Aello
Aello
One of the Harpy sisters in Greek mythology
In Greek mythology, Aello (/eɪˈɛloʊ/; Ancient Greek: Ἀελλώ, 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.[1]
Aello was also referred to as:
- Aellopus (/eɪˈɛləpəs/; Ἀελλόπους, Aellopous, "whirlwind-footed")[2]
- Aellope (/eɪəˈloʊpiː/; Αελλώπη, Aellōpē)
- Podarge (/poʊˈdɑːrdʒiː/; Ποδάργη, Podargē, "she who is foot-speedy")[3]
- Podarce (/poʊˈdɑːrsiː/; Ποδάρκη, Podarkē, "she who is foot-safe"?)[4]
- Nicothoë (/nɪˈkɒθoʊiː/; Νικοθόη, Nikothoē, "she who is victory-speedy")[5]
As one of the Harpies, Aello was the daughter of the sea god Thaumas and the Oceanid Electra[6] (also called Ozomene[7]). Her harpy-sisters were Ocypete and Celaeno, whereas other mentioned siblings were Iris, and possibly Arke[8] and Hydaspes.[9] In other accounts, Harpies were called the progeny of Typhoeus, father of these monsters,[10] or of Pontus (Sea) and Gaea (Earth) or of Poseidon, god of the sea.[11]
Aello was claimed to be the mother of Achilles's immortal steeds Balius and Xanthus by Zephyrus[12] but some sources claimed it was really her sister Celaeno.
| Homer's Iliad | Quintus' Posthomerica |
|---|---|
| "Xanthus and Balius, that flew swift as the winds,
horses that the Harpy Podarge conceived to the West Wind [i.e. Zephyrus], as she grazed on the meadow beside the stream of Oceanus."[13] |
"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. Xanthus and Balius] Begotten of the West-wind [i.e. Zephyros] clarion-voiced"[14] |
According to Ovid's 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."[15]
Aello was also the name of one of Actaeon's dogs who destroyed their master when he was changed into a stag by the goddess of hunt, Artemis.[16]
- Bell, Robert E. (1991). Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-CLIO. p. 9. ISBN 9780874365818.
- Apollodorus, 1.9.21; Hyginus, Fabulae 14.3
- Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History 6; Photius, Bibliotheca 190
- Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 4.425
- Homer, Iliad 16.149-151 & 19.400; Quintus Smyrnaeus, 3.748-751
- Homer, Iliad 16.149-151
- 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. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. 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. ISBN 9780874365818, 0874365813.
- 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, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. ISBN 978-0674995796. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. ISBN 978-0198145318. 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 of Panopolis, 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.
- Publius Ovidius Naso, 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, The Fall of Troy 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's 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.. Greek text available on Archive.org
