Aura (mythology)

In Greek and Roman mythology, Aura (Ancient Greek: Αὔρα, romanized: Aúra, lit. 'breeze' pronounced [ǎu̯raː], or Αὔρη pronounced [ǎu̯rɛː]) is a minor wind goddess, whose name means "breeze". The plural form, Aurae (Ancient Greek: Αὔραι) is sometimes found to describe a group of breeze nymphs. According to the late antiquity writer Nonnus, Aura is the daughter of the Titan Lelantos and the mother, by Dionysus, of Iacchus, a minor deity connected with the Eleusinian mysteries, while Quintus Smyrnaeus makes the Aurae daughters of Boreas, the god of the north wind. Aurae was the title of a play by the Athenian comic poet Metagenes, who was contemporary with Aristophanes, Phrynichus, and Plato.