Aeolus (son of Hellen)
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In Greek mythology, Aeolus or Aiolos[2] (/ˈiːələs/; Ancient Greek: Αἴολος [ǎi̯.olos]; Modern Greek: Αίολος [ˈe.olos] ⓘ) was the son of Hellen, the ruler of Aeolia (later called Thessaly), and the eponym of the Aeolians, one of the four main tribes of the Greeks. According to the mythographer Apollodorus, Aeolus was the father of seven sons: Cretheus, Sisyphus, Athamas, Salmoneus, Deion, Magnes, Perieres, and five daughters: Canace, Alcyone, Pisidice, Calyce, and Perimede. He was said to have killed his daughter Canace (or forced her to kill herself) because she had committed incest with her brother Macareus. This Aeolus was sometimes confused with the Aeolus who was the ruler of the winds.[3]
Aeolus was one of the central figures in the myths that were invented about the origins of the Greek people. He was the grandson of Deucalion the son of Prometheus, and the survivor of a great primordial flood, that covered much, if not all, of Greece (and the rest of the world, in later accounts). From Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha, sprang a new race of people, which repopulated Central Greece and the western Peloponnese. Deucalion and Pyrrha had a son Hellen, the eponym of the Hellenes, another name for the Greeks.[4]
From Hellen came the eponyms of the four major tribes of the Greek people. According to the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, Hellen had three sons: Dorus, Xuthus, and Aeolus. Dorus was the eponym of the Dorians, and Xuthus's sons Achaeus and Ion were, respectively, the eponyms of the Acheaens and Ionians. However, it was from Hellen's third son Aeolus, the eponym of the Aeolians, that most if not all, of the heroes and heroines of the Deucalionids sprang.[5]
The surviving Catalogue fragments do not contain the name of Aeolus's mother, but according to a scholion on Plato's Symposium citing Hellanicus (fl. late fifth century BC), her name was Othreis (Ὀθρηίς),[6] while according to Apollodorus she was a nymph named Orseis (Ὀρσηίς).[7] M. L. West says that both Othreis and Orseis are "probably" corruptions of Othyis (Ὀθρυίς), a nymph of Mount Othrys.[8]
According to Apollodorus, Aeolus married Enarete, the daughter of Deimachus, and together they had seven sons and five daughters. Apollodorus lists the sons as Cretheus, Sisyphus, Athamas, Salmoneus, Deion, Magnes, and Perieres, and the daughters as Canace, Alcyone, Pisidice, Calyce, and Perimede.[9] The Hesiodic Catalogue also listed seven sons and five daughters, however only the names Cretheus, Athamas, Sisyphus, Salmoneus, Perieres, Pisidice, Alcyone, and Perimede are preserved.[10] Apollodorus's "Deion", "Calyce" and "Canace" would fit well into the missing gaps in the papyrus that preserves this part of the Catalogue, however, his "Magnes" conflicts with the Catalogues' use of that name elsewhere.[11] Hellanicus apparently also had Aeolus as the father of Salmoneus by Iphis.[6]
Other sources give other children by other mothers. The tragic playwright Euripides made Melanippe a daughter of Aeolus and Hippe (or Hippo), daughter of the Centaur Cheiron.[12] According to the Roman mythographer Hyginus, the Macareus who had a tragic love affair with his sister Canace, was the son of "Aeolus son of Hellen".[13] Xuthus, Aeolus's brother according to the Hesiodic Catalogue, and Apollodorus, was also said to be his son.[14] Others who were sometimes said to have had Aeolus as a father include: Macedon,[15] Minyas,[16] Mimas,[17] Cercaphus,[18] Aethlius,[19] Ceyx,[20] Arne,[21] Antiope,[22] Tanagra,[23] Iope[24] and Tritogeneia.[25]
| Relation | Names | Sources | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homer | Hes. | Eur. | Hellan. | Sch. on Il. | Apollon. | Diod. | Str. | Hyg. | Ovid | Apollod. | Paus. | Clem. | Step. | Eus. | ||
| Parents | Hellen | ✓[27] | ✓[28] | ✓[29] | ✓[30] | |||||||||||
| Zeus | ✓[31] | |||||||||||||||
| Hellen and Othreis | ✓[32] | |||||||||||||||
| Hellen and Orseis | ✓[7] | |||||||||||||||
| Mothers of his children | Hippe (or Hippo) | ✓[33] | ✓[34] | |||||||||||||
| Eurydice | ✓[35] | |||||||||||||||
| Iphis | ✓[32] | |||||||||||||||
| Aegiale | ✓[36] | |||||||||||||||
| Enarete | ✓[7] | |||||||||||||||
| Sons[37] | Sisyphus | ✓[38] | ✓[39] | ✓Eu.[35] | ✓[40] | ✓En.[7] | ✓[41] | |||||||||
| Cretheus | ✓[39] | ✓Eu.[35] | ✓[42] | ✓En.[7] | ✓[43] | |||||||||||
| Athamas | ✓[39] | ✓[42] | ✓[44] | ✓[45] | ✓En.[7] | ✓[46] | ||||||||||
| Salmoneus | ✓[39] | ✓Eu.[35] | ✓I.[32] | ✓[29] | ✓[47] | ✓En.[7] | ||||||||||
| Perieres | ✓[39] | ✓En.[7] | ✓[48] | |||||||||||||
| Xuthus | ✓[31] | ✓[49] | ||||||||||||||
| Macedon | ✓[50] | ✓[51] | ||||||||||||||
| Minyas | ?[52] | ✓[53] | ||||||||||||||
| Mimas | ✓[54] | |||||||||||||||
| Cercaphus | ✓[18] | |||||||||||||||
| Macareus (or Macar) | ✓[55] | ?[56] | ?[57] | |||||||||||||
| Deion | ?[58] | ✓[59] | ✓En.[7] | |||||||||||||
| Magnes | ✓En.[7] | ✓[60] | ||||||||||||||
| Aethlius | ✓[19] | |||||||||||||||
| Ceyx | ✓[20] | |||||||||||||||
| Daughters[37] | Arne | ✓[61] | ✓[62] | |||||||||||||
| Alcyone | ✓[63] | ✓A.[36] | ✓[64] | ✓En.[7] | ||||||||||||
| Canace | ?[65] | ✓[66] | ✓[56] | ✓En.[7] | ||||||||||||
| Melanippe | ✓H.[35] | ✓H.[34] | ||||||||||||||
| Antiope | ✓[67] | |||||||||||||||
| Pisidice | ✓[68] | ✓En.[7] | ||||||||||||||
| Calyce | ?[69] | ✓En.[7] | ||||||||||||||
| Perimede | ✓[70] | ✓En.[7] | ||||||||||||||
| Tanagra | ✓[71] | |||||||||||||||
| Iope | ✓[72] | |||||||||||||||