by Boreas . . . their stepmother: see p. 135 and note.
the Harpies: for their parentage see p. 29, cf. Theog. 265 ff. The meaning of their name, ‘Snatchers’, is reflected in their characteristic action of swooping down and snatching away people (or here, Phineus’ food).
failed to catch those they pursued: so here both of them die, because the Harpies fall down exhausted before they can catch them; for the birth of the Boreads, and another account of their death, see p. 134 and notes. Boreas was the North Wind, so it is natural that his sons should be swift-moving and winged.
Ocypode according to Hesiod: not in Theog. 267, where the Harpies are called Aello and Ocypete(meaning swift flier as against Ocypode, swift of foot), but this may be a reference to Hes. Cat. (which contained an account of the pursuit, frs. 150–7).
Strophades: these islands, which lie to the west of the Peloponnese opposite Messenia, mark the point where she ‘turned’ (estraphe). Ap. is wrong to suggest that this name was given to the Echinadian Islands (which were known under that name in historical times, and lie further north, near the entrance to the Corinthian Gulf facing Acarnania); according to AR 2. 297, the islands thus renamed were formerly known as the Plotai or ‘Floating Islands’.
in the Argonautica: see 2. 284 ff. Iris (who was the messenger of the gods, but was acting on her own initiative here, presumably as a sister of the Harpies, Theog. 266 f.) intervened to say that the Harpies were simply performing their duties as the ‘hounds of Zeus’ and it was unlawful to destroy them. AR is misreported on the oath, for it is Iris who swore that the Harpies would never approach Phineus again. They departed to their den in Crete.
that Cadmos had sowed at Thebes: see p. 100; not of course the same teeth, but half of the teeth from the Theban dragon that Athene (or Athene and Ares, sc. Pind. Isth. 4. 13, citing Pherecydes) had held back and given to Aietes, cf. AR 3. 1183 f. This is a secondary motif, directly modelled on the Theban story.
a potion: see AR 3. 844 ff; extracted from the Colchicum, or autumn crocus, which came into existence when the blood from the tormented Prometheus, p. 36, fell to the earth. The drug from its seed, used until modern times for treating rheumatism and gout, is here endowed with magical properties.
he put them under the yoke: on the bulls and their yoking by Jason, see also Pind. Pyth. 4. 224–41.
murdered her brother: Ap. prefers an earlier and more primitive version of this story to that in AR 4. 303 ff. where Apsyrtos is of military age and is sent in pursuit of Jason and Medea by his father, and is treacherously killed by Jason in a temple of Artemis on an island at the mouth of the Danube. Ap.’s version is similar to that in Pherecydes (sc. AR 4. 223 and 226), but there Medea takes the infant child from his bed in Colchis on Jason’s instructions, and Jason participates in the killing and dismemberment. In the earlier tradition and AR alike the murder is of central importance as the cause of the Argonauts’ diversion to the western Mediterranean.
Tomoi: meaning ‘Pieces’; on the western shore of the Black Sea.
past the Ligurian and Celtic peoples: cf. AR 4. 646 f. In AR (592 ff.) they sail from the Adriatic up the Eridanos (or Po), down the Rhone, and then towards Italy and along its coast. The Ligurians lived in north-western Italy and the eastern Riviera, and the Celts to the west and north of that; the vagueness of the language here may be deliberate, reflecting the author’s awareness that the river voyage is geographically impossible.
Aiaie: a mythical island, cf. Od. 10. 135 ff. Although Homer placed her island in the remote east (in Od. 12. 3–4, it is described as the home of Dawn and associated with the rising Sun), the fabulous realms familiar from the Odysseyare now located firmly in the west.
to counter their own: as the finest of singers himself, p. 30, Orpheus could reasonably expect to outcharm the Sirens (cf. Hyg. 14); in AR 4. 905 ff. it is largely a matter of volume.
the island of the Phaeacians: see Od. 6–8; here identified with Corcyra, now Corfu.
a violent storm: the Argonauts encounter a storm in AR also when they leave Phaeacia, but it drives them to the coast of Africa (4. 1232 ff.). It is surprising that Ap. should omit all mention of the traditions connecting the Argonauts with Libya, for the theme is of early origin. The occasion for their visit varies. In one version, they return from Colchis by an eastward route along the River Phasis to the Ocean and thence the Red Sea, and then carry the Argofrom there to Libya (sc. AR 4. 259 and 282, cf. Pind. Pyth. 4. 25 ff); in Hdt. 4. 179 ff. they are driven there by a storm on the voyage out, but in DS 4. 56. 6 on their return as in AR.
Anaphe: its name is traced to the way in which it ‘appeared’ (from anaphainein)before the Argonauts. One of the southernmost Aegean islands, next to Thera (Santorini); but it is north of Crete, and in AR (4. 1717) they came to Anaphe after their encounter with Talos in Crete, on their voyage north from Africa.
make jokes: see AR 4. 1720 ff.; the story explains why the local women directed obscene jokes at the men when sacrifices were made to Apollo on Anaphe.
a man of bronze: to be understood literally, cf. AR 4. 1638 ff.; and it is thus natural that Hephaistos, famed as a creator of automata (see Il. 18. 373 ff. and 417 ff.), should have constructed him. That some (e.g. AR 4. 1641 f.) should have associated him with Hesiod’s race of bronze (see Hes. WD143 ff.) is understandable, but Hesiod was speaking metaphorically when he named his sequence of races after different metals.
a bulclass="underline" otherwise unattested, but not unduly surprising in the Cretan context (cf. pp. 97 f).
a single vein: AR speaks of a vein at his ankle covered by a thin layer of skin (4. 1646 ff.), but there is no mention of the bronze nail which acts as a stopper, an appealingly archaic element preserved here. Talos would be invulnerable if it were not for this vein.