Among the elements of nature, wind is perhaps the most mysterious. It cannot be seen, yet it bends trees, fills sails, brings rain or drought, changes the mood of the seasons. The civilisations of the Mediterranean, who lived by the sea, gave the winds names, faces and precise characters. The compass rose, the figure that arranges them in a circle according to the directions they blow from, is at once a navigation tool and a symbolic image of the order of the world.
The eight winds of the Mediterranean
The traditional compass rose used by Italian sailors distinguishes eight main winds, each linked to a direction. Their names often tell where, for those sailing the Mediterranean, the wind seemed to come from.
| Direction | Name | Origin of the name |
|---|---|---|
| North | Tramontana | The wind that comes "from beyond the mountains" |
| North-east | Grecale | The wind arriving from the direction of Greece |
| East | Levante | The wind of the rising sun |
| South-east | Scirocco | A name of Arabic origin, tied to the hot south-easterly wind |
| South | Ostro or Mezzogiorno | From Latin auster, the south wind |
| South-west | Libeccio | The wind arriving from the direction of Libya |
| West | Ponente | The wind of the setting sun |
| North-west | Maestrale (mistral) | The "master" wind, the strongest |
Many of these names presuppose an observer placed at the centre of the Mediterranean, roughly in the area of the Ionian Sea or Sicily. The compass rose is therefore also a mental map: it puts the viewer at the centre and orders the world around them.
The winds in ancient Greece
The Greeks personified the winds as deities. The four principal ones were:
- Boreas, the north wind, cold and violent, often depicted as a bearded, winged man;
- Notus, the south wind, hot and humid, bringer of rain and mist;
- Eurus, the east wind;
- Zephyrus, the west wind, mild and springlike, associated with flowering.
Zephyrus is the wind that, in Botticelli's Birth of Venus, blows the goddess towards the shore. His presence signals spring and the sweetness of the season that is opening.
The Tower of the Winds in Athens
One of the most fascinating monuments linked to the winds is the Tower of the Winds in Athens, an octagonal building from the Hellenistic period. On each of its eight faces is carved the figure of a personified wind, facing the direction from which it blows. The tower also housed sundials and, according to the sources, a water clock.
The building is a perfect synthesis of the ancient vision: time, measured by the sundials, and space, ordered by the winds, are united in a single place.
The bag of Aeolus
In the Odyssey the lord of the winds is Aeolus, who lives on a floating island. Aeolus welcomes Odysseus and gives him a leather bag in which he has shut up all the contrary winds, leaving free only the one favourable for the return to Ithaca. When the ship is already in sight of home and Odysseus falls asleep, his companions open the bag believing it holds treasure. The winds burst out and drive the ship far away.
The story offers a precise symbolic lesson: the forces of nature, and inner forces too, can be a help if governed with attention, but they become destructive when vigilance slackens.
The winds and the seasons
In the traditional calendar the winds are tied to the seasons. The tramontana and the bora bring winter cold, the ponente and the zephyr announce the mildness of spring, the scirocco brings humid heat, the mistral sweeps the sky and leaves it clear. Farmers and sailors watched the wind to forecast the weather, and many folk proverbs are devoted precisely to the winds.
Wind as a symbol of spirit
In many ancient languages the word for wind is the same as the word for the breath of life and for spirit. Hebrew ruach, Greek pneuma and Latin spiritus all have this double meaning. Wind is therefore the symbol of an invisible force that animates, moves and transforms.
In the Gospel of John we read that the wind blows where it will, and you hear its sound, but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes. It is an image of the freedom of the spirit, which will not be shut in.
A practice of listening to the wind
- Choose an open place: a hill, a beach, a terrace.
- Identify the direction the wind is blowing from and try to give it its traditional name.
- Observe what the wind moves around you: leaves, clouds, waves.
- Ask yourself which "wind" is passing through your life at this time, and whether you are welcoming it or resisting it.
In short
- The Mediterranean compass rose distinguishes eight main winds, from tramontana to mistral.
- The names of the winds presuppose an observer at the centre of the Mediterranean.
- The Greeks personified the winds in figures such as Boreas and Zephyrus.
- The Tower of the Winds in Athens unites time and space in a single building.
- In many ancient languages wind and spirit are the same word.
