AEOLUS  , in

Greek mythology, according to Homer the son of Hippotes, god and father of the winds, and ruler of the island of Aeolia . In the Odyssey (x . 1) he entertains Odysseus, gives him a favourable wind to help him on his journey, and a bag in whichthe unfavourable winds have been confined . Out of curiosity, or with the idea that it contains valuable treasures, Odysseus' companions open the bag; the winds escape and drive them back to the island, whence Aeolus dismisses them with bitter reproaches . According to Virgil, Aeolus dwells on one of the Aeolian islands to the north of Sicily, Lipara or Strongyle (Stromboli), where he keeps the winds imprisoned in a vast cavern (Virgil, Aen. i . 52) . Another genealogy makes him the son of Poseidon and Arne, granddaughter of Hippotes, and a descendant of Aeolus, king of Magnesia in Thessaly, the mythical ancestor of the tribe of the Aeolians (Diodorus iv . 67) .