Phineus

The blind Thracian seer of Salmydessus on the Pontic coast, punished by Zeus with old age and Harpies for revealing too much of the gods' counsels to mortals. Whenever food was set before him the foul winged women swept down and snatched or befouled it, so that he was starving to death when the Argo arrived. The Boreads Zetes and Calais drove the Harpies far off into the sea-lanes of the Strophades, and in gratitude Phineus laid out the route through the clashing Symplegades and the whole passage to Colchis (Apollonius *Argonautica* 2.178-530).

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