A History of Monsters 339

The third image of a Harpy.

To the figures already mentioned from the Bembine Tablet, we must add a fourth illustration of a Harpy. This one possesses a human face, while its other parts are those of a bird; we might call it, along with the others, an *ornithanthropon*—a bird-human.

There are some who label the Harpy depicted in the second instance as "four-winged." Because of this, we suspect that this monstrous creature is purely a work of fiction, for animals equipped with four wings and standing on only two feet are never encountered in nature. Such a being would defy the doctrines of Aristotle, as the distinction of having four wings belongs solely to bloodless creatures, whereas Harpies were always categorized among the blooded animals.