Source Verification: Aeolus
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
Who made Aeolus keeper of the winds?
Zeus gave him the standing authority to still or rouse any wind he chose, a role the Odyssey describes as unique to him among every figure Odysseus meets on his long, ten-year voyage home from the fallen city of Troy, whether mortal or divine.
Source: Homer, Odyssey 10.19-27
What was in the bag Aeolus gave Odysseus?
Every wind except the West Wind, bound inside the hide of a nine-year-old ox and tied shut with a bright cord of silver, so that only the single favorable wind that would carry the ships straight home to Ithaca was left free to blow.
Source: Homer, Odyssey 10.19-27
Why did Odysseus's crew open the bag?
With Ithaca already in sight and Odysseus finally asleep after nine sleepless days holding the sheet himself, his men decided the bag must hold gold and silver treasure that Aeolus had given to Odysseus alone, and opened it to divide the spoils - releasing every wind at once.
Source: Homer, Odyssey 10.28-55
Why did Aeolus refuse to help Odysseus a second time?
When the storm blew Odysseus's ships back to Aeolia and he asked for help again, Aeolus concluded that a man driven back this way after such a gift must be hated by the gods, and drove him off rather than risk defying that judgment.
Source: Homer, Odyssey 10.60-79
Does Aeolus act on his own authority in every myth?
No. In Homer's Odyssey he hosts and helps Odysseus as an independent host. In Virgil's Aeneid, by contrast, he only unleashes a storm against the Trojans because Juno bribes him with a promised bride, and he tells her outright that whatever power he holds is hers to command - a much more subordinate role than the one Homer gives him.
Source: Virgil, Aeneid 1.50-80
Where Accounts Differ
- whether Aeolus acts on his own authority or only as another god's instrument
- Homer's Aeolus and Virgil's Aeolus disagree on how independent his authority actually is: the Odyssey treats him as a host who judges Odysseus on his own account, while the Aeneid makes his control of the winds contingent on Jupiter's grant and biddable by Juno's bribe.
Sources
- Homer, Odyssey 10.1-12
- Homer, Odyssey 10.19-27
- Homer, Odyssey 10.28-55
- Homer, Odyssey 10.60-79
- Virgil, Aeneid 1.50-80
- Virgil, Aeneid 1.124-156
- Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth (1993)