Phineus
In
Family
Several different versions of Phineus's parentage were presented in ancient texts. According to Apollonius of Rhodes, he was a son of Agenor,[6] but the Bibliotheca says that other authors named his father as Poseidon (who is the father of Agenor).[7] The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, on the other hand, reported that Phineus was the son of Phoenix[8] and Cassiopeia.[9][10]
His first wife was
By his second wife, or by a
Relation | Names | Source | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Homer | Hesiod | Sophocles | Apollon. | Diodo. | Ovid | Valer. | Apollod. | Dictys | Nonnus | Tzetzes | Unknown | ||||
Sch. Ody. | Ehoiai | Sch. Anti. | Argo. | Sch. | Sch. Ibis | ||||||||||
Parentage | Phoenix and Cassiopeia | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||||
Agenor | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||||||
Poseidon | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Wife | Cleopatra (1st wife) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||
Idaea | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||||||
Eurytia | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Eidothea | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Dia | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
First wife | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Children | Gerymbas | ✓ | |||||||||||||
Aspondus | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Parthenius | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Crambis | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Mariandynus | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Thynus | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Polydector (Polydectus) | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Polydorus | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Plexippus | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Pandion | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Olizone | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Eraseia | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Harpyreia | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Oryithus (Oarthus) | ✓ | ||||||||||||||
Crambis | ✓ |
Mythology
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 giving Phrixus directions on his journey,[26] or because he preferred long life to sight,[27] or, as reported in the Argonautica (thus the best-known version), for revealing the future to mankind.[28] For this reason he was also tormented by the Harpies, who stole or defiled whatever food he had at hand or, according to the Catalogue of Women, drove Phineus himself to the corners of the world.[29] According to scholia on the Odyssey, 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 scorned Helios who sent the Harpies against him.[18] In yet another version, he blinded Phineus at the request of his son Aeëtes, who asked him to do so because Phineus offered his assistance to Aeëtes' enemies.[30][31] Alternatively the agent of punishment was Poseidon.[30] However the Harpies plagued him, deliverance from this curse motivated Phineus's involvement in the voyage of the Argo.[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 of Boreas,[33] or by Asclepius.[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-footed
A now-lost play about Phineus, Phineus, was written by Aeschylus and was the first play in the trilogy that included The Persians, produced in 472 B.C.[40] Eventually, Helios transformed Phineus into a mole, a blind creature, over some unspecific insult.[41]
The story of Phineus and Cleopatra is briefly mentioned in Sophocles' Antigone.[42]
Notes
- ^ The name is occasionally rendered "Phineas" in popular culture, as in the film Jason and the Argonauts. "Phineus" may be associated with the ancient city of Phinea (or Phineopolis) on the Thracian Bosphorus.[citation needed]
- ^ Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, 2.178, 237; Scholia ad eund 2.177; Apollodorus, 1.9.21
- ^ Bremmer (1996), Dräger (2007).
- Constantine Porphyrogennetos, De thematibus 1.7; William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography s.v. Paphlagonia
- ^ Apollonius of Rhodes, 2.236–7
- ^ Apollodorus, 1.9.21
- ^ Pseudo-Scymnos, Circuit de la terre 953 ff.
- ^ Hesiod, Ehoiai fr. 138 (Merkelbach & West 1967); Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, 2.178
- ^ Phineus was the grandson of Agenor as the son of Phoenix according to Pherecydes and Antimachus as cited in George W. Mooney, Commentary on Apollonius: Argonautica vs Phineus
- ^ Apollodorus, 3.15.3
- ^ Scholia on Sophocles, Antigone 977 (ed. Brunck)
- ^ Scholia on Ovid, Ibis 273
- ^ Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, 2.140; Dräger (2007)
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.43.3–4; Apollodorus, 3.15.3; Tripp, s.v. Dardanus (2) p. 190
- ^ Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, 2.178
- ^ Scholia on Sophocles, Antigone 989
- ^ a b Scholia on Homer, Odyssey 12.69
- ^ Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, 2.178; Sophocles, Antigone 966–76
- ^ Idaea and the Scythian concubine might be the same.
- ^ Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, 2.140
- ^ Dictys Cretensis, 3.5 & 4.22
- ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 19
- ^ Sophocles, fr. 704 Radt
- ^ Megalai Ehoiai fr. 254 (Merkelbach & West 1967).
- ^ Hesiod, Ehoiai fr. 157 (Merkelbach & West 1967)
- ^ Apollonius of Rhodes, 2.178–86
- ^ Phineus' food: Apollonius of Rhodes, 2.187–201; his wandering torment: Hesiod, Ehoiai fr. 157 (Merkelbach & West 1967)
- ^ a b Fowler, p. 222, vol. II
- ^ Gantz, pp 352–353
- ^ a b Dräger (2007).
- Orphic Argonautica674
- ^ Scholia ad Pindar, Pythian Odes 13.96
- ^ Apollonius of Rhodes, 2.234–9
- ^ Apollonius of Rhodes, 2.244–61
- ^ Apollonius of Rhodes, 2.263–72
- ^ Apollonius of Rhodes, 2.282–7
- ^ Apollonius of Rhodes, 2.288–97
- ^ Thomson, G. (1973). Aeschylus and Athens (4 ed.). Lawrence & Wishart. p. 279.
- ^ Pseudo-Oppian, Cynegetica 2.615
- ^ Sophocles (1984). The Three Theban Plays. Translated by Fagles, Robert. New York City: Penguin Classics. p. 109.
References
- Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica translated by Robert Cooper Seaton (1853–1915), R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 001. London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1912. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica. George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Bremmer, J.N. (1996), "Phineus", in S. Hornblower; A. Spawforth (eds.), Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd rev. ed.), Oxford, ISBN 978-0-19-866172-6).
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Hesiod, Catalogue of Women from Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914. Online version at theio.com
- Dictys Cretensis, from The Trojan War. The Chronicles of Dictys of Crete and Dares the Phrygian translated by Richard McIlwaine Frazer, Jr. (1931–). Indiana University Press. 1966. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
- Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1–2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Dräger, P. (2007), "Phineus", in H. Cancik; H. Schneider (eds.), Brill's New Pauly: Antiquity, vol. 11 (Phi–Prok), ISBN 978-90-04-14216-9.
- ISBN 0-8018-4410-X.
- ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3(Vol. 2).
- Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Merkelbach, R.; West, M.L. (1967), Fragmenta Hesiodea, Oxford, ISBN 0-19-814171-8).
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Sophocles, The Antigone of Sophocles edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- 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). ISBN 069022608X.
- The Orphic Argonautica, translated by Jason Colavito. 2011. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Further reading
- Dräger, P. (1993), Argo Pasimelousa. Der Argonautenmythos in der griechischen und römischen Literatur. Teil 1: Theos aitios, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-515-05974-9).
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - West, M.L. (1985), The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women: Its Nature, Structure, and Origins, Oxford, ISBN 0-19-814034-7).
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
External links
- Media related to Phineus at Wikimedia Commons