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References

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Volume III: Books 4.59-8, translated by C. H. Oldfather, Loeb Classical Library No. 340. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1939. ISBN 978-0-674-99375-4. Online version at Harvard University Press. Online version by Bill Thayer.

Sources

Ancient

Apollodorus

1.7.3

Hellen had Dorus, Xuthus, and Aeolus¹ by a nymph Orseis ... and divided the country among his sons ... Aeolus reigned over the regions about Thessaly and named the inhabitants Aeolians.⁴ He married Enarete, daughter of Deimachus, and begat seven sons, Cretheus, Sisyphus, Athamas, Salmoneus, Deion, Magnes, Perieres, and five daughters, Canace, Alcyone, Pisidice, Calyce, Perimede.⁵

1 As to Hellen and his sons, see Strab. 8.7.1; Paus. 7.12; Conon 27. According to the Scholiast on Hom. Il. i.2, Xuthus was a son of Aeolus.

5 As to Aeolus, his descendants, and their settlements, see Diod. 4.67.2-7; Scholiast on Pind. P. 4.107(190).

Diodorus Siculus

4.67.2–7

Before the period in which these things took place, Boeotus, the son of Arnê and Poseidon, came into the land which was then called Aeolis but is now called Thessaly, and gave to his followers the name of Boeotians. But concerning these inhabitants of Aeolis, we must revert to earlier times and give a p33 detailed account of them. 3 In the times before that which we are discussing the rest of the sons of Aeolus, who was the son of Hellen, who was the son of Deucalion, settled in the regions we have mentioned, but Mimas remained behind and ruled as king of Aeolis. Hippotes, who was born of Mimas, begat Aeolus by Melanippê, and Arnê, who was the daughter of Aeolus, bore Boeotus by Poseidon. 4 But Aeolus, not believing that it was Poseidon who had lain with Arnê and holding her to blame for her downfall, handed her over to a stranger from Metapontium who happened to be sojourning there at the time, with orders to carry her off to Metapontium. And after the stranger had done as he was ordered, Arnê, while living in Metapontium, gave birth to Aeolus and Boeotus, whom the Metapontian, being childless, in obedience to a certain oracle adopted as his own sons. 5 When the boys had attained to manhood, a civil discord arose in Metapontium and they seized the kingship by violence. Later, however, a quarrel took place between Arnê and Autolytê, the wife of the Metapontian, and the young men took the side of their mother and slew Autolytê. But the Metapontian was indignant at this deed, and so they got boats ready and taking Arnê with them set out to sea accompanied by many friends. 6 Now Aeolus took possession of the islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea which are called after him "Aeolian" and founded a city to which he gave the name Lipara;¹⁹ but Boeotus sailed home to Aeolus, the father of Arnê, by whom he was adopted and in succession to him he took over the kingship of Aeolis; and the land [p35] he named Arnê after his mother, but the inhabitants Boeotians after himself. 7 And Itonus, the son of Boeotus, begat four sons, Hippalcimus, Electryon, Archilycus, and Alegenor. Of these sons Hippalcimus begat Penelos, Electryon begat Leïtus, Alegenor begat Clonius, and Archilycus begat Prothoënor and Arcesilaüs, who were the leaders of all the Boeotians in the expedition against Troy.

Hyginus

Hyginus, Gaius Julius, De Astronomica, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Online version at ToposText.

De Astronomica

2.18.2.1–5

Euripides autem in Melanippa Hippen, Chi-

ronis centauri filiam, Thet[i]n antea appellatam dicit.

Quae cum aleretur in monte Pelio et studium in ue-

nando maximum haberet, quodam tempore ab Aeolo,

Hellenis filio, Iouis nepote, persuasam concepisse;

Hard's translation, p. 51

Euripides for his part says in his Melanippe that Hippe, daughter of Cheiron, was previuosly called Thetis; she was brought up on Mount Pelion, and was exremely fond of hunting, but was seduced one day by Aiolos, son of Hellen,a grandson of Zeus, and found herself pregnant.

Grant translation via ToposText

Euripides in his Melanippe, says that Melanippe, daughter of Chiron the Centaur was once called Thetis. Brought up on Mount Helicon, a girl especially fond of hunting, she was wooed by Aeolus, son of Hellen, and grandson of Jove, and conceived a child be him.

Fabulae

65

ALCYONE: When Ceyx, son of Hesper (also called Lucifer) and Philonis, had perished in a shipwreck, Alcyone his wife, daughter of Aeolus and Aegiale,

125

ODYSSEY ... [Odysseus] came to Aeolus, son of Hellen, to whom control of the winds had been given by Jove.

186

MELANIPPE: Neptune seduced Melanippe, a very beautiful girl, daughter of Desmontes or as other poets say, of Aeolus, and begat by her two sons. .. The avengers, Boeotus and Aeolus, fled to the shepherds where they had been reared, and there Neptune revealed to them that they were his sons and that their mother was held in custody. They went to Desmontes, killed him, and freed their mother, whose sight Neptune restored. Her sons brought her to Icaria to King Metapontus, and revealed Theano's treachery to him. After this, Metapontus married Melanippe, and adopted the two as his sons. In Propontis they founded towns called by their names — Boeotus, Boeotia, and Aeolus, Aeolia.

238

Aeolus killed Canace, because of incest with her brother Macareus, whish she confessed.

242

Macareus, son of Aeolus, killed himself on account of Canace, his sister, his beloved.

Ovid

Epistles

11

Virgil

Aeneid

1.65–66

Aeole, namque tibi divom pater atque hominum rex

et mulcere dedit fluctus et tollere vento,

6.162–164

Behold Misenus on the dry sea-sands,

By hasty hand of death struck guiltless down!

A son of Aeolus,

9.774

young Clytius he slew,

son of the wind-god; [Clytium Aeoliden]

12.542–547

Thee also, Aeolus, Laurentum saw

spread thy huge body dying on the ground;

yea, dying, thou whom Greeks in serried arms

subdued not, nor Achilles' hand that hurled

the throne of Priam down: here didst thou touch

thy goal of death; one stately house was thine

on Ida's mountain, at Lyrnessus, one;

Laurentum's hallowed earth was but thy grave.

Statius

Thebaid

9.765–767

nor Aeolus [is "shielded"] by his budding manhood. ... Aeolus, dost bemoan the dart [from Parthenopaeus] that transfixed thy snow-white brow.

Modern

Kerényi

p. 206

According to another tale, the winds were subject to a king named Ailolos, and were completely his instruments, having no personality of their own. The name Aiolos means both "the mobile" and "the many coloured": doubtless he was originally a god of the starry heavens, like Astraios. ...

Parada

s.v. Aeolus 1

Αἴολος

Reigned over regions about Thessaly and named the inhabitants Aeolians. The control of the winds had been given to him by Zeus. (Concering this aspect see Aeolus 2)

•Hellen 1 ∞ Orseis

••1)a)Enarete.

••1)b)Aegiale.

••1)c)?

••2)Melanippe 1.

•••1)a)Cretheus 1. Sisyphus, Athamas 1, Salmoneus, Deion, Alcyone 2, Psidice 1, Calyce 1, Perimede 1.

•••1)b)Alcyone 2.

•••1)c)+Minyas, Aethlius, Tanagra, Arne, Macar 2, Antiope 5. Mimas 4, ++Ceraphus 2.

•••2)Melanippe 1's Child.

D.Hyg.Fab 125., Apd.1.7.3. •-••1)a)-•••1)a)Apd.1.7.3. •Hyg.Fab 125. ••1)b)-•••1)b)Hyg.Fab.65. ••2)-•••2)Hyg.Ast.2.18. •••1)c)+Arg.3.1093. •••1)c)Pau.5.8.2., 9.20.1., 9.40.5., 10.38.4., Hyg.Fab.157., Dio.4.67.3. •••1)a)Hes.CWE.4. •••1)a)++Strab.9.5.18.

s.v. Aeolus 2

King of the Aeolian Islands, appointed by Zeus as keeper of the winds, both to calm them and to send them forth, Having entertained Odysseus, he gave him a bag in which he had bound fast the winds, But when they were near Ithaca, his comrades, thinking he carried gold in the bag, loosed it and let the winds go free and they were driven back again and Odysseus begged Aeolus 2 that he might be granted a fair wind, but Aeolus 2 drove him from the island.

•Hipotes 1 ∞ Melanippe 3.

••Cyane 2.

•••a)Six daughters and six sons married to each other.

•••b)Arne, Lapithus 2, Astyochus, Xuthus 2, Andocles, Pheraemon. Jocastus, Agathyrnus, +Polymele 3, +Diores 3.

N.Vir.Aen.1.65. ...

s.v. Aeolus 3

Came in possesion of the islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea which are called Aeolian after him.

• Poseidon ∞ Arne

D Dio. 4.67.3ff.

• Hyg. Fab. 186, 252; Dio. 4.67.3

s.v. Aeolus 4

ROM. A Trojan, companion of Aeneas in Italy.

•

••

••• Clytius 12, Misennus 1.

♇ Turnus.

D.-♇ Vir. Aen. 12.542.

••• Vir. Aen. 9.774; Vir. Aen. 6.163ff.

s.v. Aeolus 5

Defender of Thebes against the SEVEN.

♇ Parthenopaeus at Thebes.

D.-♇ Stat.Theb 9.765

H. J. Rose

s.v. Aeolus (1)

the ruler of the winds (perhaps by derivation 'the changeable'); in Od. 10.2 ff., a mortal, son of Hippotes; he lives in Aeolia, a floating island, with his six sons and six daughters,who have married one another; he can tie up the winds in a sack to prevent them blowing. In Aen. 1.51 ff. he is a monor god and keeps the winds in a cave on Aeolia. Sometimes confused with (2) a son of Hellen (q.v.), eponym of the Aeolians and the Aeolidae; ... Canace killed herself, or was killed by her father, because of incest with Macareus (Ov. Her. 11). Arne, or Melanippe, became by Poseidon mother of (3) another ancestor of the Aeolians; see Hyg. Fab. 186 and Rose ad loc.; Euripides, frags. of ...

Smith

s.v. Aeolus 1

A son of Hellen and the nymph Orseis, and a brother of Dorus and Xuthus. He is described as the ruler of Thessaly, and regarded as the founder of the Aeolic branch of the Greek nation. He married Enarete, the daughter of Deimachus, by whom he had seven sons and five daughters, and according to some writers still more. (Apollod. 1.7.3; Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. 4.190.) According to Müller's supposition, the most ancient and genuine story knew only of four sons of Aeolus, viz. Sisyphus, Athamas, Cretheus, and Salmoneus, as the representatives of the four main branches of the Aeolic race. The great extent of country which this race occupied, and the desire of each part of it to trace its origin to some descendant of Aeolus, probably gave rise to the varying accounts about the number of his children. According to Hyginus (Hyg. Fab. 238, 242) Aeolus had one son of the name of Macarcus, who, after having committed incest with his sister Canace, put an end to his own life. According to Ovid (Ov. Ep. 11) Aeolus threw the fruit of this love to the dogs, and sent his daughter a sword by which she was to kill herself (Comp. Plut. Parallel. p. 312.)

s.v. Aeolus 2

Diodorus (4.67) says, that the second Aeolus was the great-grandson of the first Aeolus, being the son of Hippotes and Melanippe, and the grandson of Mimas the son of Aeolus. Arne, the daughter of this second Aeolus, afterwards became mother of a third Aeolus. (Comp. Paus. 9.40.3.) In another passage (5.7) Diodorus represents the third Aeolus as a son of Hippotes.

s.v. Aeolus 3

According to some accounts a son of Hippotes, or, according to others, of Poseidon and Arne, the daughter of the second Aeolus. His story, which probably refers to thus emigration of a branch of the Aeolians to the west, is thus related : Arne declared to her father that she was with child by Poseidon, but her father disbelieving her statement, gave her to a stranger of Metaponttum in Italy, who took her to his native town. Here she became mother of two sons, Boeotus and Aeolus (iii.), who were adopted by the man of Metapontum in accordance with an oracle. When they had grown up to manhood, they took possession of the sovereignty of Metapontum by force. But when a dispute afterwards arose between their mother Arne and their foster-mother Autolyte, the two brothers slew the latter and fled with their mother front Metapontum. Aeolus went to some islands in the Tyrrhenian sea, which received from him the name of the Aeolian islands, and according to some accounts built the town of Lipara. Diod. 4.67. 5.7. Here he reigned as a just and pious king, behaved kindly to the natives, and taught them the use of sails in navigation, and foretold them from signs which he observed in the fire the nature of the winds that were to rise. Hence, says Diodorus, Aeolus is described in mythology as the ruler over the winds, and it was this Aeolus to whom Odysseus came during his wanderings. A different account of the matter is given by Hyginus. (Fab. 186.)

In these accounts Aeolus, the father of the Aeolian race, is placed in relationship with Aeolus the ruler and god of the winds. The groundwork on which this connexion has been formed by later poets and mythographers, is found in Homer. (Od. 10.2, &c.) In Homer, however, Aeolus, the son of Hippotes, is neither the god nor the father of the winds, but merely the happy ruler of the Aeolian island, whom Cronion had made the ταμίης of the winds, which he might soothe or excite according to his pleasure. (Od. 10.21, &c.) This statement of Homer and the etymology of the name of Aeolus from ἀέλλω were the cause, that in later times Aeolus was regarded as the god and king of the winds, which he kept enclosed in a mountain. It is therefore to him that Juno applies when she wishes to destroy the fleet of the Trojans. (Verg. A. 1.78.) The Aeolian island of Homer was in the time of Pausanias believed to be Lipara (Paus. 10.11.3), and this or Strongyle was accordingly regarded in later times as the place in which the god of the winds dwelled. (Verg. A. 8.416, 1.52; Strab. vi. p.276.) Other accounts place the residence of Aeolus in Thrace (Apollon. 1.954, 4.765; Callim. Hymm. in Del. 26), or in the neighbourhood of Rhegium in Italy. (Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 732; comp. Diod. 5.8.) The following passages of later poets also shew how universally Aeolus had gradually come to be regarded as a god: Ov. Met. 1.264, 11.748 14.223; V. Fl. 1.575; Quint. Smyrn. 14.475. Whether he was represented by the ancients in works of art is not certain, but we now possess no representation of him.