In Greek mythology, Harpies ("robbers") were first beautiful winged women: Hesiod (Theogony) calls them as two "lovely-haired" creatures. The Harpies were sisters of Iris, daughters of Electra and Thaumas. Later, they were winged hags with sharp bird-talons. They were agents of punishment who abducted people and tortured them on their way to Tartarus. They were vicious, cruel and violent. They lived on Strophades . They were usually seen as the personifications of the destructive nature of wind. The three harpies were: Aello ("storm swift"), Celaeno ("the dark"), also known as Podarge ("fleet-foot"), and Ocypete ("the swift wing").

The Harpies' connection with Phineas, a King of Thrace,forms an episode in the epic of the Argonauts, an ancient mythic theme well known to Homer's audience— Homer makes a casual reference his listeners must have understood— though the literary version we have is a late one. Phineas had the gift of prophesy, but Zeus, angry that Phineas revealed too much, punished him by setting him on an island with a buffet of food. He could eat none of it, however, because the Harpies arrived and stole the food out of his hands right before he could eat. This continued until the arrival of Jason and the Argonauts. They sent the winged heroes, the Boreads, after the Harpies. They succeeded in driving the monsters away but did not kill them, as a request from the goddess of the rainbow, Iris, who promised that Phineas would not be bothered by the Harpies again. Thankful for their help, Phineas told the Argonauts how to pass the Symplegades. (Ovid XIII, 710; Virgil III, 211, 245).

Like all other composite mythological beings, the Harpies are not Greek in origin. R.D. Barnett makes a suggestive connection of the harpies and the ornaments on bronze caldrons from Urartu:

"These made such an impression in Greece that they seem to have given rise to the siren type in archaic Greek art, and as they appeared to flutter at the rim of such noble cooking vessels, apparently gave rise to the familiar Greek legend of Phineus and the Harpies, who are thus depicted in Greek art. The very name of Phineus, the victim of their persecutions, may be nothing but a corruption of the name of a king of Urartu, Ishpuinish or Ushpina (ca. 820 B.C.), who was perhaps associated by the Greek merchants with these vessels" [1].

Aeneas encountered Harpies on the Stropahdes as they repeatedly made off with the feast the Trojans were setting. Celaeno cursed them, saying the Trojans will be so hungry they will eat their tables before they reach the end of their journey. The Trojans fled in fear.

In the Middle Ages, the harpy, often called the "virgin eagle", became a popular charge in heraldry, particularly in East Frisia, seen on, among others, the coats-of-arms of Reitburg , Liechtenstein, and the Cirksenas .