Which wind god gives Odysseus a bag of winds?

Aeolus gives Odysseus a bag containing the winds. In Homer’s Odyssey, Aeolus is the ruler of the winds and the king of the floating island of Aeolia.

After hearing about Odysseus’s adventures, Aeolus welcomes him and his crew for a month. When they depart, he binds the troublesome winds in an ox-hide bag, leaving the gentle west wind free to push the ship toward Ithaca.

Odysseus’s crew nearly reaches home, but the sailors become suspicious while their leader sleeps. They assume the bag contains gold or silver and open it. The released winds drive the ships all the way back to Aeolia. Aeolus refuses to help a second time, believing that someone so repeatedly opposed by the gods must be cursed.

The episode is a classic example of how mistrust and poor judgment undermine Odysseus’s progress. Aeolus is sometimes confused with other mythological figures named Aeolus, including the ancestor associated with the Aeolians. The wind-keeper in the Odyssey is specifically Aeolus, son of Hippotes.