In today's time, we see such creatures around us which are quite ordinary but in history, there were some such creatures that were very different and magical in appearance from us. In ancient times people lived with these creatures, but now they are extinct. In scriptures and movies, we have often seen creatures that were usually half human and half animal, and at the same time they were quite powerful, and their origin story was also quite different. In today's article, we are going to talk about one such mythological creature, whose name is Harpy.
Harpies are described in Greek and Roman mythology as being half-female and half-bird, and they were said to be demonic and monster in nature as they used to steal food from their victims while they were eating. Also, Harpies used to take evil people with them to the hades which was a place where evildoers were punished. Often being agents of punishment they abducted people and tortured them while carrying them to Hades. During that time people who suddenly disappeared were considered victims of harpies. The Harpies were born of Thaumas, a god of the wet element, and the sea Nymph Electra, a daughter of Oceanus. Harpies were thought to be a personification of the destructive power of the storm winds.
If talking about the written accounts of Harpies, their most famous anecdote is that of the legend of Jason and the Argonauts. Thracian King Phineus had received the gift of prophecy from the Greek gods, but he used this gift against the Gods, as he uncovered their secret plans to the world and this became his biggest mistake. Because the gods did not want to share their secret knowledge among the common people, so as a punishment the king was first made blind, and also some harpies were sent to him. Due to which whenever he started eating food, harpies would snatch his food and also leave a foul smell there. Slowly the king started to weaken and his appetite started increasing. This process continued like this, but then Jason and the Argonauts drove the harpies away from there.
Apart from this, the Trojan hero Aeneas had left for Italy with his followers from the city of Troy, because the Greeks had destroyed their city. They saw Rome on the way where they had camped, they started the work of building a city there, but they had to face a lot of troubles there. Because whenever they cooked food for themselves, all the food would be eaten by harpies as well as leaving behind a foul smell. Disturbed by all these activities, they left the place and went to Carthage. The Latin poet Virgil also mentioned harpies several times in his poems and described their characteristics.
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