In the ancient Mediterranean world, the classical compass winds were names for the points of geographic direction and orientation, in association with the winds as conceived of by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Ancient wind roses typically had twelve winds and thus twelve points of orientation, sometimes reduced to eight or increased to twenty-four.

Originally conceived as a branch of meteorology, the classical wind rose had only a tentative relationship with actual navigation. The Classical 12-point wind rose was eventually displaced by the modern compass rose (8-point, 16-point and 32-point), adopted by seafarers during the Middle Ages.

It is uncertain when or why the human sense of geographic orientation and direction became associated with winds. It is probable that for ancient settled populations, local physical landmarks (e.g. mountains, deserts, settlements) were the initial and most immediate markers of general direction ("towards the coast", "towards the hills", "towards the lands of Xanadu", etc.). Astral phenomena, in particular the position of the sun at dawn and dusk, were also used to denote direction.

The association of geographic direction with wind was another source. It was probably farming populations, attentive to rain and temperature for their crops, that noticed the qualitative differences in winds – some were humid, others dry, some hot, others cold – and that these qualities depended on where the wind was blowing from. Local directional names were used to refer to the winds, eventually giving the wind itself a proper name, irrespective of the observer's position. This was likely furthered by sailors who, far from landmarks at sea, nonetheless recognized a particular wind by its qualities and referred to it by a familiar name. The final step, completing the circle, was to use the proper names of the winds to denote general cardinal directions of the compass rose. This would take a little longer to work itself through.

In the Hebrew Bible, there is frequent reference to four cardinal directions. The names of the directions seem to be associated with physical landmarks for the ancient Israelites living in the region of Judea, e.g. East is referred to as kedem, which may derive from "edom" ("red"), and may be a reference to the color of the rising dawn, or the red sandstone cliffs of the Land of Edom to the east; North is referred to as saphon, from Mount Zaphon on the northern edge of Syria, South is often negev, from the Negev desert to the south, and West is yam ("sea", meaning the Mediterranean Sea). Orientation seems to be to the East, in the direction of the rising sun, with the result that the terms kedem, saphon and negev became generalized with "facing", "left" and "right" side of anything.

The association of cardinal directions with winds is implied at several places in the Old Testament. "Four winds" are referred to in the Bible in several places. Kedem (East) is used frequently as the name of a scorching wind that blows from the east. It is related to the modern word קדימה‬ "kadima", meaning "forward". There are several passages referring to the scattering of people "to all the winds".

Unlike the Biblical Israelites, the early Greeks maintained two separate and distinct systems of cardinal directions and winds, at least for a while.

Astral phenomena were used to define four cardinal points: arctos (ἄρκτος, "bear", the Ursa Major, for North), anatole (ἀνατολή, "sunrise" or eos "dawn", East), mesembria (μεσημβρία, "noon", South) and dysis (δύσις, "sunset" or hesperus, "evening", West). Heraclitus, in particular, suggests that a meridian drawn between the north (arctos) and its opposite could be used to divide East from West. Homer already spoke of Greeks sailing with Ursa Major (or "Wagon"/"Wain") for orientation. The identification of the Pole Star (at that time, Kochab in the Ursa Minor) as the better indicator of the North seems to have emerged a little later (it is said Thales introduced this, probably learned from Phoenician seafarers).