No Sapo

http://hgp.no.sapo.pt/HGPortugal.RosaVentos.htm

A Rosa dos ventos é formada por 4 pontos cardeais:  Norte (N), Sul (S),  Este (E) ou
Oriente e Oeste (O) ou Ocidente.

Há também 4 pontos colaterais:  Nordeste (NE), Sudeste (SE), Noroeste (NO) e

Sudoeste (SO).

Os 8 pontos subcolaterais são: Nor-nordeste, Lés-nordeste, Lés-Sudeste, Sul-Sudeste,

Sul-Sudoeste, Oés-Sudoeste, Oés-Noroeste e Nor-Noroeste.
 

A rosa-dos-ventos apareceu nas cartas e mapas a partir do século XIV, quando

fez a sua primeira aparição nas cartas portulanos. O termo "rosa" vem da
semelhança dos pontos cardeais da bússola com as pétalas desta flor.
Originalmente a bússola era usada para indicar as direcções dos ventos,  mas os
trinta e dois pontos da bússola são originários das direcções dos oito ventos
principais, dos oito ventos secundários e dos dezasseis ventos complementares.

Na Idade Média, os ventos tinham nomes geralmente iguais aos dos países
mediterrânicos, onde  passavam, 
como tramontana (N), greco (NE), levante (E), siroco (SE), ostro (S),libeccio (
SW), ponente (W) e maestro (NW). Nas cartas portulanos pode-se ver as iniciais
destes ventos na ponta das "pétalas" como T, G, L, S, O, L, P, e M.

Os trinta e dois pontos são as divisões das direcções dos quatro ventos (os
chineses dividiram a bússola em doze direcções principais baseadas nos signos
do Zodíaco). Uma das primeiras coisas que os aprendizes de marinheiro
ocidentais tinham de fazer era dizer todos os nomes dos pontos cardeais. 

Não há um padrão único para a construção de uma rosa-dos-ventos, e cada

escola de cartógrafos parece ter desenvolvido o seu próprio. Nas primeiras cartas
o norte era marcado por uma ponta de seta acima da letra T (de tramontana). O
símbolo evoluiu para uma flor-de-lis na época de Colombo e foi vista
primeiramente nos mapas portugueses. Também no século XIV, o L (de levante)
na parte leste da rosa foi substituído por uma cruz, indicando a direcção do
Paraíso (que se pensava estar localizado no Oriente), ou também onde Cristo
havia nascido (no Levante).

http://www.gisnet.com/notebook/comprose.html

The wind rose and the classical winds

Before the compass rose (the compass itself only became known to
the west during the 13th century), maps included what was called a
wind rose to help orient the reader.  North is traditionally indicated with
a "fleur de lis" symbol, while East (with its religious and cosmological
significance, the direction of Jerusalem) is often marked with a Maltese
cross, as it is seen in the graphic below.

In the classical world, no distinction was made between the directions

and the named winds emanating from them. Wind names
were not standardized (not every region in the classical world
experienced the same wind coming from the same direction) and vary
by the literary source (though names are relatively more standardized
for the four cardinal directions).

The following is a simple composite table using names

from Greek, Latin, and finally the eight so-called rhumbs known to
Mediterranean sailors in modern Italian (notice that these latter names
match the initials around the wind rose itself, except for the Levant to
the East, which is indicated by a cross):

Boreas

northwest Aquilo northeast

Tramontana
Corus
Caecias
(Skirion,
(Thracias)
Aparctias?) north
Wuturus
Circius  
Greco
Maestro

Eurus
Zephyrus
(Burus)
Favonius west east
Argestes
Ponente
Levante

Libs (Lips) Apeliotes

Africus Phoenix
south
(Vulturnus) (Euronotus)

Africus Syroco
 Notus

southwest Austerus southeast

Ostro

The Tower of the Winds, built in Athens about 100 BC and remaining
intact to this day, provides a firm record of the names of these eight
winds (literally written in stone). It was an ancient clock tower (with a
water clock--a technology developed by Archimedes or his teachers in
Alexandria) and probably also an observatory. This was brought to my
attention in a television documentary on the Antikythera
mechanism (part of the Modern Marvels series on the History
Channel). The remains of this mechanism are the earliest known
geared mechanism. They may be an example of a sophisticated
orrery, calendar or analog astronomical computer, dating to this same
time period. The small island of Antikythera is located northwest of
Crete in the Aegean Sea, about halfway to the larger Kythera (Kithira).
Aphrodite is said to have sprung from the sea foam and blown to
Kythera by the Zephyrs, so this island was where Paris built a
monument to Aphrodite and is considered a refuge for lovers.

Homer is credited with naming the four principle winds, provides a set
of personifications, their genealogy and accompanying stories about
the them. Thirty-two winds are ascribed various characteristics in
classical literature, but by all accounts only eight winds were ever
recognized practically for the purposes of navigation. The modern
compass is divided into thirty-two divisions.

For an example of stories about the winds, I read that the brothers
Boreas (the North wind) and Zephyrus (West wind) were known as the
Etesian winds, and are the most often personified. Zephyrus fell in love
with Chloris (Flora in Latin, a Nymph associated with Spring flowers).
Their loving relationship (or perhaps it was Zephyrus' relations with
Podarge, I got a bit confused) begat two offspring. Somehow these
"children" turned out to be horses: Xantus and Balius, who later
belonged to Achilles--I suppose DNA testing might resolve this
confusion but would clearly reduce its mythological charm. Boreas, in
contrast, raped Oreithyia, who bore Calais and Zethes among others. I
originally wanted to provide a summary story here for each of the
winds, but to summarize thirty-two (or even eight) such active
personages requires more interest in or knowledge of mythology than I
can claim.  Beyond that, there are many inconsistently applied
alternate names in several different languages, causing much
confusion to the casual reader like me. I did find that the Newman's
(2003) chart is a useful way to sort it out.

References:

Moreland, Carl and David Bannister. 1989 [First paperback edition

1993]. Antique Maps: A collector's handbook. 3d ed. (Christie's
collectors library). Chapter 10, "Myths and legends on old maps." (See
especially under the heading The story of the windrose). London:
Phaidon.

Newman, Harold and Jon O. Newman. 2003. A genealogical chart of

Greek mythology: comprising 3,673 named figures of Greek
mythology, all related to each other with a single family of 20
generations. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Includes
bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0807827908 (cloth: alk.
paper).

Taylor, E. G. R. (Eva Germaine Rimington). 1956. The haven-finding

art; a history of navigation from Odysseus to Captain Cook. London,
Hollis & Carter.

For more on the Antikythera mechanism:

Edmunds, Mike and Philip Morgan. 2000. "The Antikythera

Mechanism: Still a mystery of Greek astronomy?" Astronomy &
Geophysics 41 (6):6.10-6.17.

Phillips, Tony. 2000 "The Antikythera Mechanism I with Java

animations by Bill Casselman" and "The Antikythera Mechanism II with
Java animations by Bill Casselman." Published April 1 and May 1,
2000 by the American Mathematical Society, available online
at: http://www.ams.org/new-in-math/cover/kyth1.html and http://www.a
ms.org/new-in-math/cover/diff1.html (Viewed Jan. 3, 2005).

Price, Derek J. de Solla (Derek John de Solla). 1975. Gears from the

Greeks: the Antikythera mechanism: a calendar computer from ca. 80
B.C. New York: Science History Publications, c1974. ["Materials
included herein originally appeared in Transactions of the American
Philosophical Society, new series, volume 64, part 7."] ISBN:
0882020196.

Wright, Michael T. 2002. "A planetarium display for the Antikythera

mechanism." Horological Journal 144(5):169-173.
N.B. The above image of the wind rose is taken from the 1598 Tabvla
geograregni Congo.

Site do Instituto Hidrográfico

http://www.hidrografico.pt/rosa-dos-ventos.php

Rosas dos Ventos

Nas cartas iluminadas, os rumos ou «linhas de rumo» eram desenhados, a cores, a partir de

«rosas dos ventos», semelhantes às das agulhas de marear, e cada cartógrafo tinha o seu estilo
próprio de desenhar essas «rosas».

O norte destas «rosas» era representado por uma «flor de liz», símbolo empregado pelos
portugueses e que depois se universalizou.

Também era uso representar o ponto cardeal «Leste» com outro símbolo, a maior parte das vezes,
uma cruz, para indicar o lado do nascimento do Sol, isto é, o oriente, donde naturalmente o termo
«orientar».

A cruz a indicar o leste de alguns mapas da Idade Média apontava, no Mediterrâneo, a Terra
Santa. As cores das «linhas de rumo» nas cartas iluminadas eram as seguintes: a preto, os oito
rumos principais cardeais e intercardeais, a verde, as oito meias partidas, e as dezasseis quartas,
a vermelho.

In “ROSAS DOS VENTOS DAS CARTAS DE MAREAR PORTUGUESAS”. Anais do Clube Militar Naval.
– Ano CXIII, N.º Especial (1983).