In
Greek mythology, Aeolus or Aiolos (; grc, Αἴολος , ) is a name shared by three mythical characters. These three personages are often difficult to tell apart, and even the ancient mythographers appear to have been perplexed about which Aeolus was which.
Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...
made an attempt to define each of these three (although it is clear that he also became muddled), and his opinion is followed here.
* The first
Aeolus
In Greek mythology, Aeolus or Aiolos (; grc, Αἴολος , ) is a name shared by three mythical characters. These three personages are often difficult to tell apart, and even the ancient mythographers appear to have been perplexed about which A ...
was a son of
Hellen and the
eponymous founder of the
Aeolian
Aeolian commonly refers to things related to either of two Greek mythological figures:
* Aeolus (son of Hippotes), ruler of the winds
* Aeolus (son of Hellen), son of Hellen and eponym of the Aeolians
* Aeolians, an ancient Greek tribe thought to ...
race.
* The second
Aeolus
In Greek mythology, Aeolus or Aiolos (; grc, Αἴολος , ) is a name shared by three mythical characters. These three personages are often difficult to tell apart, and even the ancient mythographers appear to have been perplexed about which A ...
was a son of
Poseidon, who led a colony to islands in the
Tyrrhenian Sea.
* The third
Aeolus
In Greek mythology, Aeolus or Aiolos (; grc, Αἴολος , ) is a name shared by three mythical characters. These three personages are often difficult to tell apart, and even the ancient mythographers appear to have been perplexed about which A ...
was a son of
Hippotes who is mentioned in the ''
Odyssey'' and the ''
Aeneid'' as the ruler of the winds.
All three men named Aeolus appear to be connected genealogically, although the precise relationship, especially regarding the second and third Aeolus, is often ambiguous as their identities seem to have been merged by many ancient writers.
Aeolus was also the name of the following minor characters:
* Aeolus, a defender of
Thebes in the war of the
Seven against Thebes. He was killed by
Parthenopaeus
In Greek mythology, Parthenopaeus or Parthenopaios (; Ancient Greek: Παρθενοπαῖος, ''Parthenopaîos'') was one of the Seven against Thebes, a native of Arcadia, described as young and outstandingly good-looking, but at the same time ...
.
* Aeolus, a
Trojan companion of
Aeneas in
Italy, where he was killed by
Turnus
Turnus ( grc, Τυρρηνός, Tyrrhênós) was the legendary King of the Rutuli in Roman history, and the chief antagonist of the hero Aeneas in Virgil's ''Aeneid''.
According to the ''Aeneid'', Turnus is the son of Daunus and the nymph Veni ...
, King of the
Rutuli
The Rutuli or Rutulians were an ancient people in Italy. The Rutuli were located in a territory whose capital was the ancient town of Ardea, located about 35 km southeast of Rome.
Thought to have been descended from the Umbri and the Pelas ...
ans. Aeolus was the father of
Clytius and
Misenus.
[Parada, s.v. Aeolus 4; Virgil, '' Aeneid']
6.162–1649.774
12.542–547
Describing this Aeolus as "otherwise unknown to fame", Thomas
pp. 278–280
points out textual parallels between ''Aeneid'' 12.542–547 (Aeolus' apostrophe), and Achilles' ''aristeia'' in '' Iliad'', book 20, and suggests that "Vergil's Aeolus symbolizes the figure he mirrors so markedly, the Homeric Aineias".
See also
*
Aeolia (mythical island) Aeolia ( grc, 'Αἰολία), the island kingdom of Aeolus, the ruler of the winds, visited by Odysseus in Homer's ''Odyssey''. In the ''Odyssey'', Aeolus' Aeolia was purely mythical, a floating island surrounded by "a wall of unbreakable bronze" w ...
, island kingdom of Aeolus, ruler of the winds
Notes
References
*
Apollodorus
Apollodorus (Ancient Greek, Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to: ...
, ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts,
Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*
Hyginus, Gaius Julius, ''
Fabulae'', in ''The Myths of Hyginus'', edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960
Online version at ToposText
*
Homer, ''The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts,
Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*
Kerényi, Karl, ''The Gods of the Greeks'', Thames and Hudson, London, 1951
Internet Archive
* Parada, Carlos, ''Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology'', Jonsered, Paul Åströms Förlag, 1993. .
*
Rose, H. J., s.v. Aeolus (2) in the ''
Oxford Classical Dictionary'', second edition,
Hammond, N.G.L. and
Howard Hayes Scullard (editors),
Oxford University Press, 1992. .
*
Smith, William, ''
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', London (1873)
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*
Statius, ''Statius with an English Translation by J. H. Mozley'', Volume II, ''Thebaid'', Books V–XII, ''Achilleid'',
Loeb Classical Library
The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and L ...
No. 207, London: William Heinemann, Ltd., New York: G. P. Putnamm's Sons, 1928.
Internet Archive
*
Thomas, Richard. F., "The Isolation of Turnus, ''Aeneid'', book 12", in ''Vergil's Aeneid: Augustan Epic and Political Context'', Hans-Peter Stahl (ed.), Classical Press of Wales, pp. 271–303. .
*
Virgil, ''
Aeneid'', Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* de Weever, Jaqueline, ''Chaucer Name Dictionary'', Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London, 1988, 1996.
{{Aeneid
Trojans
Characters in the Aeneid
Characters in Greek mythology
Characters in Seven against Thebes