Harpies
The winged tormentors of Phineus in Apollodorus
Female creatures sent by the gods to snatch Phineus’s meals, pursued through the air by the winged sons of Boreas.
Quick answer
In Apollodorus’s Library, the Harpies are winged female creatures sent by the gods against the blind seer Phineus. They seize most of his food and leave the remainder too foul-smelling to eat. Zetes and Calais pursue them so that Phineus can help the Argonauts continue their voyage.[2]
Quick facts
| Record type | Collective creatures in Greek mythography |
|---|---|
| Source markers | Library 1.2.6 and 1.9.21–22 |
| Names in the genealogy | Aello and Ocypete (1.2.6)[1] |
| Family in that passage | Children of Thaumas and Electra, alongside Iris[1] |
| Source realm | Greek mythic world: Phineus’s table at Salmydessus in Thrace |
| Form and action | Winged female creatures; aerial food-snatching and a shriek (1.9.21) |
| Pursuers | Zetes and Calais, sons of Boreas |
| Outcome | Conflicting pursuit endings are preserved; see below[2] |
Phineus’s interrupted meal
The Argonauts reach Salmydessus in Thrace and meet Phineus. The compilation gives several explanations of his blindness rather than one settled cause. It then says that the gods also sent the Harpies against him. Phineus offers sailing advice in return for release from their attacks.[2]
The Argonauts set out a meal. The Harpies descend with a shriek and take the food; Zetes and Calais draw their swords and fly after them. The narrator introduces a double condition of fate: the Harpies are to perish through the sons of Boreas, while the sons are to die if they cannot overtake a fugitive.[2]
Endings kept separate
In the first pursuit account, one Harpy falls into the Peloponnesian river Tigres, thereafter called Harpys. The other reaches the Echinadian Islands, turns, and collapses on the shore from weariness with her pursuer. The text associates the name Strophades with that turning. These narrated falls should not be expanded into an invented scene of both Harpies being killed by swords.[2]
The compiler then attributes a different account to Apollonius’s Argonautica: the Harpies reach the Strophades unharmed and swear not to wrong Phineus again. This is the Library’s report of Apollonius, not a separately consulted edition of that poem. In 1.9.22, Phineus is free of the Harpies and gives the Argonauts directions, including advice about the Clashing Rocks.[2]
Description, actions, and names
Frazer renders the description in 1.9.21 as “winged female creatures.” Flight, food-snatching, a shriek, and the foul smell of the remaining food are explicit. These passages do not specify bird bodies, talons, feather colour, size, or control over storms. Nor do they explain how the food becomes foul-smelling.[2]
“Harpies” is the English collective heading, not an individual’s name. In 1.2.6 the named pair are Aello and Ocypete. In 1.9.21 the first fugitive is called Nicothoe or Aellopus; the second is Ocypete or Ocythoe, with Ocypode attributed to Hesiod. These are the spellings and alternatives in Frazer’s rendering. The profile does not turn each variant into an additional sister or silently harmonise the pursuit names with the genealogy.[1][2]
Source realm: the Greek mythic world
The encounter begins at Salmydessus in Thrace. The pursuit account names the Peloponnese, Propontis, and islands it calls Echinadian and Strophades. These belong to the geography of the narrated chase; they do not establish a species’ habitat or reconcile every geographical difficulty in the transmitted account.[2]
The archive groups this record under Mythic cosmos because it belongs to Greek divine genealogy and an Argonautic narrative governed by gods and fate. Its cultural shelf is Ancient Mediterranean.
Role in the account
The Harpies prevent Phineus from eating even when food is available. Relief from that repeated deprivation becomes the condition for his guidance of the voyagers. This is a narrative role supported by the exchange in 1.9.21–22, rather than a claim that Harpies universally symbolise hunger.[2]
Books and references
- 1Apollodorus (Pseudo-Apollodorus), The Library, Volume I
Ancient Greek compilation, generally dated to the second century CE; its precise date and author are uncertain. English translation by Sir James George Frazer. Loeb Classical Library 121, 1921; London: William Heinemann; New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. Book 1, chapter 2, section 6: the genealogy of the Harpies. Public-domain translation, reproduced in Theoi’s Classical Texts Library.
Read Book 1, marker [1.2.6] ↗ - 2Apollodorus, Library 1.9.21–22
Frazer, Volume I, 1921, as above. Book 1, chapter 9, sections 21–22: Phineus, the food-snatching, the pursuit, variant names and endings, and the sailing advice. Ancient author attributions within this passage are distinguished from Frazer’s comparative footnotes.
Read markers [1.9.21]–[1.9.22] ↗ - 3François Verdier, The Harpies Driven from the Table of King Phineus by Zetes and Calais
Undated drawing, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 67.95.7; Rogers Fund, 1967. Image reference only. The museum marks the image public domain and provides its Open Access images under CC0.
Object record and image provenance ↗ · CC0 policy ↗