Aeolos

God of storms and winds. Greek. One of the sons of POSEIDON, said to have presented the winds in a leather bag to the hero Odysseus, and to have given the sail to seafarers. According to legend his home was the Aeolian Island [Lipari Island]. In one legend he is married to EOS and is the father of six sons, the various directional winds. The hexagonal Temple of Winds, on each side of which is depicted a flying figure of one of the winds, and which is dedicated to Aeolos, still stands at Athens.

Aeolus

by Dr Anthony E. Smart

 
Custodian of the four winds. A minor deity, he is the son of a king called Hippotes, and lived on one of the rocky Lipara islands, close to Sicily. In the caves on this island were imprisoned the winds, and Aeolos, directed by the higher gods, let out these winds as soft breezes, gales, or whatever the higher gods wished. Being visited by the Greek hero Odysseus, Aeolos received him favorably, and on the hero’s departure presented Odysseus with a bag containing all the adverse winds, so that his friend might reach Ithaca with a fair wind. Odysseus did as Aeolos bid, but in sight of his homeland, having been untroubled by foul weather, he fell asleep and his men, curious, opened the bag, thus releasing all the fierce winds, which blew their ship far off course (Odyssey X, 2; Vigil I, 52).