Chapter 12: Iason and the Argo
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♠ Istros 334F67 FGrH – Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, pt. 3 B, p. 185, ed. F. Jacoby. 2d ed. Leiden 1957.
♠ ApB 1.9.21 – Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (Library)
Some say he [Phineus] was a son of Agenor, but others that he was a son of Poseidon, and he is variously alleged to have been blinded by the gods for foretelling men the future; or by Boreas and the Argonauts because he blinded his own sons at the instigation of their stepmother; or by Poseidon, because he revealed to the children of Phrixus how they could sail from Colchis to Greece. Greek Text
♠ Ais pp. 359-61 – Aischylos, Phineus – Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta 3, ed. S. L. Radt. Göttingen 1985.
♠ Eum 50-51 – Aischylos, Eumenides
Once before I saw some creatures in a painting, [50] carrying off the feast of Phineus. Greek Text
♠ AR 2.187-93 – Apollonios of Rhodes, Argonautika
But on a sudden, swooping through the clouds, the Harpies with their crooked beaks incessantly snatched the food away from his mouth and hands. And at times not a morsel of food was left, at others but a little, in order that he might live and be tormented. And they poured forth over all a loathsome stench; and no one dared not merely to carry food to his mouth but even to stand at a distance; so foully reeked the remnants of the meal. Greek Text
♠ ApB 1.9.21 – Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (Library)
The gods also sent the Harpies to him. These were winged female creatures, and when a table was laid for Phineus, they flew down from the sky and snatched up most of the victuals, and what little they left stank so that nobody could touch it. Greek Text
♠ Hes fr 151 MW – Hesiod, Ehoiai (Catalogue of Women) – Fragmenta Hesiodea, p. 75, ed. R. Merkelbach and M. L. West. Oxford 1967.
Ephoros (in the fourth book, 70F42) apud Strabo 7.3.9 p. 302
Hesiod in the work called the Circling of the Earh says that Phineus was led by the Harpuiai
to the land of the Glaktophagoi who have four-wheeled wagos as their home. (Transl. E Bianchelli)
♠ Hes fr 156 MW – Hesiod, Ehoiai (Catalogue of Women) – Fragmenta Hesiodea, pp. 76-77, ed. R. Merkelbach and M. L. West. Oxford 1967.
a) He says they are called the Wandering Isles because they turn backwards and from there turn towards the Boreads–taken from Antimachos. They say they are called the Wandering Isles because they turn about…there they prayed to Zeus so that they may take the Harpuiai. They are not killed according to Hesiod, Antimachos, and Apollonius.
b) The Plotae Isles were called by a new name: the Wandering Isles…Antimachus remembers them in his Lyde…Hesiod also says that Zetes and his men turned and prayed to Zeus: “There they prayed to Aineius, who rules on high.”
♠ AR 2.273-300 – Apollonios of Rhodes, Argonautika
And behind them the two sons of Boreas raising their swords rushed in pursuit. For Zeus imparted to them tireless strength; but without Zeus they could not have followed, for the Harpies used ever to outstrip the blasts of the west wind when they came to Phineus and when they left him. And as when, upon the mountain- side, hounds, cunning in the chase, run in the track of horned goats or deer, and as they strain a little behind gnash their teeth upon the edge of their jaws in vain; so Zetes and Calais rushing very near just grazed the Harpies in vain with their finger-tips. And assuredly they would have torn them to pieces, despite heaven’s will, when they had overtaken them far off at the Floating Islands, had not swift Iris seen them and leapt down from the sky from heaven above, and cheeked them with these words: “It is not lawful, O sons of Boreas, to strike with your swords the Harpies, the hounds of mighty Zeus; but I myself will give you a pledge, that hereafter they shall not draw near to Phineus.”
[291] With these words she took an oath by the waters of Styx, which to all the gods is most dread and most awful, that the Harpies would never thereafter again approach the home of Phineus, son of Agenor, for so it was fated. And the heroes yielding to the oath, turned back their flight to the ship. And on account of this men call them the Islands of Turning though aforetime they called them the Floating Islands. And the Harpies and Iris parted. They entered their den in Minoan Crete; but she sped up to Olympus, soaring aloft on her swift wings. Greek Text
♠ Σ AR 2.296a – Scholia to Apollonios of Rhodes, Argonautika – Scholia in Apollonium Rhodium vetera, pp. 149-50, ed. C. Wendel. Berlin 1935.
♠ Ibykos 292 PMG – Poetae Melici Graeci, p. 152, ed. D. L. Page. Oxford 1962.
Philodem. de piet. p. 18 Gomberz
Aischylos .[…….] and Eibykos and Telestes (fr 8) [….
……] the Arpuiai (Transl. E. Bianchelli)
♠ Ais fr 260 R – Aischylos, Phineus– Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta 3, p. 361, ed. S. L. Radt. Göttingen 1985.
♠ Telestes 812 PMG – Poetae Melici Graeci, p. 422, ed. D. L. Page. Oxford 1962.
See above: Ibykos 292 PMG
♠ ApB 1.9.21 – Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (Library)
When Zetes and Calais, the sons of Boreas, saw that, they drew their swords and, being winged, pursued them through the air. Now it was fated that the Harpies should perish by the sons of Boreas, and that the sons of Boreas should die when they could not catch up a fugitive. So the Harpies were pursued and one of them fell into the river Tigres in Peloponnese, the river that is now called Harpys after her; some call her Nicothoe, but others Aellopus. But the other, named Ocypete or, according to others, Ocythoe （ but Hesiod calls her Ocypode）fled by the Propontis till she came to the Echinadian Islands, which are now called Strophades after her; for when she came to them she turned （estraphe） and being at the shore fell for very weariness with her pursuer. Greek Text
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Edited by Elena Bianchelli, Retired Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, March 2022.
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