Greek PantheonIsland
Island of Aeolus
Aeolia, the floating island with a bronze wall where Aeolus, keeper of the winds, gave Odysseus the storm-winds tied in a bag, which his crew opened within sight of Ithaca (Odyssey 10).
About Island of Aeolus
A bag of winds
Odyssey 10 opens on Aeolia, a floating island of bronze wall, where Aeolus Hippotades feasts Odysseus a month and bags the storm-winds, leaving only Zephyr to blow him home. Ithaca is in sight when the crew open the bag. The island then refuses him. There is no Aeolus temple in Homer. Later Aeolian Lipari claimed the king. The place is a meteorological palace whose one gift is squandered in sight of home.
On the map
Island of Aeolus among other places of the Greek Pantheon.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Homer, Odyssey 10
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Coordinates mark where the myths place a site, or where the tradition locates it today. Mythic realms are left off the map or marked as symbolic placements.
Keep exploring
One myth a week, with its sources in a short email. The sign-up form is just below.