Apollo was said to have given the gift of prophecy to Phineus,[24] but the latter's own blinding was variously attributed to the outrage against his sons,[25] his givingPhrixus directions on his journey,[26] or because he preferred long life to sight,[27] or, as reported in theArgonautica (thus the best-known version), for revealing the future to mankind.[28] For this reason he was also tormented by theHarpies, who stole or defiled whatever food he had at hand or, according to theCatalogue of Women, drove Phineus himself to the corners of the world.[29] According toscholia on theOdyssey, 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 scornedHelios who sent the Harpies against him.[18] In yet another version, he blinded Phineus at the request of his sonAeëtes, who asked him to do so because Phineus offered his assistance to Aeëtes' enemies.[30][31] Alternatively the agent of punishment wasPoseidon.[30] However the Harpies plagued him, deliverance from this curse motivated Phineus's involvement in the voyage of theArgo.[32] Those accounts in which Phineus is stated to have blinded his sons, add that they had their sight restored to them by the sons ofBoreas,[33] or byAsclepius.[34]
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-footedBoreads, both Argonauts, were fated to deliver him from the Harpies.[35] 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.[36] 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.[37] The Boreads gave chase, pursuing the Harpies as far as the "Floating Islands" beforeIris stopped them lest they kill the Harpies against the will of the gods.[38] She swore an oath by theStyx 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 theStrophades, the "Turning Islands".[39] Phineus then revealed to the Argonauts the path their journey would take and informed them how to pass theSymplegades safely, thus partially filling the same role forJason thatCirce did forOdysseus in theOdyssey.[32]
A now-lost play about Phineus,Phineus, was written byAeschylus and was the first play in the trilogy that includedThe Persians, produced in 472 B.C.[40] Eventually, Helios transformed Phineus into amole, a blind creature, over some unspecific insult.[41]
The story of Phineus and Cleopatra is briefly mentioned in Sophocles'Antigone.[42]
^The name is occasionally rendered "Phineas" in popular culture, as in the filmJason and the Argonauts. "Phineus" may be associated with the ancient city of Phinea (or Phineopolis) on the Thracian Bosphorus.[citation needed]
^Phineus was the grandson of Agenor as the son of Phoenix according toPherecydes andAntimachus as cited in George W. Mooney,Commentary on Apollonius: Argonautica vsPhineus
Hesiod,Catalogue of Women fromHomeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914.Online version at theio.com
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).ISBN069022608X.
Dräger, P. (1993),Argo Pasimelousa. Der Argonautenmythos in der griechischen und römischen Literatur. Teil 1: Theos aitios, Stuttgart,ISBN978-3-515-05974-9{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
West, M.L. (1985),The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women: Its Nature, Structure, and Origins, Oxford,ISBN0-19-814034-7{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
Media related toPhineus at Wikimedia Commons.jpg)
.jpg)
