(M10-C)

Aeolus (3)
King of Aeolia

Biographical

Keeper/god of the Winds

Aeolus' story, which likely refers to the migration of a group of Aeolians to the west, is told as follows: Arne told her father that she was pregnant by Poseidon, but her father did not believe her. He handed her over to a stranger from Metapontum in Italy, who took her back to his homeland. There, she gave birth to two sons, Boeotus and Aeolus. The man from Metapontum adopted the boys, following the instructions of an oracle. When the boys grew up, they seized control of Metapontum by force. However, a dispute later arose between their mother Arne and their foster-mother Autolyte. In response, the two brothers killed Autolyte and fled Metapontum with their mother. Aeolus travelled to some islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, which were named the Aeolian Islands after him. According to some accounts, he founded the town of Lipara there. He ruled as a just and devout king, treated the local people kindly, taught them how to use sails for navigation, and predicted the winds by interpreting signs in fire. Because of this, Diodorus says that Aeolus came to be portrayed in mythology as the ruler of the winds. It was this Aeolus whom Odysseus visited during his wanderings. Hyginus provides a different version of the story. In these traditions, Aeolus, the ancestor of the Aeolian people, is associated with Aeolus, the ruler and god of the winds. Later poets and mythographers established this link, and its basis can be found in Homer.In Homer, however, Aeolus, the son of Hippotes, is neither a god nor the father of the winds. He is simply the fortunate ruler of the Aeolian island, whom Cronion appointed the ταμίης ['keeper of the treasury', thus, keeper or steward - UC] of the winds, which he could calm or stir up at his will. This statement of Homer and the etymology of the name Aeolus from ἀέλλω ['storm' or 'whirlwind' - UC] were the reason that in later times Aeolus was regarded as the god and king of the winds, which he kept confined in a mountain. It is therefore to him that Juno appeals when she wishes to destroy the fleet of the Trojans. The Aeolian island of Homer was, in the time of Pausanias, believed to be Lipara, and this or Strongyle was accordingly regarded in later times as the place where the god of the winds resided. Other accounts place the residence of Aeolus in Thrace, or near Rhegium in Italy. Passages in the works of later poets also showed how universally Aeolus had gradually come to be considered a god. Whether he was depicted by the ancients in works of art is uncertain, but no representation of him now survives.

Son of Poseidon and Arne, or of Hippotes (1).

© 2024 The Universal Compendium