View source for Aeolus

{{short description|Group of characters in Greek mythology}}
{{other uses}}
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Aiolos''',<ref>According to Kerényi, p. 206, the name means both "the mobile" and "the many coloured", while [[H. J. Rose|Rose]], s.v. Aeolus (1) associates the name, "perhaps by derivation", with "the changeable". Chaucer's spelling of the name was "Eolus", the [[Middle English]] and [[Old French]] development of the Latin Aeolus, see de Weever, [http://www.columbia.edu/dlc/garland/deweever/E/eolus.htm  s.v. Eolus].</ref> transcribed as '''Aeolus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|iː|ə|l|ə|s}}; {{langx|grc|Αἴολος}} {{IPA|grc|ǎi̯.olos|}}; {{Langx|el|Αίολος|label=[[Modern Greek]]}} {{IPA|el|ˈe.olos||Ell-Aiolos.ogg}}) refers to three characters. These three are often difficult to tell apart, and even the ancient mythographers appear to have been perplexed about which Aeolus was which. [[Diodorus Siculus]] made an attempt to define each of these three (although it is clear that he also became muddled), and his opinion is followed here.<ref name="dgrbm">{{Citation|last=Schmitz|first=Leonhard|contribution=Aeolus (1), (2) and (3)|editor-last=Smith|editor-first=William|title=[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]|volume=1|pages=35|year=1864|contribution-url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0044.html|access-date=2007-10-25|archive-date=2013-10-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131009062306/http://ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0044.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> 
* The first [[Aeolus (son of Hellen)|Aeolus]] was a son of [[Hellen]] and the [[eponym]]ous founder of the [[Aeolians|Aeolian]] race.<ref>Parada, s.v. Aeolus 1; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Daeolus-bio-2 s.v. Aeolus 1]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.7.3 1.7.3].</ref>
* The second [[Aeolus (son of Poseidon)|Aeolus]] was a son of [[Poseidon]], who led a colony to islands in the [[Tyrrhenian Sea]].
* The third [[Aeolus (son of Hippotes)|Aeolus]] was a son of [[Hippotes]] who is mentioned in the ''[[Odyssey]]'' and the ''[[Aeneid]]'' as the ruler of the winds.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' 10.2</ref>

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, Greece|Thebes]] in the war of the [[Seven against Thebes]]. He was killed by [[Parthenopeus|Parthenopaeus]].<ref>Parada, s.v. Aeolus 5; [[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://archive.org/details/statiuswithengli02statuoft/page/308/mode/2up?view=theater 9.765&ndash;767].</ref>
* Aeolus, a [[Troy|Trojan]] companion of [[Aeneas]] in [[Roman Italy|Italy]], where he was killed by [[Turnus]], King of the [[Rutuli]]ans. Aeolus was the father of [[Clytius]] and [[Misenus]].<ref>Parada, s.v. Aeolus 4; [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0690.phi003.perseus-eng2:6.156-6.182 6.162&ndash;164], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0690.phi003.perseus-eng2:9.756-9.777 9.774], :[http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0690.phi003.perseus-eng2:12.529-12.553 12.542&ndash;547]. Describing this Aeolus as "otherwise unknown to fame", Thomas, [https://books.google.com/books?id=GvxODgAAQBAJ&pg=PA278 pp. 278&ndash;280], points out textual parallels between ''Aeneid''  12.542&ndash;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".</ref>

==See also==
*[[Aeolia (mythical island)]], island kingdom of Aeolus, ruler of the winds

== Notes ==
{{Portal|Ancient Greece|Myths|}}
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''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. {{ISBN|0-674-99135-4}}. [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus, Gaius Julius]], ''[[Fabulae]]'', in ''The Myths of Hyginus'', edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. [https://topostext.org/work/206 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. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Károly Kerényi| Kerényi, Karl]], ''The Gods of the Greeks'',  Thames and Hudson, London, 1951. [https://archive.org/details/godsofgreeks00kerrich/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
* Parada, Carlos, ''Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology'', Jonsered, Paul Åströms Förlag, 1993. {{ISBN|978-91-7081-062-6}}.
* [[H. J. Rose|Rose, H. J.]], s.v. Aeolus (2) in the ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', second edition,  [[N. G. L. Hammond|Hammond, N.G.L.]] and [[Howard Hayes Scullard]] (editors), [[Oxford University Press]], 1992. {{ISBN|0-19-869117-3}}.
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]], ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0104 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Statius]], ''Statius with an English Translation by J. H. Mozley'', Volume II, ''Thebaid'', Books V&ndash;XII, ''Achilleid'', [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 207, London: William Heinemann, Ltd., New York: G. P. Putnamm's Sons, 1928. {{ISBN|978-0674992283}}. [https://archive.org/stream/statiuswithengli02statuoft#page/n9/mode/2up Internet Archive].
* [[Richard F. Thomas|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. {{ISBN|978-1-905125-33-3}}.
* [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'', Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* de Weever, Jaqueline, ''Chaucer Name Dictionary'', Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London, 1988, 1996.

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[[Category:Trojans]]
[[Category:Characters in the Aeneid]]
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