Snatching winged monster,
Terrifying female form,
Torments Phineus.
Foul flying beasts with the heads and breasts of a human female, the Harpies are the horrible bird-hybrids of Greek mythology whose name still resonates today as an an insult thrown at irksome women. The ugly avians make their appearance in the tragic tale of the Thracian king Phineus who had the gift of prophecy but was blinded by the Olympian gods for revealing too much. As further punishment, the poor man was condemned to suffer at the talons of the Harpies on an island with a lavish buffet he'd never get to enjoy. At every attempt to eat his winged tormenters swooped down either snatched the food from his hands or defecated all over it. As the story goes, the long-suffering seer only found some relief upon the arrival of Jason and his Argonauts (passing by on the quest for the Golden Fleece) who helped scatter and did some deals with the right Gods to get the flying menace to leave off. The episode was reimagined in glorious Harryhausen stop-motion for the Jason and the Argonauts movie, and altogether the Harpies go down in history as some of the most intriguing beasties of Greek mythology. The Harpies torture the suicides of Dante's Inferno, exist in outstanding artefacts of the ancient age and will forever come flapping back into consciousness every time an irritating old woman nags you or flings excrement on your dinner.
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