Aeolus

/ee"euh leuhs/, n. Class. Myth.

1. the ruler of the winds.

2. the eponymous founder of the Aeolian nation.

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Greek god of the winds.

In the Odyssey Homer represents Aeolus as the mortal ruler of the floating island of Aeolia. He gives Odysseus a favourable wind for his voyage and a bag in which the unfavourable winds are confined, but Odysseus's careless companions open the bag, releasing the winds and driving their ship back to shore. Later writers depicted Aeolus as a minor god rather than a human being. The Aeolian harp is named for him.

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▪ Greek mythology

      in Greek mythology, mythical king of Magnesia in Thessaly, the son of Hellen (the eponymous ancestor of the true Greeks, or Hellenes) and father of Sisyphus (the “most crafty of men”). Aeolus gave his name to Aeolis, a territory on the western coast of Asia Minor (in present-day Turkey).

▪ Homeric character

      in the works of Homer, controller of the winds and ruler of the floating island of Aeolia. Because his children met no one outside their own family, Aeolus allowed them to mate with one another, to the relief of Canace and Macareus, who were already lovers. Aeolus made the brothers draw lots for the sisters; in some accounts—possibly confusing him with King Macar—Macareus drew the wrong sister, so that he left home and founded Lesbos.

      In the Odyssey Aeolus gave Odysseus a favourable wind and a bag in which the unfavourable winds were confined. Odysseus' companions opened the bag; the winds escaped and drove them back to the island. Although he appears as a human in Homer, Aeolus later was described as a minor god. The island of Aeolia is identified with present-day Lipari, off the coast of Sicily.

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