Phineus

A king of Salmydessus on the Euxine (Black Sea); the son of Agenor and the brother of Kadmus and Europa.

Phineus married the daughter of Boreas (North Wind), Kleopatra (Cleopatra), and after her death he married a cruel and vengeful woman; his new wife hated his sons which he and Kleopatra had sired; she induced Phineus to blind them; as punishment for such a horrendous act, Zeus offered him blindness or death; Phineus chose blindness; Helios (the Sun) was offended that Phineus would choose darkness rather than death so he sent the winged-women known as the Harpies to torment Phineus by stealing his food; the Harpies did not steal all of Phineus’ food, they would always leave reeking morsels so that he could sustain himself and thus his torment could continue.

During the voyage of Iason (Jason) and the Argonauts, the winged sons of Boreas, Kalais (Calais) and Zetes set a trap for the Harpies but the Harpies were very swift and the winged brothers could only claw at the fleeing women with their fingertips; Iris, the messenger of the Immortals, rushed into the fray and chided the brothers for trying to harm the Harpies because they were there to punish Phineus at the behest of Zeus; Iris swore a sacred oath on the river Styx that if the brothers would stop their pursuit of the Harpies, Phineus would no longer be tormented; thus Phineus was freed from his curse.

The islands where Phineus made his home were called the Floating Islands until the Argonauts arrived, from that time on they were called the Islands of Turning.

• Argonautika, book 2, lines 178-300