In Greek mythology, Aello (; , Aellō means "storm" or "storm-swift" in ancient Greek) was one of the Harpy sisters who would abduct people and torture them on their way to Tartarus.
Other names
Aello was also referred to as:
-
Aellopus (; Ἀελλόπους, Aellopous, "whirlwind-footed")
[Apollodorus, 1.9.21; Hyginus, Fabulae 14.3]
-
Aellope (; Αελλώπη, Aellōpē)
-
Podarge (; Ποδάργη, Podargē, "she who is foot-speedy")
[Homer, Iliad 16.150]
-
Podarce (; Ποδάρκη, Podarkē, "she who is foot-safe"?)
[Hyginus, Fabulae Preface]
-
Nicothoë (; Νικοθόη, Nikothoē, "she who is victory-speedy")
[Apollodorus, 1.9.21]
Family
As one of the Harpies, Aello was the daughter of the sea god
Thaumas and the
Oceanids Electra
[Hesiod, Theogony 267; Apollodorus, 1.2.6; John Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 167] (also called
Ozomene[Hyginus, Fabulae 14]). Her harpy-sisters were
Ocypete and
Celaeno, whereas other mentioned siblings were Iris, and possibly
Arke[Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History 6; Photius, Bibliotheca 190] and Hydaspes.
[Nonnus, 26.351ff.] In other accounts, Harpies were called the progeny of
Typhon, father of these monsters,
[Valerius Flaccus, 4.425] or of Pontus (Sea) and
Gaia (Earth) or of
Poseidon, god of the sea.
[Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 3.241]
Aello was claimed to be the mother of Achilles's immortal steeds Balius and Xanthus by Zephyrus[Homer, Iliad 16.149-151 & 19.400; Quintus Smyrnaeus, 3.748-751] but some sources claimed it was really her sister Celaeno.
|
"Xanthus and Balius, that flew swift as the winds,
horses that the Harpy Podarge conceived to the West Wind i.e.,
as she grazed on the meadow beside the stream of Oceanus."[Homer, Iliad 16.149-151
]
| "From wretched men, over the Ocean's streams,
Over the Sea-queen's caverns, unto where
Divine Podarge bare that storm-foot twain i.e.
Begotten of the West-wind i.e. clarion-voiced"[Quintus Smyrnaeus, 3.748-751] |
Mythology
According to
Ovid Metamorphoses, Aello was the harpy who was encountered by
Aeneas' company in their wanderings after the fall of
Troy:
"Wintry seas then tossed the heroic band, and in a treacherous harbor of those isles, called Strophades, Aello frightened them."[Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.709-710]
Namesake
Aello was also the name of one of
Actaeon dogs who destroyed their master when he was changed into a stag by the goddess of hunt,
Artemis.
[Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.219; Hyginus, Fabulae 181]
Notes
-
Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
-
Bell, Robert E., Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-Clio. 1991. .
-
Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
-
Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica translated by Mozley, J H. Loeb Classical Library Volume 286. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. Online version at theio.com.
-
Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonauticon. Otto Kramer. Leipzig. Teubner. 1913. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
-
Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
-
Homer, Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
-
Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. . Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
-
Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
-
Nonnus, Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863–1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
-
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca. 3 Vols. W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940–1942. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
-
Ovid, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859–1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
-
Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
-
Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica translated by Way. A. S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 19. London: William Heinemann, 1913. Online version at Topos Text Project.
-
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy. Arthur S. Way. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1913. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
-
Scholia to Lycophron Alexandra, marginal notes by Isaak and Ioannis Tzetzes and others from the Greek edition of Eduard Scheer (Weidmann 1881). Online version at the Topos Text Project..
External links
