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[150] The ἅρπυια or storm-gust (lit. snatcher) appears here only in the Iliad; in the Od. (Od. 1.241, Od. 14.371, Od. 20.77) it is less distinctly personified; indeed a comparison of Od. 20.66 with 77 shews that the “ἅρπυιαι” are identical with “θύελλαι”. It is needless to say that they have nothing in common with the foul creatures of the Aeneid. The oldest form of the name is “Ἀρέπυια”, found on an archaic vase from Aegina, and further attested by the Et. Mag. This could be restored in all the Homeric passages. See on 20.234. In 20.223 Boreas is the progenitor of a race of fleet horses, but by mortal mares. For Ποδάργη Zen. read “πόδαργος” as an adj., taking “Ἅρπυια” as the proper name; but see 19.400. For the idea that mares were impregnated by the wind see Virgil G. iii. 271, Pliny H. N. viii. 42. Here of course the mares are themselves winds.

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

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