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It would seem to be a difficult matter in archaeology to get rid once for all of an erroneous idea which has firmly asserted itself; at any rate it is desirable when an error has been combated without complete success, to adduce any fresh proofs of the truth that may occur. For this reason I venture to reintroduce a question which, as many will doubtless think, has really been finally settled, I mean the distinction which, to the Greek mind at any rate, existed between the Siren and the Harpy. These two mythological creations were to the Greeks as regards outward form as widely distinct as possible; the Siren has in Greek art the form of a bird with human head, or human bust and arms; the Harpy has invariably the winged figure of a woman, with no other distinguishing feature, unless it be that in one instance her hands are drawn in a method suggestive of claws. And yet we hear it constantly asserted that the Harpy has sometimes in Greek art the body of a bird, like a Siren; and when a figure occurs which has a bird's body with the upper part of a woman's body, this is still described, as in the old catalogues, as ‘a Siren or Harpy.’
The error has arisen principally owing to the fact that in the later monuments and literary notices the type of the Harpies became assimilated to that of the Sirens.
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- Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1893
References
1 Thus Engelmann in Rescher's Lexicon s.v. describes several Greek ‘Harpies’ of bird form; distinguishing in this way the type of the Harpy in relation to death; ‘Als wegraffende Todesgöttinnen. scheinen sie jedoch mehr in Vogelgestalt dargestellt zu sein.’
2 This view, which I discussed with Studniczka in 1890, has been further advocated by Head in the Numismatic Chronicle, vol. xi. Third series, p. 6.
3 
6, 3, 4. 
I take this to mean that the silphium seed is ready to be gathered when the S. wind blowing fresh after the dogdays scatters it about. The wind is here mentioned not as a beneficent agent, but merely to indicate the season of the year. He also quotes Pliny, N. H. ii. 115Google Scholar: the writer is describing how violent winds and whirlwinds are sometimes caused by the natural configuration of landscape, rocks, &c., and says; Quin et in Cyrenaica provincia rupes quaedam austro traditur sacra quam profanum sit attrectari hominis manu, confestim austro volvente harenas. Surely this, if it proves anything, can hardly be taken as proving the beneficent aspect of the S. wind in the Cyrenaica, but rather the precisely contrary conclusion.
4 Note the hedgehog and lizards introduced in the (Corinthian) Amphiaraus vase found at Caere (Berlin 1655).
5 Studniczka, , Kyrcne, p. 27Google Scholar, suggests a parallel between the symbolism of the Naukratis vase and the Alexandrine statue of father Nile with the πήχεις.
6 Naukratis i. p. 52.
7 Its connexion with the Phineus legend is of course a different matter. But, among the various peoples who colonized Naukratis and Daphnae at any rate, there was sufficient intercourse with the North of Asia Minor to account for the cohesion of the two ideas there.
8 According to one account the Harpies were the children of Typhon.
9 A similar plant springs from the ground behind the throne of Apollo as he sits facing Kyrene on the Cyrenaean cup: Studniczka, , Kyrene, p. 8Google Scholar, Fig. 3.
10 It is significant that in the Egyptian ritual the hare is associated with the underworld. Maspero says that the hare is a favourite amulet among the Egyptians, ‘whether to render the guardian of the entry more favourable to the dead, or as an incarnation of Osiris.’ Cf. also the hare-headed divinity at Denderah and in the vignette to the 146th chapter of the Book of the dead (Lang, , Myth, Ritual and Religion p. 351)Google Scholar; also on the amphora of ‘Fikellura’ style (Longpérier, Musée Napoléon III., Pl. 59, 1), a style which as we see from the finds at Daphnae and Naukratis was closely associated with Egypt.
11 It is just worth noting that the animals on our vase are all turned to the left; if the relative positions of the winged figures on the Cyrenaean cup (ante p. 106) have any significance, there may be the same significance here.
12 Published by Panofka, in the Berlin Abhandlungen, 1846, p. 211Google Scholar, Pl. I.
13 On the Caere hydria in the British Museum (B 59, No. xi. of Dümmler's list) are two boys on horseback with whips and hair knotted up, exactly such as we have at Daphnae.
14 I am bound to admit that this figure holds in each hand a wreath; but if these Caeretan vases represent an imitative style, the original significance of the wreath may well have been overlooked by the imitator; and on the other hand, the rape of Europa would not be regarded as inauspicious.
15 Cf. the head of the vulture on the tetra-drachm of Cyrene (Imhoof-Blumer, v. 9): this bird is of course a common symbol in Egyptian hieroglyphics.
16 Described by Budge, in Classical Review, 1890, p. 322b.Google Scholar