Why does Odysseus’s crew open Aeolus’s bag of winds?

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Sixteenth-century engraving by Hieronymus Wierix depicting Homer, shown as an older man with a beard and laurel wreath, wearing a draped garment. — Odyssey: A Reader’s Guide to Homer’s Epic Engraving of Homer by Hieronymus Wierix, 16th century; in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

In Homer’s Odyssey, the god Aeolus provides Odysseus with a bag containing unfavorable winds to ensure a safe voyage home to Ithaca.

As the ship nears their destination, Odysseus falls asleep. His crew, overcome by distrust and curiosity, opens the bag in the mistaken belief that it contains gold and silver. This action releases the confined winds, which blow the ship off course and drive them back to Aeolus’s island, where they are ultimately turned away.123