, ma anche (BM 912) un uccello in volo sopra le onde.

Data la genericità dell'iconografia e la mancanza di esplicite indicazione è azzardato proporre altre identificazioni. Così le figurine che galleggiano nell'aria in una pittura tombale di Kerč (18) sono più probabilmente ->Psychai.

COMMENT

The oldest secure representation is on a proto-Italian skyphos (1): A., identified by an inscription, is depicted as a young woman sitting on a rock with a mantle inflated by the wind behind her head, according to an iconography that is remembered by Pliny (3) for two A. velificantes sua veste: the semicircular mantle has precisely the function of expressing the action of the wind (Ach.Tat 1, 1, 12). On the neck of an Apulian crater (2) a female head with polos between racemes is identified as A. by an inscription; this is not enough, however, to necessarily propose the same identification for all analogous representations recurring in Italic and Italian art.

A. are probably represented on the left eastern panel of the Ara Pacis (4), in which two female velificantes frame the central figure of Tellus; one of them sits on a pistrice, the other on a swan that flies over an earthy lake with a spring, indicated by an inverted vase: probably they symbolize A. coming from the sea and the fresh waters. The same meaning can perhaps be attributed to a figure on the relief with Tellus da Cartagine (19) and to a type present on the Campana slabs (21). An A. velificans sua veste is probably represented on coins of Camarina from the second half of the fifth and fourth centuries. BC. (7).

The other identifications are all hypothetical, although often very probable; on the other hand, the meaning of the velificatio is not univocal. Of uncertain exegesis is the astragalos of the Sotades Painter (6): A., or Nephelai (-> Nephele), these also daughters of Okeanos (Aristoph. Clouds 271).

The identification with A. has often been proposed for the acroteria and sculptures representimg female figures with dresses blown by the wind (10-12, 15). Here too interpretation must be tackled on a case-by-case basis, and sometimes more plausible identification can be suggested by the context to which the figures belonged (10, 16). A. rather than -> Nereides are probably the female figures of the funerary monument of Xanthos (15), at whose feet you can see marine animals, but also (BM 912) a bird flying over the waves.

Given the generality of the iconography and the lack of explicit indication, it is risky to propose other identifications. Thus the figurines floating in the air in a tomb painting of Kerch (18) are more likely -> Psychai.

Davidson

p. 257ff.

[Story of Cephalus and Aura]

p. 678 n. 17

p. 679 n. 17

The myth links Aura to this spring, to the mountain Dindyma (twins) where she gave birth, to a "loving-cup hill of Aphrodite" where sexual partners (akoitai) steal girls' virginity and run away (756-59: some marital or premarital sex ritual apparently), and to festivals of Eleusis, shrine of Demeter and Persephone, and the Lenaea. Aura's chthonic character, typical of wind spirits, oddly, seems to be confirmed long before Nonnus. Fourth-century vases from southern Italy often have a woman's head on the neck, sometimes with wings attached. One of these with a polos hat, looking for all the world like Persephone, is inscribed with the name Aura. It is quite likely the "nymphs" decorating the magnificent "Nereid" tomb from Xanthos in the British Museum (c. 380 BC) are also Anatolian Aurai, A. D. Trendall, Red Figure Vases of South Italy and Sicily (London, 1989), pp. 92-93, and fig. 6, J. SIx "Aurae," JHS 13 (1892/3), 131-36 with further references and suggestions.

de Grummond

p. 669

The two goddesses attending Pax, on her left and right, are surely also Horai, or Horae ... It is surprising that this identification has stood firm almost since the beginning of the century, for it rests on thin foundation.³⁶ Pliny (HN 36.29) refers briefly to an anonymous sculpture to be seen in the Porticus of Octavia in his time of duae Aurae velificantes sua veste. Because the attendants in our relief have the velificatio, they were linked with this reference. But it can be shown that the velificatio is by no means exclusive of the iconography of the Aurae. Numerous other beings in antiquity employ it;³⁷ prominent among them are the Horae. As for other details of the iconography of Aurae, they are practically nonexistent. There are extant only two imags of Aurae from antiquity that have an inscription to identify them.³⁸ One of these is a bust of a women wearing a polos, a feature not shared by the attendants in the Pax relief. The other is a full figure, seated on a rock, with the velificatio above her head. She has no other attributes to link her with the Ara Pacis figures: she is not bare-breasted, she does not ride upon an animal, and she does not wear a wreath in her hair as do the goddesses of the Pax relief.

³⁶

³⁷ See esp. F. Matz ...

³⁸ LIMC III, 52-54, s.v. Aurai (Canciani). EAA I,928, s.v. Aura (Bermond Montanari).

Green

p. 254

The verbal similarity Aura-Aurora is obvious, and Servius¹⁵ duly notes it: he suggests that Cephalus constantly sighing about ‘‘Aura’’ on Hymettus attracted the attention of the goddess, who presumably misheard him, and was then aroused to passion by his remarkable beauty (cf. Hygin. Fab. 270). This malentendu, again, is traditional: it can be traced back to Pherecydes.¹⁶ In his apostrophe (as reported by the scholiast who cites Pherecydes as his source), Cephalus exclaims: ὦ νεφέλη παραγενοῦ (‘‘Come, Nephele [Cloud]!’’). ‘‘Nephele’’ is no odder a female name than ‘‘Aura’’ (in fact, rather more common), and a heat-exhausted hunter in Attica would be just as likely to pray for cloud cover as for a cooling breeze.

¹⁵ Ad Virg. Aen. 6.445: ‘‘[Cephalus] labore fessus ad locum quendam in silvis ire consueverat et illic ad se recreandum aurum vocare. quod cum saepe faceret, amorem in se movit Aurorae,’’ etc.

¹⁶ Pherecydes ap. schol. Hom. Od. 11.321, Dindorf 2:505 (= Jacoby FGrH 3 F 34).

Hadjittofi

p. 127 n. 10

Our only other source for the rape of Aura by Dionysus is an entry in the Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. 'ΔίνδυμΩν' (276.36-43) ... where Aura's twins provide the aition for the name of a mountain in Phrygia (Dindymon).

Platner and Ashby

s.v. AURA

AURA

mentioned only in the Regionary Catalogue, in Region IV, but preserved in certain mediaeval documents where it designates a locality behind the basilica of Constantine. It was probably a statue of the nymph Aura who was beloved of Dionysus, and threw herself into the Sangarius (Mitt. 1907, 429-433; BPW 1914, 382; HCh 177, 312, 316, 584, 596). For the Arcus Aurae, see FORUM NERVAE (LPD ii. 346; Liber Censuum, ii. 162; HCh 177, 312). For representations of Aura, see Mitt. 1886, 126, 127; and (perhaps) Petersen, Ara Pacis Augustae, pl. iii. p. 52; but cf. SScR 21.

Robinson

p. 355

The iconography of the 'Nereid monument' at Xanthos (Figure 1) has been disputed in the past, but a consensus appears to have been reached that the female figures which have adorned its podium are indeed Nereids ... Many books refer to them as Nereids-or-Aurai,⁵ but tend to prefer their usual identification and the familiar name for the monument; Bento sees them as 'clearly' being Aurai,⁶ but few have accepted (or even mention) her identification, as the iconography is even more unsuitable for Aurai than Nereids. ...

Rigoglioso

pp. 99–100

Simon

‘’Ars Pacis Augustae’’

p. 27

..Horace’s secular poem …

…

’’et Iovis Aurae’’

With considerable certainty, however we may infer the names of the two lateral figures from the poem. They are Aurae, personifications of the soothing invigorating winds, as they rise from oceans and rivers to bless the crops. A maiden with a similar billowing cloak and sitting at the edge of water is to be found on a classical vase from Taranto. Written close beside her is the name Aura. … For the Roman observer these two maidens may have been “Aurae velificantes” (cf. Plinius, ‘’nat. hist.’’ 36, 29), the one on the right being an Aura from the se and the other on the left from the contry’s fresh water.

Smith

s.v. Aura

（*Au)/ra), a daughter of Lelas and Periboea, was one of the swift-footed companions of Artemis. She was beloved by Dionysus, but fled from him, until Aphrodite, at the request of Dionysus, inspired her with love for the god. She accordingly became by him the mother of twins, but at the moment of their birth she was seized with madness, tore one of her children to pieces, and then threw herself into the sea. (Nonnus, Dionys. 260.) Aura also occurs as the name of a race-horse and of one of Actaeon's dogs. (Paus. 6.13.5; Hyg. Fab. 181.)

s.v. Metagenes

Μεταγένης), an Athenian comic poet of the Old Comedy, contemporary with Aristophanes, Phrynichus, and Plato. (Schol. in Aristoph. Av. 1297.) Suidas gives the following titles of his plays :--Αὖραι, Μαμμάκυθος, Θουριοπέρσαι, Φιλοθύτης, Ὅμηρος ἢ Ἀσκηταί, some of which appear to be corrupt. (Meineke, Trag. Coin. Graec. vol. i. pp. 218-221, vol. ii. pp. 751-760; Bergk, Com. Att. Ant. Reliq. p. 421; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 470.)

Spaeth

p. 65

The two figures in the Ara Pacis relief are identified as a Nereid (sea nymph) and a Naiad (freshwater nymph).

p. 67

The two side figures [on the Ars Pacis] have been identified as Aurae (breezes)¹¹ of land and sea,¹² air and water;¹⁴ an Aura and a Nereid;¹⁵ nymphs;¹⁶ a numph and a Nereid;¹⁷ a Muse and a sea divinity;¹⁸ the celestial and marine aspects of Venus;¹⁹ and the Horae.²⁰

p. 77

The most common identifiction of these figures [on the Ars Pacis] is Aurae, or breezes.¹⁰¹ However, as de Grummond has shown, this identification rests on thin foundation.¹⁰² Iconographically, the figures are identified as Aurae by the drapery billowing over their heads, or velificato motif through Pliny's description (NH 36.29) of a group of sculptures in the Portico of Octavia: "two Aurae making sails with their clothing," duae Aurae velificantes sua veste. Artistic parallels are provided by other representations of Aurae shown with velificatio.¹⁰³

¹⁰¹

¹⁰² de Grummond 669. [= N. de Grummond, "Pax Augusta and the Horae on the Ara Pacis Augustae", AJA 94 (1990) 663-77.]

¹⁰³ See, E. Simon 1967 (supra n. 6) 27, pl. 32, no. 1: a skyphos from Taranto with a picture of a figure with velificatio labeled Aura (University of Sydney inv. no. 53.30).

p. 78

The identification of the side figures of the Ara Pacis relief as Aurae may therefore be rejected.

I offer another proposal for the identification of these figures, namely they are water nymphs, specifically a Nereid, or a sea nymph, and a Naiad, or freshwater nymph.

Zanker

pp. 174–175

But the figures [on the Ara Pacis] on either side of her, aurae, are drawn from Classical Greek iconography. They are twin embodiments of the winds on land and sea. The former rides upon a goose over a stream, represented by an [cont. p. 175] upended water jar, its banks thick with reeds. The sea breeze, however, sits on a submissive sea monster, a symbol that even such wild creatures have become tame and peace-loving in a new age. The aurae, which bring warmth and rain, are thus also tokens of increase and fertility, hence closely connected with the goddess to whom they respectfully turn.

Iconography

Rome, Ara Pacis

Canciani, p. 52

ROMAN DOCUMENTS

Relief

4.* Roma, Ara Pacis, left eastern panel. ... 9 BC. - In the center ->Tellus with two putti, on the sides two female figures velificantes sitting respectively on a swan and on a pistrice.

London, British Museum F277

Trendall, pp. 92–93

The practice of decorating a vase with only a head ... [p. 93] ... From c. 350 onwards, heads, predominantly female, ... It is not easy to decide whom the female heads are intended to represent; ... in one instance the polos-crowned head on the neck of a volute-krater is inscribed ΑΥΡΑ, but this would not seem to apply generally to such heads which might well also be thought to represent Persephone, who would be an appropriate choice on a funery vase.

British Museum, 1885,0314.1

South Italian red figured pottery volute krater (bowl for mixing wine and water).

370BC-350BC

South Italian red figured pottery volute krater (bowl for mixing wine and water) depicting the head of Aura (inscribed) on the neck.

BM image with description

On the neck, a head of Aura to the front, with curls and stephane ornamented with chevron pattern, resting on the calyx of a flower from which luxuriant tendrils and blossoms branch out on either side; above, it is incised: AVDA, ???a.

Metropolitn Museum of Art

"Identification of these heads has proven difficult, as there is only one known example, now in the British Museum, whose name is inscribed (called “Aura”—”Breeze”).

Davidson, p. 679 n. 17

Fourth-century vases from southern Italy often have a woman's head on the neck, sometimes with wings attached. One of these with a polos hat, looking for all the world like Persephone, is inscribed with the name Aura. It is quite likely the "nymphs" decorating the magnificent "Nereid" tomb from Xanthos in the British Museum (c. 380 BC) are also Anatolian Aurai, A. D. Trendall, Red Figure Vases of South Italy and Sicily (London, 1989), pp. 92-93, and fig. 6, J. SIx "Aurae," JHS 13 (1892/3), 131-36 with further references and suggestions.

Canciani, p. 52

2.* Apulian volute crater fragment, London BM F 277. ... Around the middle of the 4th century BC - On the female head neck with polos, of prospect, between racemes; signing up. Irrelevant crater and neck: ...

LIMC 6862 Aurai 2

Type: volute crater

Origin: Apulia

Category: vase painting

Material: terracotta

Description

Raub der Persephone. Vor dem Gespann Hekate mit Strahlenkranz und Kreuzfackel; unter ihr sehr kleiner Naiskos, darin Kultbild mit Polos und an den Ellbogen waagrecht abgewinkelten (d.h. vorgestreckten) Unterarmen, in der linken Hand ein runder Gegenstand, in der rechten wohl auch; on the non-appurtenant neck frontal view of Aura with Polos, identified by an inscription.

Bibliography

RVAp I 193, 5 Taf. 60, 4; Lindner, R., Der Raub der Persephone in der antiken Kunst (1984) 19 Nr.12.

Technique

red figured

Address

British Museum

London

Inventory

F 277

Paris, Lourve MA 1393

A velificans, perhaps Aura, marble relief caryatid from the agora of Thessalonica (first half of the second century AD), Paris, Lourve MA 1393.

Canciani, p. 53

Documents of dubious interpretation

...

20.* Marble relief. Paris, Louvre MA 1393. ... First half of the second century AD - Standing female figure, frontal, velificans .

LIMC 32282 Aurai 20

Type: relief

Category: relief_stone

Material: marble

Discovery: Thessalonica (Macedonia) (Las Incantadas)

Description

Relief with a standing, veiled woman, in frontal view, perhaps Aura.

Sydney, Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney no. 53.30

Spaeth, p. 77 n. 103

See, E. Simon 1967 (supra n. 6) 27, pl. 32, no. 1: a skyphos from Taranto with a picture of a figure with velificatio labeled Aura (University of Sydney inv. no. 53.30).

Trendall

p. 55

[66], with its pleasing picture of Aura (the sea-breeze) seated on a rock by the sea-shore, is related in style to ...

p. 64 fig. 66.

Canciani, p. 52

1* ... Skyphos Lucano. Sydney, Nicholson Mus. 53.30. ... End of 5th century BC - A: Aura, identified by an inscription, sitting on a rock.

LIMC 32269 Aurai 1

Origin: Lucania

Category: vase painting

Material: clay

Discovery: Conversano

Description

Aura sitting on a rock, identified by an inscription

Technique

red figured

Address

Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney

Sydney

Inventory

53.30