A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

(Αἰτωλός).

1. A son of Endymion and the nymph Neis, or Iphianassa. (Apollod. 1.7.6.) According to Pausanias (v. 1.2), his mother was called Asterodia, Chromia, or Hyperippe. He was married to Pronoe, by whom he had two sons, Pleuron and Calydon. His brothers were Paeon, Epeius, and others. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Νάξος; Conon. Narrat. 14; Schol. ad Pind. Ol. 1.28.) His father compelled him and his two brothers Paeon and Epeius to decide by a contest at Olympia as to which of them was to succeed him in his kingdom of Elis. Epeius gained the victory, and occupied the throne after his father, and on his demise he was succeeded by Aetolus. During the funeral games which were celebrated in honour of Azan, he ran with his chariot over Apis, the son of Jason or Salmoneus, and killed him, whereupon he was expelled by the sons of Apis. (Apollod. l.c.; Paus. 5.1.6; Strab. viii. p.357.) After leaving Peloponnesus, he went to the country of the Curetes, between the Achelous and the Corinthian gulf, where he slew Dorus, Laodocus, and Polypoetes, the sons of Helios and Phthia, and gave to the country the name of Aetolia. (Apollod. Paus. ll. cc.) This story is only a mythical account of the colonisation of Aetolia. (Strab. x. p.463.)