In Greek mythology, Aetolus (Ancient Greek: Αἰτωλός, Aitolos) was the eponymous hero of Aetolia, a son of Endymion and great-great-grandson of Deucalion. After ruling Elis, he was driven from the Peloponnese when he accidentally killed Apis with his chariot during funeral games. He then crossed to the land of the Curetes between the Achelous and the Corinthian gulf, conquered it, and gave the country his own name. His sons Pleuron and Calydon became ancestors of the chief Aetolian heroic lines.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Aetolus (son of Endymion)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Aetolus was a son of Endymion, great-great-grandson of Deucalion, by a Naiad nymph (Neis) or by Iphianassa. According to Pausanias, his mother was called Asterodia, Chromia, or Hyperippe. He married Pronoe, by whom he had two sons, Pleuron and Calydon. His brothers were Paeon, Epeius, Eurycyda, and Naxos.
In another account, Aetolus was the son of Protogenia by Zeus and the brother of Aethlius, Opus, and possibly Dorus.
Other sources described Aetolus instead as the son of Amphictyon and the father of Physcius, who was the father of Locrus. In this version Aetolus was a king of Locris after his father Amphictyon; the kingdom then passed to Physcus and eventually to Locrus, who named the land after himself.
II.Mythology
Aetolus' father compelled him and his two brothers, Paeon and Epeius, to decide by a contest at Olympia 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 death he was succeeded by Aetolus.
During the funeral games celebrated in honor of Azan, Aetolus ran with his chariot over Apis — the son of Jason or of Salmoneus — and killed him, whereupon he was expelled by the sons of Apis. The kingdom of Elis then passed to Eleius, the son of Aetolus' sister Eurycyda.
After leaving the Peloponnese, Aetolus went to the country of the Curetes, between the Achelous and the Corinthian gulf, where he slew Dorus, Laodocus, and Polypoetes, the sons of Apollo and Phthia, and gave to the country the name of Aetolia. This story is only a mythical account of the colonization of Aetolia.
III.Descendants
Aetolus stands as a principal ancestor of the Aetolian and broader Greek heroic genealogies. Through his wife Pronoe his two sons, Pleuron and Calydon, carried on the chief lineages and gave their names to the Aetolian cities of Pleuron and Calydon.
From the line of Pleuron descended Agenor and his sons Porthaon and Oeneus; Oeneus and Althaea were the parents of the hero Meleager. The descent continued through later figures such as Thoas, extending Aetolus' line across several legendary dynasties of the region.