Aurora had an insatiable craving for attractive young men. It would appear as though she upset the goddess Aphrodite, who laid a curse on her.
Aurora’s main function was to herald the Dawn. Each morning, just before the day break, she flew across the sky, from an Easterly direction, in her pink chariot drawn by two magnificent horses. She was fond of good looking young men and she abducted a number of them, amongst others, Orion. This upset some of the other Gods, who had him killed with a “gentle arrow”. She had a bunch of lovers and lots of sons. Four of her sons were the four winds, North, South, East and West.
Mythology has it that when one of her sons was killed, she cried as she flew across the sky, and this is why we have morning dew.
Her favourite man and official Hubby was Tithonos, a mortal. She begged Zeus to grant him immortality which he did. But she never asked for everlasting youth. So Tithonos could not die but grew older and older. He started to wither and shrivel up, and could not speak properly.
This was too much for Auroa to witness, so she turned him into a grasshopper.
(That’s enough mythology for a while)
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