HARPYLE, or HARPES, in Grecian Mythology, fabulous monsters sometimes employed by the gods as the ministers of their vengeance. About their numbers and their parentage very various accounts are given. They are usually represented as two, or at most three in number; and as being the daughters of Neptune and Terra, or of Typhon. They are described as living in the islands called the Strophades, at the entrance of Orcus. They were originally represented as maidens, with wings and long flowing hair, and great swiftness of flight. They gradually became changed, however, into hideous monsters, of fierce and loathsome aspect, and living in an atmosphere that exhaled an intolerable stench. The most celebrated myth with which they are identified is that of the blind Phineus, who no sooner sat down to a meal than these foul creatures came
swooping down and carried it off in their claws. In the midst of his distress the Argonauts came to his house, and he promised to aid them in their quest if they would rid him of his tormentors. The Borcades Calais and Zetes attacked them, and would have slain them had they not promised to molest Phineus no more.