Harpy
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| Grouping | Legendary creature |
|---|---|
| Sub grouping | Hybrid |
| Similar creatures | Siren, sphinx, centaur |
| Mythology | Greek and Roman |
In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, a harpy (plural harpies, Greek: ἅρπυια,harpyia, pronounced [hárpyi̯a]; Latin: harpȳia) was a female monster in the form of a bird with a human face. They steal food from their victims while they are eating and carry evildoers (especially those who have killed their family) to the Erinyes. They seem originally to have been wind spirits. Their name means "snatchers".
Homer wrote that a harpy was the mother of the two horses of Achilles sired by the West Wind Zephyrus.
Hesiod calls them two "lovely-haired" creatures, the daughters of Thaumas and the Oceanid Electra (not to be confused with Electra, daughter of King Agamemnon), who were sisters of Iris. Pottery art depicting the harpies featured beautiful women with wings. Roman and Byzantine writers detailed their ugliness.
King Phineus of Thrace was given the gift of prophecy by Zeus. Angry that Phineus gave away the god's secret plan, Zeus punished him by blinding him and putting him on an island with a buffet of food which he could never eat because the harpies always arrived to steal the food out of his hands before he could satisfy his hunger, and befouled the remains of his food. This continued until the arrival of Jason and the Argonauts. The Boreads, sons of Boreas, the North Wind, who also could fly, succeeded in driving off the harpies, but without killing any of them, following a request from Iris, who promised that Phineus would not be bothered by the harpies again. "The dogs of great Zeus" returned to their "cave in Minoan Crete". Thankful for their help, Phineus told the Argonauts how to pass the Symplegades.
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