Phineus

Phineus was a king in Thrace and a seer who appears in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. He lived by the sea, blind and tormented by the Harpies, which snatched or fouled his food, until the Argonauts freed him. In return he told them how to pass the Clashing Rocks on the way to Colchis, the land of the Golden Fleece.

Family

Most sources make Phineus a son of Agenor (Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 2.178, 2.237). Apollodorus says that others called him a son of Poseidon (Library 1.9.21), and Hesiod and Pherecydes made him a son of Phoenix, the son of Agenor, and Cassiopeia (Hesiod, Catalogue of Women, quoted by the scholiast on Apollonius 2.178; Pherecydes, fragment 41). His first wife was Cleopatra, a daughter of Boreas and Orithyia and the sister of the winged Boreads, Zetes and Calais (Apollodorus, Library 3.15.2; Argonautica 2.237–241). They had two sons, Plexippus and Pandion. Phineus then married Idaea, a daughter of Dardanus, who falsely accused her stepsons of assaulting her, and Phineus believed her and blinded them (Apollodorus, Library 3.15.3). In Sophocles’ Antigone the sons of Phineus are blinded by their savage stepmother, using the points of her shuttles (Antigone 966–976), while their mother Cleopatra is of the line of the Erechtheids and a child of Boreas (Antigone 980–987).

The Blinding of Phineus

The sources give different reasons for his blindness. In Apollonius, Apollo had given Phineus the gift of prophecy, and he used it so freely that he showed no respect for Zeus, who punished him with a long old age and took away his sight (Argonautica 2.178–184). Hesiod gave two other reasons: in the Great Eoiae he was blinded for showing Phrixus the way, and in the Catalogue because he chose a long life instead of his sight (Hesiod, fragments quoted by the scholiast on Apollonius 2.181). Apollodorus lists three explanations: the gods blinded him for foretelling the future to men; Boreas and the Argonauts blinded him because he had blinded his own sons; or Poseidon blinded him for telling the children of Phrixus how to sail from Colchis to Greece (Library 1.9.21). Diodorus also notes a version in which Boreas blinded Phineus, as Phineus had blinded his sons (Library of History 4.44).

Phineus and the Harpies

The gods also sent the Harpies. These winged female creatures swooped down whenever a table was laid for Phineus, snatching most of the food and leaving the rest with a stench that no one could bear (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.21; Apollonius, Argonautica 2.187–193). Zeus’ oracle had told Phineus that the arrival of a certain band of men would end his suffering. When the Argo reached his home, he recognised them as the men and begged for help, adding that the Boreads were the ones who were fated to restrain the Harpies (Argonautica 2.194–196, 2.234–237). The Boreads were afraid that the gods would be angry, so Phineus swore by Apollo that no wrath from heaven would fall on them (Argonautica 2.250–261).

The Argonauts set food out for him, and the Harpies swooped down and carried it off. Zetes and Calais, who had wings, drew their swords and chased them. In Apollonius the Boreads caught up with the Harpies at the Floating Islands, but Iris stopped them: the Harpies were the hounds of Zeus and could not be killed, but she swore by the water of the Styx that they would not trouble Phineus again. From then on the Floating Islands were called the Strophades, the Islands of Turning (Argonautica 2.284–297). Apollodorus gives a second version: it was fated that the Harpies should perish by the sons of Boreas, and in the chase one of them fell into the river Tigres in the Peloponnese, which was then named Harpys after her, while the other fled as far as the Echinadian Islands, now called the Strophades, and fell there from weariness (Library 1.9.21).

Phineus and the Argonauts

After the Harpies were gone, Phineus feasted with the Argonauts and told them what lay ahead (Argonautica 2.301–316; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.22). He warned them of the Clashing Rocks, or Cyanean Rocks, which came together on those who tried to sail between them, and he told them to release a dove first. If the dove passed through, they should row hard for the gap; if it was lost, they should turn back (Apollonius, Argonautica 2.317–340). The Argonauts followed his advice, and the Argo passed the Clashing Rocks.

In Diodorus’ rationalising account there are no Harpies. The Argonauts find the sons of Phineus and Cleopatra shut in a tomb and whipped, on the word of their stepmother Idaea. The Boreads free them, and Heracles kills Phineus in the fight that follows (Library of History 4.43–44).

Phineus Sources

Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 2.178–340; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.21–22, 3.15.2–3; Sophocles, Antigone 966–987; Diodorus Siculus 4.43–44; Hesiod, Catalogue of Women and Great Eoiae (fragments quoted by the scholiast on Apollonius 2.178 and 2.181); Pherecydes, fragment 41.

See Also: Jason, Argonauts, Golden Fleece, Phrixus, Harpies, Iris, Boreas, Zetes, Calais, Agenor