Aello

"Podarke" redirects here. For the genus of polychaete worms, see Podarke (genus).

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]

Other names

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]

Family

As one of the Harpies, Aello was the daughter of the sea god Thaumas and the Oceanid Electra^{[6][AI-generated source?]} (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]

Mythology

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]

Namesake

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]