Explanations

Abstract IN THE Phaedrus, written around 370 B.C.E., Plato sets down a discussion between his mentor Socrates and the eponymous Phaedrus as they walk by the Ilissus River near Athens. Phaedrus asks Socrates if they are not near the spot where Boreas, the North Wind, was supposed to have abducted the maiden Oreithuia. This story is alluded to in most familiar classical sources-Pausanias points out the spot, Apollodorus mentions it, and so does Pherekydes, al¬ though in this case we do not have his own word -rather, Apollonius of Rhodes mentions it in his Argonautica. There was a full account of the tale in a poem by Simonides, but that, unfortunately, doesn’t survive. As a result, about all we know is that Oreithuia, the daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens, was dancing or gathering flowers with her friends.