A desiccating wind of heat, Notus was associated with the storms of late summer and early autumn, wetness, mist, and was seen as a rain-bringer.

[3] Thus, he is brother to the five star-gods and the justice goddess Astraea, and half-brother to the mortals Memnon and Emathion, sons of his mother Eos by the Trojan prince Tithonus.

[4] Notus is one of the three wind-gods mentioned by Hesiod, alongside his brothers Boreas and Zephyrus,[5] the three wind gods seen as beneficial by the ancient Greeks.

[7] In his preparation for the Great Deluge, Zeus locked up Boreas and the other cloud-blowing gales, and let Notus free, to rain upon the earth, who let it pour all over the globe, drowning almost everyone.

[9] In the Dionysiaca meanwhile, he and his brothers live with their father Astraeus; Notus serves water from a jug when Demeter pays a visit.