Ocypete (Ancient Greek: Ὠκυπέτη means 'swift wing') was one of the three Harpy in Greek mythology. She was also known as Ocypode (Ὠκυπόδη means "swift foot") or Ocythoe (Ὠκυθόη means "swift runner"). The Harpies were the daughters of the sea god Thaumas and the Oceanids Electra.[Hesiod, Theogony 267; Apollodorus, 1.2.6; John Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 167] Her harpy-sisters were Aello (Podarge) and Celaeno, whereas other mentioned siblings were Iris, and possibly Arke[Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History 6; Photius, Bibliotheca 190] and Hydaspes.[Nonnus, Dionysiaca 26.351ff.] In other accounts, Harpies were called the progeny of Typhon, father of these monsters,[Valerius Flaccus, 4.425] or of Pontus (Sea) and Gaia (Earth) or of Poseidon, god of the sea.[Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 3.241]
Mythology
According to one story, the Harpies were chased by the
Boreads. Though the swiftest of the trio, Ocypete became exhausted, landed on an island in the middle of the ocean and begged for mercy from the gods. In Greek and Roman mythology, the Harpies were creatures employed by the higher gods to carry out punishments for crimes.
Notes
-
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.
-
Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica translated by Mozley, J H. Loeb Classical Library Volume 286. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. Online version at theio.com.
-
Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonauticon. Otto Kramer. Leipzig. Teubner. 1913. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
-
H. J. Rose (1985). A Handbook of Greek Mythology. University Paperback, 1964.
-
Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, . Google Books.
-
Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
-
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.
-
Nonnus, Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
-
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca. 3 Vols. W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940-1942. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
-
Scholia to Lycophron Alexandra, marginal notes by Isaak and Ioannis Tzetzes and others from the Greek edition of Eduard Scheer (Weidmann 1881). Online version at the Topos Text Project..
