Aeolus (Wind King)
godKeeper of the winds, appointed by Zeus to control the Anemoi from his floating island of Aeolia.
The Myth
He gave Odysseus all the adverse winds tied up in a bag — and Odysseus's own crew opened it within sight of home. Aeolus hosted Odysseus for a month and gave him an ox-hide bag containing every wind except the favorable west wind Zephyrus. The fleet sailed for nine days and came within sight of Ithaca. While Odysseus slept, his crew opened the bag thinking it contained gold. The winds burst out and blew them all the way back to Aeolia. Aeolus refused to help again, calling Odysseus cursed by the gods. This is arguably the cruelest near-miss in the Odyssey — home was visible when everything went wrong. Aeolus later married his sons to his daughters.
Parents
Hippotes
Symbols
Fun Fact
An Aeolian harp is a stringed instrument played by the wind — named for this keeper of the winds.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
Aeolus
godAeolus kept winds in a leather bag on his floating island.
Zephyrus
godZephyrus was the god of the gentle west wind, bringer of spring.
Zeus
godSupreme ruler of the Olympian gods and lord of the sky. Zeus overthrew his father Kronos and...
Zeus (King)
godZeus was the king of the Olympian gods, ruler of the sky, wielder of the thunderbolt — the supreme...
Zeus Xenios
godAn epithet of Zeus as guardian of guests and the sacred law of hospitality (xenia), whose violation...
Notus
godGod of the south wind, bringer of late summer storms and the hot, damp winds feared by sailors and...
Eurus
godGod of the east wind, the only one of the four Anemoi not given a specific seasonal role by Hesiod.
Odysseus
heroThe cleverest of the Greek heroes, whose ten-year journey home from Troy is one of the greatest...
Odysseus (Trickster)
heroOdysseus was the most cunning of all Greek heroes — the man of polytropos (many turns), whose...
Ithaca
placeA small, rocky island in the Ionian Sea that was the homeland of Odysseus. His desperate longing to...
Alcyone
nymphAlcyone and her husband Ceyx called themselves Zeus and Hera; as punishment, both were transformed...
Ceyx and Alcyone
heroKing and queen who loved each other so deeply the gods transformed them into kingfisher birds to be...