On the Greek Goddess Chloris
Chloris meaning "greenish" is the embodiment of spring. This makes her Goddess of buds, blooms, and other green growth. She's married to Zephyrus who is the God of the West-Wind and had three children by him: Ampyx, Mopsus and Carpus. Her parents were most likely Okeanos and Tethys. (Ovid suggests this.) Her Roman equivalent is Flora who had temples on the Quirinal and near the Circus Maximus. Chloris also had a festival in her honor called Floralia. The Goddess Chloris started out life as a nymph, but her loveliness brought her to the attention of Zephyrus, who saw her, pursued, then raped her. He did however,how nice name her his bride and Bespoke her the Goddess of Spring and Flowers. She is also know as Χλωρις (Greek) and Khloris
Ovid's words on Chloris
"The goddess Flora replied to my questions as she talks, her lips breathe spring roses: "I was Chloris, whom am now called Flora. Latin speech corrupted a Greek letter of my name. I was Chloris, Nymph of the happy fields Elysian, the homes of the blessed (you hear of) in earlier times. To describe my beauty would mar my 'modesty': it found my mother a son in law god. It was spring, I wandered; Zephyrus (the West Wind) saw me, I left. He pursues, I run: he was the stronger; and Boreas gave his brother full rights of rape by robbing Erechtheus' house of its prize Oreithyia. But he makes good the rape by naming me his bride, and I have no complaints about my marriage. I enjoy perpetual spring: the year always shines, trees are leafing, the soil always fodders. I have a fruitful garden in my dowered fields, fanned by breezes, fed by limpid fountains. My husband filled it with well-bred flowers, saying: "Have jurisdiction of the flower, goddess." I often wanted to number the colours displayed, but could not: their abundance defied measure. As soon as the dewy frost is cast from the leaves and sunbeams warm the dappled blossom, the Horae (Seasons) assemble, hitch up their coloured dresses and collect these gifts of mine in light tubs. Suddenly the Charites (Graces) burst in, and weave chaplets and crowns to entwine the hair of gods. I first scattered new seed across countless nations; earth was formerly a single colour. I first made a flower from Therapnean blood Hyakinthos the hyacinth, and its petal still inscribes the lament. You, too, Narcissus, have a name in tended gardens, unhappy in your undivided self. Why mention Crocus, Attis or Cinyras' son, from whose wounds I made a tribute soar?"
-Ovid Fasti 5.193
Chloris and The Rose
Chloris is said to have created the first rose. Walking one day in her garden, she came upon a lifeless nymph in a clearing surrounded by forest. She decided to change the girl into a flower to preserve her beauty. Chloris beseeched Aphrodite for help, and the Goddess of Love was kind and gave the nymph a portion of her beauty; Dionysus, the God of Wine, then gave a drop of nectar to give her a pleasurable fragrance, and The Three Graces gave her allure, brilliance and elation. Zephyrus came and blew a clearing in the clouds so that Apollo, the Sun God, could shine upon the nymph and cause her to bloom. And so the Rose was born and was immediately crowned the Queen of Flowers. This time of cooperation by eight Gods is immortalized in the rose.
On other Chloris'
Meliboea was a daughter of
Niobe and the only one spared when
Artemis and
Apollo killed the
Niobids. She was so frightened by the ordeal that she changed her name to Chloris meaning "the pale one".
Neleus' wife was named Chloris, making her the mother of
Nestor,
Pero and
Alastor.
One of these three people, or possibly a fourth, was the mother of
Poriclymenus by
Poseidon.
Sources: