Phineus (mythology) explained

In Greek mythology, Phineus^[1] (; Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Φινεύς, pronounced as /grc/) was the name of the following figures:

• Phineus, an Arcadian prince as one of the 50 sons of the impious King Lycaon either by the naiad Cyllene,^[2] Nonacris^[3] or by unknown woman. He and his brothers were the most nefarious and carefree of all people. To test them, Zeus visited them in the form of a peasant. These brothers mixed the entrails of a child into the god's meal, whereupon the enraged Zeus threw the meal over the table. Phineus was killed, along with his brothers and their father, by a lightning bolt of the god.^[4]
• Phineus (son of Belus), who was turned to stone by Perseus.^[5]
• Phineus, king of Thrace who was visited by Jason and the Argonauts.^[6]

See also

• Phineus (disambiguation)
• Phineas (disambiguation)
• Phinehas (disambiguation)

Notes

1. The name is occasionally rendered "Phineas" in popular culture, as in the film Jason and the Argonauts. "Phineus" may be associated with the ancient city of Phinea (or Phineopolis) on the Thracian Bosphorus.
2. [Dionysius of Halicarnassus]
3. [Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]
4. [Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]
5. Apollodorus, 2.1.4
6. Apollodorus, 1.9.21

References

• 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. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Dionysus of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities. English translation by Earnest Cary in the Loeb Classical Library, 7 volumes. Harvard University Press, 1937–1950. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
• Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitatum Romanarum quae supersunt, Vol I-IV. . Karl Jacoby. In Aedibus B.G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1885. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.