Phineus (son of Belus)

Accounts vary: Phineus is a mortal king endowed with prophetic sight (often said to be a gift of Apollo). Genealogies differ by source—he is named in some traditions as son of Agenor, in others linked to Phoenix and Cassiopeia, to Poseidon, or in certain variants as 'son of Belus' (a tradition tying him to Libya/Aethiopia). He belongs to the mythic age of heroes and figures primarily in narratives connected to the Argonauts.

Sources give no consistent physiognomic portrait beyond his role as an aged seer-king and the frequent motif of his blindness. In the Argonautica tradition he is presented as an elderly king of Salmydessus, commonly depicted seated at a meal when Harpies attack; in at least one variant a later tradition reports a metamorphosis into a blind burrowing creature (a mole).

Phineus possesses prophetic vision (traditionally described as a gift from Apollo) and acts as a human mediator of divine revelation, advising the Argonauts (for example about the route past the Symplegades). Narratives emphasize both his capacity to reveal future events and the peril that attaches to such knowledge: several sources record his blinding or other punishments tied to different causes (revealing the future to mortals; crimes against his sons; reprisals by gods or relatives). He is repeatedly harassed by Harpies who seize or defile his food until the Boreads intervene and a divine oath (Iris swearing by the Styx) ends the torment in the well-known Argonautica version. Variants elsewhere name Helios, Poseidon, Aeëtes, or other agents in accounts of his punishment or transformation; other traditions record restoration of sight for his sons by Asclepius or by the Boreads.