Aeolus

In Greek mythology, Aeolus or Aeolus (in Greek Αἴολος) is the name of three different characters. The data offered by mythographers have led to confusion.

Aeolus (son of Helen)

Aeolus was the son of Helen and the naiad Orseis and brother of Dorus and Juthus. He is described as king of Aeolis (later called Thessaly) and is supposed to be the founding of the Aeolian branch of the Hellenic nation. According to Apolodoro, Aeolus married Enárete, daughter of Deímaco, with whom he had seven children: Creteo, Sisifo, Deyoneo, Salmoneo, Atamante, Perieres and Magnes; and also five daughters: Cálice, Canace, Pisidice, Perimede and Alcíone. Other sources say that his wife was Egialea, or Laódice, daughter of Aloeus, or the naiad Ifide, daughter of the river god Peneus. It seems that Aeolus was rooted in many Hellenic genealogies, and thus many other descendants were attributed to Aeolus. It is said that Macareo had love affairs with his sister Canace of him. Horrified, Aeolus sent Canace a sword to commit suicide (Macareus also committed suicide) and threw the incestuous son to the dogs. Other Aeolids, varying sources, are Ethlius, Tritogenia, Macedon, Minias, Cercaphos, Tanagra Ceix, Juto and even Yope. This Aeolus also had an illegitimate daughter named Arne, also called Melanipa or Antiope, who he fathered with Hipe, daughter of the centaur Chiron. This Arne would be the mother of the second Aeolus by Poseidon. Another of the sons mentioned is Mimante who is linked to the third Aeolus (see below) through a very accommodating genealogy.

Aeolus (son of Poseidon)

Aubusson tapestry based on Moillon's painting. Ca. 1650.

This Aeolus was the son of Poseidon and Arne. He had Beoto as a twin. Arne became pregnant by Poseidon. She confessed it to her father, but she did not believe her and ordered a foreigner from the city of Metaponto to take her to her city. As a consequence of this, when Beoto and Aeolus were born, they were adopted by another man named Metaponto, who had no children. When the twins grew older, they took over the kingdom during a revolt. Later, there was a dispute between Arne and Autolite, the wife of Metaponto. Aeolus and Beoto sided with their mother, killed Autolite, and as Metaponto was outraged by it, they had to equip some ships and flee the city, with Arne and other friends. Beoto went to the country of his grandfather Aeolus, succeeded him on the throne and called the country Arne and its inhabitants Boeotians; Aeolus, for his part, reached a group of islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, which received the name of the Aeolian Islands in his honor and the founding of the city of Lípara is also attributed to him.

In an alternative version, the twins' mother is called Melanippe, daughter of Desmontes or Aeolus, she was chained by her father and it had been a king of Icaria named Metaponto who had adopted the twins, who had been abandoned. Metaponto's wife, called Theano in this version, had had other children and incited her sons to kill Aeolus and Beoto, but the latter were the ones who emerged victorious and, after being warned by Poseidon that their real mother was in prison they released her. Melanippe and Metaponto were married and Aeolus and Beoto gave names to Boeotia and Aeolia, respectively.

Although its home has traditionally been identified as one of the Aeolian Islands, off Sicily, it has been suggested as an alternative location to Gramvousa on the northwestern coast of Crete.

Aeolus (son of Hippothes)

Oil on canvas by Isaac Moillon (1614-1673): Eolo delivers the winds to Ulysses(Éole donnant les vents à Ulysse). Tessé Museum.

The paternity of this third Aeolus is attributed to Hipotes, who, according to Diodorus Siculus in his Historical Library, was the son of Mimante, one of the sons of Aeolus Helenida.

In another part of Diodoro's work that seems to mix data from the second and third Aeolus, it is narrated how, upon reaching the island of Lípara, where King Líparo reigned, he helped him to seize the area of Sirrento while he married the king's daughter, Cyane, and became king of the island. He was pious, just, and kind to foreigners, teaching sailors to sail, and was said to be able to predict the winds. In this passage six sons of Aeolus are mentioned: Agatirno, Astíoco, Androcles, Jocasto, Feremon and Juto; it is also said that he had six daughters, but he does not mention them.

According to the Odyssey, this Aeolus, Lord of the Winds, lived on the floating island of Aeolia, with his six sons and six daughters, who had intermarried. Zeus had given him the power to control the winds; Aeolus had them locked up and ruled them with absolute dominance, imprisoning or releasing them at his whim. He tried to help Odysseus, who visited him on his return to Ithaca. Aeolus treated him very well, and gave him a favorable wind, as well as a skin that contained all the winds and that had to be used with care. However, Odysseus's crew believed that the bag contained gold and opened it, causing severe storms. The ship ended up returning to the shores of Aeolia, but Aeolus refused to help them again. Aeolus is depicted wielding a scepter as a symbol of his authority, and surrounded by turbulent eddies, the Winds, each of which was a god.. In a scholium of the Odyssey he names his sons: Androcles, Crispo, Jocasto, Phalacro, Pheremon and Jutus; and also his daughters: Eole, Asticratia, Dia, Hephaestia, Ifte and Peribea. In this source Aeolus's wife is called Telepora or Telepatra, daughter of Lestrygon. Parthenius of Nicaea recalls the love affair between Odysseus and Aeolus's daughter, Polymele; it is said that the latter ended up engaged to her own brother Diores.

In the Aeneid, Juno offers the nymph Deiopea (Δηιόπεια) as a wife in exchange for sending her winds to Aeneas's fleet to prevent him from landing in Italy.