Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
: Ὠκυπέτη means 'swift wing') was one of the three
Harpies
In Greek and Roman mythology, a harpy (plural harpies, , ; ) is a half-human and half-bird mythical creature, often believed to be a personification of storm winds. They feature in Homeric poems.
Descriptions
Harpies were generally depicted ...
in
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
. She was also known as Ocypode (Ὠκυπόδη means "swift foot") or Ocythoe (Ὠκυθόη means "swift runner"). The Harpies were the daughters of the sea god
Thaumas
In Greek mythology, Thaumas or Thaumant (; ; ) was a sea god, son of Pontus and Gaia, and the full brother of Nereus, Phorcys, Ceto and Eurybia.
Mythology
According to Hesiod, Thaumas's wife was Electra (one of the Oceanids, the many daughter ...
and the
Oceanid
In Greek mythology, the Oceanids or Oceanides ( ; , ) are the nymphs who were the three thousand (a number interpreted as meaning "innumerable") daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys.
Description and function
The Oceanids' father Oceanu ...
Electra
Electra, also spelt Elektra (; ; ), is one of the most popular Greek mythology, mythological characters in tragedies.Evans (1970), p. 79 She is the main character in two Greek tragedies, ''Electra (Sophocles play), Electra'' by Sophocles and ''Ele ...
. Her harpy-sisters were
Aello
In Greek mythology, Aello (; , ''Aellō'' means "storm" or "storm-swift" in ancient Greek) was one of the Harpy sisters who would abduct people and torture them on their way to Tartarus.
Other names
Aello was also referred to as:
*Aellopus (; ...
(
Podarge
In Greek mythology, Podarge () is a harpy, a personification of a swift wind and mate of Zephyrus, the West Wind. She is the mother of Balius and Xanthus — two divine horses renowned for their swiftness and who were gifted to Achilles, running ...
) and
Celaeno
In Greek mythology, Celaeno (; ''Kelaino'', lit. 'the dark one', also Celeno or Kelaino, sometimes Calaeno) referred to several different figures.
* Celaeno, one of the Pleiades. She was said to be mother of Lycus and Nycteus, of King Eurypyl ...
, whereas other mentioned siblings were
Iris
Iris most often refers to:
*Iris (anatomy), part of the eye
* Iris (color), an ambiguous color term
*Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess
* ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants
* Iris (given name), a feminine given name, and a list of peopl ...
, and possibly
Arke
In Greek mythology, Arke or Arce () is one of the daughters of Thaumas, and sister to the rainbow goddess Iris. During the Titanomachy, Arke fled from the Olympians' camp and joined the Titans, unlike Iris who remained loyal to Zeus and his alli ...
and
Hydaspes
The Jhelum River is a major river in South Asia, flowing through India and Pakistan, and is the westernmost of the five major rivers of the Punjab region. It originates at Verinag and flows through the Indian-administered territory of Jammu an ...
. In other accounts, Harpies were called the progeny of Typhoeus, father of these monsters,Valerius Flaccus, 4.425 or of
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos may refer to:
* Short Latin name for the Pontus Euxinus, the Greek name for the Black Sea (aka the Euxine sea)
* Pontus (mythology), a sea god in Greek mythology
* Pontus (region), on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in modern ...
(Sea) and
Gaea
In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of ('), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (S ...
(Earth) or of
Poseidon
Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...
, god of the sea.
Servius Servius may refer to:
* Servius (praenomen), a personal name during the Roman Republic
* Servius the Grammarian (fl. 4th/5th century), Roman Latin grammarian
* Servius Asinius Celer (died AD 46), Roman senator
* Servius Cornelius Cethegus, Roma ...
According to one story, the Harpies were chased by the
Boreads
The Boreads () are the two "wind brothers" in Greek mythology. They consist of Zetes (also Zethes) () and Calaïs (). Their place of origin was Thrace, home of their father Boreas (god), Boreas (the North wind).
Description
Zetes and Calais w ...
. Though the swiftest of the trio, Ocypete became exhausted, landed on an island in the middle of the ocean and begged for mercy from the gods. In Greek and Roman mythology, the Harpies were creatures employed by the higher gods to carry out punishments for crimes.
Notes
References
*
Apollodorus
Apollodorus ( Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to:
:''Note: A ...
Gaius Valerius Flaccus
Gaius Valerius Flaccus (; died ) was a 1st-century Roman poet who flourished during the "Silver Age" under the Flavian dynasty, and wrote a Latin ''Argonautica'' that owes a great deal to Apollonius of Rhodes' more famous epic.Online version at theio.com. * Gaius Valerius Flaccus, ''Argonauticon.'' Otto Kramer. Leipzig. Teubner. 1913 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library. *
H. J. Rose
Herbert Jennings Rose FBA (5 May 1883, in Orillia – 31 July 1961, in St Andrews) was a Canadian-born British classical scholar, best remembered as the author of ''A Handbook of Greek Mythology'', originally published in 1928, which became for ...
(1985). ''A Handbook of Greek Mythology''. University Paperback, 1964.
*Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004, Google Books
*
Hesiod
Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...
, ''
Theogony
The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one ...
Maurus Servius Honoratus
Servius, distinguished as Servius the Grammarian ( or ), was a late fourth-century and early fifth-century grammarian. He earned a contemporary reputation as the most learned man of his generation in Italy; he authored a set of commentaries o ...
, ''In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii;'' recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*
Nonnus of Panopolis
Nonnus of Panopolis (, ''Nónnos ho Panopolítēs'', 5th century AD) was the most notable Greek epic poet of the Imperial Roman era. He was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Thebaid and probably lived in the 5th century AD. He is ...
, ''
Dionysiaca
The ''Dionysiaca'' (, ''Dionysiaká'') is an ancient Greek epic poem and the principal work of Nonnus. It is an epic in 48 books, the longest surviving poem from Greco-Roman antiquity at 20,426 lines, composed in Homeric dialect and dactylic hex ...
'' translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. Online version at the Topos Text Project. *Nonnus of Panopolis, ''Dionysiaca. 3 Vols.'' W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940-1942 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
*
Scholia
Scholia (: scholium or scholion, from , "comment", "interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript of ancient a ...