The Probert Encyclopaedia of Greek & Roman Mythology

HARPIES

In Greek and Roman mythology the Harpies were creatures employed by the higher gods to carry out the punishment of crime. They were three in number : Aello, Ocypete, and Celaeno, or Podarge; and were said to be daughters of the giant Thaumas and the Oceanid nymph Electra. Their body was that of a bird, their head that of a woman; and it would seem that they were originally goddesses of the storm, which carries everything along with it. Their manner of punishing those whom they were sent to punish was to carry off all the food set before their victim, and devour it, or failing that, to render it uneatable. Among others who were punished in this way was Phineus, a king of Thrace, his crime having been cruelty toward his own son and contempt of the gods. For showing the Argonauts the way to Colchis he was, however, freed from their persecution by Calais and Zetes, the winged sons of Boreas, who, in gratitude, killed them.
Research Harpies