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 ...

, Phineus (; ), was a king of

Salmydessus Salmydessus or Salmydessos (), also Halmydessus or Halmydissos (Ἁλμυδισσός), was a town on the Euxine Sea in ancient Thrace, about northwest of the entrance of the Bosporus, near present day Kıyıköy in European Turkey. The eastern ...

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

and seer, who appears in accounts of the

Argonauts The Argonauts ( ; ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo'', named after it ...

' voyage. Some accounts make him a king in

Paphlagonia Paphlagonia (; , modern translit. ''Paflagonía''; ) was an ancient region on the Black Sea coast of north-central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus (region), Pontus to the east, and separated from Phrygia (later, Galatia ...

Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, 2.178, 237; Scholia ''ad eund'' 2.177;

Eustathius Eustathius or Eustathios (Greek Εὐστάθιος) is a Greek masculine given name, in English rendered Eustace. It may refer to: * Saint Eustace, martyr (d. 118) * Sint Eustatius, Dutch island in the Caribbean * Eustathius of Antioch, Patriarch ...

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

, ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

'
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Dionysius Periegetes Dionysius Periegetes (, literally Dionysius the Voyager or Traveller, often Latinized to ''Dionysius Periegeta''), also known as Dionysius of Alexandria or Dionysius the African,''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 4th edition, 1810, 9''506/ref> was the ...

, 787;

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephen of Byzantium (; , ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD) was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethnica'' (). Only meagre fragments of the dictionary survive, but the epit ...

, s.v.;

Constantine Porphyrogennetos Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, and ...

, ''De thematibus'' 1.7;

William Smith William, Willie, Will, Bill, or Billy Smith may refer to: Academics * William Smith (Master of Clare College, Cambridge) (1556–1615), English academic * William Smith (antiquary) (c. 1653–1735), English antiquary and historian of University C ...

, ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'' is the last in a series of classical dictionaries edited by the English scholar William Smith (1813–1893), following '' A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'' and the '' Dictionary of G ...

'' s.v.
Paphlagonia
' or in Arcadia.

Family

Several different versions of Phineus's parentage were presented in ancient texts. According to

Apollonius of Rhodes Apollonius of Rhodes ( ''Apollṓnios Rhódios''; ; fl. first half of 3rd century BC) was an ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek author, best known for the ''Argonautica'', an epic poem about Jason and the Argonauts and their quest for the Go ...

, he was a son of

Agenor Agenor (; ) was in Greek mythology and history a Phoenician monarch, king of Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre or Sidon. The Greeks, Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–425 BC), born in the city of Halicarnassus under the Achaemenid Empire, estimated that Agen ...

, but the '' Bibliotheca'' says that other authors named his father as

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 ...

(who is the father of Agenor).Apollodorus
1.9.21
/ref> The

Hesiodic Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient 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 Griffin, " ...

Catalogue of Women The ''Catalogue of Women'' ()—also known as the ''Ehoiai '' (, )The Latin transliterations ''Eoeae'' and ''Ehoeae'' are also used (e.g. , ); see Catalogue of Women#Title and the ē' hoiē-formula, Title and the ''ē' hoiē''-formula, below. Th ...

'', on the other hand, reported that Phineus was the son of Phoenix and

Cassiopeia Cassiopeia or Cassiopea may refer to: Greek mythology * Cassiopeia (mother of Andromeda), queen of Aethiopia and mother of Andromeda * Cassiopeia (wife of Phoenix), wife of Phoenix, king of Phoenicia * Cassiopeia, wife of Epaphus, king of Egy ...

. His first wife was

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

, daughter of Boreas and

Oreithyia In Greek mythology, Orithyia or Oreithyia (; ; ) was the name of the following women: *Orithyia or Orythya, the Nereid of raging seas and one of the 50 marine-nymph daughters of the ' Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanid Doris. She and her ...

, by whom he had a pair of sons, named

Plexippus In Greek mythology, Plexippus or Plexippos (Ancient Greek: Πλήξιππος means "striking") is a name that refers to: * Plexippus, a Pleuron (Aetolia), Pleuronian prince as the son of King Thestius of Pleuron, Aetolia, Pleuron and Eurythemis, ...

and Pandion, or Gerymbas and Aspondus, or

Polydector In Greek mythology, Polydector may refer to the following characters: * Polydector, an Egyptian prince and one of the sons of Aegyptus. He married the Danaid Oeme and suffered the same fate along with his brothers, except Lynceus, when their bride ...

(

Polydectus ''Polydectus cupulifer'' is a species of crab in the family Xanthidae, and the only species in the genus ''Polydectus''. Together with the genus ''Lybia'', it forms the subfamily Polydectinae. It is found in the Indo-Pacific, ranging from Madagas ...

) and

Polydorus In Greek mythology, Polydorus (; , i.e. "many-gift d) or Polydoros referred to several different people. *Polydorus, son of Phineus and Cleopatra, and brother of Polydector (Polydectus). These two sons by his first wife were blinded by Phineus be ...

, or Parthenius and Crambis, or Oryithus ( Oarthus) and Crambis. His second wife,

Idaea Idaea or Idaia (Ancient Greek: Ἰδαία), which means "she who comes from Ida" or "she who lives on Ida", referring to either the Cretan Mount Ida, or the Phrygian Mount Ida in the Troad, is the name of several figures in Greek mythology: * ...

, daughter of the

Scythia Scythia (, ) or Scythica (, ) was a geographic region defined in the ancient Graeco-Roman world that encompassed the Pontic steppe. It was inhabited by Scythians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people. Etymology The names ...

n king Dardanus (mythological king), Dardanus (less commonly Dia (mythology), Dia,Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, 2.178 Eidothea (Greek myth), Eidothea, sister of Cadmus, or EurytiaScholia on

, ''Odyssey'
12.69
/ref>), deceived him into blinding these sons, a fate Phineus himself would suffer. By his second wife, or by a Scythian concubine, Phineus had two more sons, Mariandynus and Thynus.Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, 2.140 According to some sources, he also had two daughters, Eraseia and Harpyreia, while another daughter Olizone was called the wife of Dardanus (son of Zeus), Dardanus, who was the son of Zeus and Electra (Pleiad), Electra, and became the mother of Erichthonius of Dardania, Erichthonius.

Mythology

Apollo was said to have given the gift of prophecy to Phineus, but the latter's own blinding was variously attributed to the outrage against his sons, his giving Phrixus directions on his journey, or because he preferred long life to sight, or, as reported in the ''Argonautica'' (thus the best-known version), for revealing the future to mankind. For this reason he was also tormented by the Harpy, Harpies, who stole or defiled whatever food he had at hand or, according to the ''Catalogue of Women'', drove Phineus himself to the corners of the world. According to scholia on the ''Odyssey'', when asked by Zeus if he preferred to die or lose sight as punishment for having his sons killed by their stepmother, Phineus chose the latter saying he would rather never see the sun, and consequently it was the scorned Helios who sent the Harpies against him. In yet another version, he blinded Phineus at the request of his son Aeëtes, who asked him to do so because Phineus offered his assistance to Aeëtes' enemies.Fowler, p
222
vol. II Alternatively the agent of punishment was

. However the Harpies plagued him, deliverance from this curse motivated Phineus's involvement in the voyage of the ''Argo''.. Those accounts in which Phineus is stated to have blinded his sons, add that they had their sight restored to them by the sons of Boreas (god), Boreas, or by Asclepius. When the ship landed by his Thracian home, Phineus described his torment to the crew and told them that his brothers-in-law, the wing-footed Boreads, both Argonauts, were fated to deliver him from the Harpies. Zetes demurred, fearing the wrath of the gods should they deliver Phineus from divine punishment, but the old seer assured him that he and his brother Calais would face no retribution. A trap was set: Phineus sat down to a meal with the Boreads standing guard, and as soon as he touched his food the Harpies swept down, devoured the food and flew off. The Boreads gave chase, pursuing the Harpies as far as the "Floating Islands" before Iris (mythology), Iris stopped them lest they kill the Harpies against the will of the gods. She swore an oath by the Styx that the Harpies would no longer harass Phineus, and the Boreads then turned back to return to the Argonauts. It is for this reason, according to Apollonius, that the "Floating Islands" are now called the Strophades, the "Turning Islands". Phineus then revealed to the Argonauts the path their journey would take and informed them how to pass the Symplegades safely, thus partially filling the same role for Jason that Circe did for Odysseus in the ''Odyssey''. A now-lost play about Phineus, ''The Persians#Production, Phineus'', was written by Aeschylus and was the first play in the trilogy that included ''The Persians'', produced in 472 B.C. Eventually, Helios transformed Phineus into a Mole (animal), mole, a blind creature, over some unspecific insult. The story of Phineus and Cleopatra is briefly mentioned in Sophocles' ''Antigone (Sophocles play), Antigone''.

Notes

References

* Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus), Apollodorus, ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
* Apollonius of Rhodes, Apollonius Rhodius, ''Argonautica'' translated by Robert Cooper Seaton (1853–1915), R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 001. London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1912
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Apollonius Rhodius, ''Argonautica''. George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* . * Hesiod, ''Catalogue of Women'' from ''Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica'' translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914
Online version at theio.com
* Dictys Cretensis'', from The Trojan War.'' ''The Chronicles of Dictys of Crete and Dares Phrygius, Dares the Phrygian'' translated by Richard McIlwaine Frazer, Jr. (1931–). Indiana University Press. 1966
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Diodorus Siculus, ''The Library of History'' translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8
Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
* Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1–2''. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* . * Timothy Gantz, Gantz, Timothy, ''Early Greek myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources,'' 1993, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, . * Timothy Gantz, Gantz, Timothy, ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2). * Maurus Servius Honoratus, ''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
* . * Sophocles, ''The Antigone of Sophocles e''dited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Sophocles, ''Sophocles. Vol 1: Oedipus the king. Oedipus at Colonus. Antigone''. With an English translation by F. Storr. The Loeb classical library, 20. Francis Storr. London; New York. William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company. 1912
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Tripp, Edward, ''Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology'', Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). . * Argonautica Orphica, ''The Orphic Argonautica'', translated by Jason Colavito. 2011
Online version at the Topos Text Project.

External links

* {{Authority control Mythological Greek seers Children of Poseidon Mythological kings of Thrace Characters in the Argonautica Phoenician characters in Greek mythology Deeds of Zeus Deeds of Apollo Greek mythology of Thrace Helios in mythology Deeds of Poseidon Metamorphoses into animals in Greek mythology Mythological blind people

Family

Mythology

Notes

References

Further reading

External links