Aeolus (son of Hippotes)

In Greek mythology, Aeolus (Ancient Greek: Αἴολος, Aiolos),^[1] the son of Hippotes, was the ruler of the winds encountered by Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey. Aeolus was the king of the island of Aeolia, where he lived with his wife and six sons and six daughters. To ensure safe passage home for Odysseus and his men, Aeolus gave Odysseus a bag containing all the winds, except the gentle west wind. But when almost home, Odysseus' men, thinking the bag contained treasure, opened it and they were all driven by the winds back to Aeolia. Believing that Odysseus must evidently be hated by the gods, Aeolus sent him away without further help. This Aeolus was also sometimes confused with the Aeolus who was the son of Hellen and the eponym of one of the four major Ancient Greek tribes, the Aeolians.^[2]

^ According to Kerényi, p. 206, the name means both "the mobile" and "the many coloured", while 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, s.v. Eolus.
^ Hard, pp. 493–494; Tripp, s.vv. Aeolus 1, 2; Rose, s.v. Aeolus (1); Grimal s.v. Aeolus; Parada s.v. Aeolus 2; Smith, s.v. Aeolus.

[1] According to Kerényi, p. 206, the name means both "the mobile" and "the many coloured", while 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, s.v. Eolus.

[2] Hard, pp. 493–494; Tripp, s.vv. Aeolus 1, 2; Rose, s.v. Aeolus (1); Grimal s.v. Aeolus; Parada s.v. Aeolus 2; Smith, s.v. Aeolus.

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