AEOLUS

in Greek mythology, mythical king of Magnesia in Thessaly, the son of Hellen (the eponymous ancestor of the true Greeks, or Hellenes) and father of Sisyphus (the "most crafty of men"). Aeolus' daughter Canace and son Macareus committed incest and then took their own lives. Their story provided the subject of Euripides' lost Aeolus. Aeolus gave his name to Aeolis, a territory on the western coast of Asia Minor. in the works of Homer, controller of the winds and ruler of the floating island of Aeolia. In the Odyssey he gave Odysseus a favourable wind and a bag in which the unfavourable winds were confined. Odysseus' companions opened the bag; the winds escaped and drove them back to the island. Although he appears as a human in Homer, Aeolus later was described as a minor god.