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In Greek mythology, a harpy
was any one of the mainly winged death-spirits best known for constantly
stealing all food from Phineas. The literal meaning of the word seems
to be "that which snatches" as it comes from the ancient Greek
word which means "to snatch".
The harpy could also bring life. A harpy was the mother by the West Wind
Zephyros of the horses of Achilles In this context Jane Harrison adduced
the notion in Virgil's Georgics that mares became gravid by the wind alone,
marvelous to say.
Though Hesiod calls them two "lovely-haired" creatures, harpies
as beautiful winged bird-women are a late development, in parallel with
the transformation of the siren, a "creature malign though seductive
in Homer, but gradually softened by the Athenian imagination into a sorrowful
death angel". On a vase in the Berlin Museum, a harpy has a small
figure of a hero in each claw, but her head is recognizably a Gorgon,
with goggling eyes, protruding tongue, and tusks.
By: Damound
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