one of the ablest and most confidential ministers of Astyages, king of Media, whose history is given with considerable detail by Herodotus. When Astyages, warned by an oracle, feared deposition by the hands of his grandson, Harpagus was employed to destroy the infant Cyrus, and thereby remove all his fears. But, guided rather by the dread of Mandane, the prince's mother, than by a feeling of humanity, he did not obey the command. His disobedience reached the ears of the king, and he was summoned to answer for his conduct. The king apparently yielded to the reasons he gave, but having invited him to supper, placed before him the body of his son prepared as food. Indignant at this treatment, he assisted Cyrus to dethrone his grandfather (about 561 B.C.), and having been afterwards appointed as governor of Lydia (about 540 B.C.), he reduced under subjection the cities of Ionia and the greater part of Asia Minor. (Herodotus, book i.)