The Bag of the Winds — Aeolia (Island of Aeolus) (Αἰολίη), landfall 6 of 15 on the voyage of odysseus
Homer's Odyssey, Book X. Aeolus and the bag of the winds. Traditional location: Stromboli, Aeolian Islands, Italy.
On his floating island ringed with bronze, Aeolus, keeper of the winds, hosts Odysseus for a month — then gives him a kingly gift: every contrary wind tied up in a bag of ox-hide, and a clean west breeze for home.
Nine days Odysseus holds the helm without sleep. On the tenth, with the watchfires of Ithaca in sight, he closes his eyes. The crew, sure the bag hides silver and gold, cut it open — and the freed winds hurl them shrieking all the way back to Aeolia, where Aeolus, seeing a man so plainly hated by the gods, drives them from his door.
The floating island
Aeolia rides the sea inside a sheer wall of unbroken bronze — a floating island, home of Aeolus, whom Zeus made steward of every wind. His six sons are married to his six daughters; the family feasts forever in a house that smells of roasting meat and echoes with flutes.
For a month Aeolus hosts the fleet and questions Odysseus about Troy, ship by ship, story by story. This map anchors the floating island at Stromboli, whose glowing summit has guided sailors since the Bronze Age.
“For the son of Cronos made him steward of the winds, to still or to rouse whichever he will.” — Odyssey X, 21–22
Why Stromboli?: On this map Aeolia is Stromboli, not Lipari. Stromboli erupts with clockwork regularity and its plume has served as a natural lighthouse and weather-glass for three millennia — fishermen still read the wind from the way its smoke leans. An island that commands the winds and burns in the dark: the identification suggested itself to ancient readers, and Victor Bérard agreed.
A kingly gift
At parting, Aeolus gives Odysseus the greatest gift a sailor could imagine: an ox-hide bag holding every contrary wind, bound in the ship with a wire of silver, and a steady west breeze set free to carry the fleet home.
It is the voyage handed over, finished, wrapped and tied. All Odysseus must do is nothing.
Ithaca in sight
Nine days and nights Odysseus holds the sheet himself, trusting no one, never sleeping. On the tenth day they raise Ithaca — so close they can see men tending the watchfires on the shore.
And he sleeps. The crew, sure the bag hides gold and silver he means not to share, cut it open. Every wind in the world comes out at once. The shrieking gale hurls the fleet all the way back across the sea to Aeolia — where Aeolus, seeing a man so plainly hated by the gods, drives them from his door without a word of comfort. Odysseus considers, for one moment, letting himself drop into the sea.
“They loosed the bag, and all the winds leapt out; and at once the storm-wind seized them and bore them weeping out to sea, away from their native land.” — Odyssey X, 47–49
The fleet after this landfall: 12 of 12 ships. No losses — but home, once within sight of its watchfires, is blown away.