Chione (daughter of Boreas)

For other uses, see Chione (mythology).

In Greek mythology, Chione (/kaɪˈoʊniː/;^[1] Ancient Greek: Χιόνη, romanized: Khiónē, lit. 'snowy') is a mortal woman, the daughter of Boreas, the god of the north wind, and the princess Orithyia, a daughter of Erechtheus, the king of Athens.

Etymology

The girl's name Χιόνη is derived from the ancient Greek word for snow, χιών (chiṓn), a 'fitting' name for the daughter of the cold, northern wind.^[2][3]

Family

Chione was born to Boreas, the god of the north wind, and the Athenian princess Orithyia. She was thus the sister of Cleopatra (wife of Phineus, king of Thrace) and the Argonauts, Calaïs and Zetes.^[4]

Mythology

Chione's only myth relates how she became the mother of Poseidon's son Eumolpus whom she then threw into the ocean for fear of her father's reaction; however, Eumolpus is rescued and raised by Poseidon.^[3][5]

Eumolpus was seen as the first hierophant and ancestor of the Eleusinian clan; in that case, the myth of Chione casting him into the sea might be an allegory of hieronymy, a ritual in which the hierophant consigned their previous name to the sea.^[6]

See also

• Ancient Greece portal
• Mythology portal

Other princesses who abandoned their infants in Greek myth:

• Tyro, Thessalian princess
• Alope, Eleusinian princess