Aeolids 2 (Corinth & Orchomenus)

The second page of the genealogy of the Aeolids (descendants of Aeolus), displaying the family trees of Sisyphus from Corinth and Athamas from Orchomenus. Both Sisyphus and Athamas were the sons of Aeolus.

You will find another family tree that displays all of the children of Aeolus in Aeolids 1, under the Deucalionids (Descendants of Deucalion). Deucalion was the son of the Titan Prometheus.

House of Sisyphus

The family tree of Sisyphus can be divided into three parts, because his descendants ruled three powerful kingdoms.

His sons, Glaucus and later Ornytion, succeeded him in Corinth. Glaucus was possibly the father of Bellerophon, though it was usually said that Bellerophon's real father was the sea god Poseidon. Bellerophon was banished for murder. So when Glaucus died, his brother Ornytion succeeded him.

Sisyphus' other son Almus ruled in Orchomenus, in Boeotia.

His grandson Bellerophon ruled the kingdom of Lycia, in Asia Minor (southwestern Turkey).

There is some confusion about the Lycian line of Sisyphus.

Some say that Bellerophon was the son of Glaucus and Eurymede or Eurynome, while others favoured the tradition that Glaucus would only be the father of children of others, but never his own. This was a curse that Zeus had placed on Glaucus, because of his hatred for Sisyphus. Poseidon had disguised himself as Eurymede's husband, so Poseidon was the real father of Bellerophon.

There were other aspects of confusion involved with who Sarpedon's parents were. I am talking about the Sarpedon who was the captain of the Lycians during the Trojan War, not his grandfather, the Cretan Sarpedon, who was the son of Zeus and Europa.

Both daughters of Bellerophon claimed to be Sarpedon's mother. According to Homer, Sarpedon was the son of Zeus and Laodameia. In most of the other sources, Sarpedon's mother was Deïdameia, while the father was Evander, the son of the Cretan Sarpedon. Most people favoured the second tradition, Sarpedon's being Deïdameia's son.

Please note that some sources said that Sisyphus was the real father of Odysseus, not Laretes, when the Corinthian king ravished Anticleia, daughter of the master thief Autolycus. If this true, then Odysseus have a strong connection to the Aeolids.

House of Athamas

Here are two family trees for the house of Athamas. Both trees are relevant.

The first family displays Athamas' children and descendants from his first two wives: Nephele and Ino.

The second family tree of Athamas displays his children and descendants from his third wife Themisto, daughter of King Hypseus of Thessaly.

It should be noted that Schoeneus was sometimes seen as the king of Orchomenus or that of Arcadia. Sometimes, Atalanta was seen as the daughter of Iasus, instead of Schoeneus.