Boreas King of Thrace Carries Away Orithyia. A.M. 2657.

This is part of a group of drawings by British artist and book illustrator Edward Francis Burney, depicting scenes from Greek and Roman history and mythology. This composition was used for a headpiece in 'Le Souvenir', a memorandum book published by Suttaby, Evance, Fox, Richardson/London in 1825, on the page for 16th March. Boreas was the personification of the north wind. He carried off Oreithyia, the beautiful daughter of the King of Athens, and they lived in Thrace as King and Queen of the Winds. According to Herodotus, Boreas wrecked the fleet of the Persian King, Xerxes, to please the Athenians who built him a sanctuary and held a festival in his honour to thank him.