Cleopatra (Ancient Greek: Κλεοπάτρα, "glory of the father") was a princess of Greek mythology, the daughter of Boreas, the North Wind, and the Athenian princess Orithyia. Through her parents she was sister to the winged Boreads, Calais and Zetes, and to Chione. She became the first wife of the Thracian seer Phineus, by whom she bore two sons; the boys were later blinded after a false accusation by Phineus's second wife.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Cleopatra (mythology)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Cleopatra was the daughter of Boreas, the god of the north wind, and the Athenian princess Orithyia, whom Boreas had carried off from Athens. She was sister to the Boreads, the winged brothers Calais and Zetes, and to Chione.
She became the first wife of Phineus, the Thracian seer. By him she had a pair of sons, whose names vary across the sources: they are given either as Plexippus and Pandion, or as Gerymbas and Aspondus, or as Polydector (Polydectus) and Polydorus, or as Parthenius and Crambis.
II.Mythology
After Cleopatra, Phineus took a second wife, Idaea, daughter of the Scythian king Dardanus. Idaea falsely accused her stepsons, Cleopatra's children, of wronging her, and Phineus, believing her, had the boys blinded.
In those accounts in which Phineus is said to have blinded his sons, it is added that the youths later had their sight restored to them, either by the sons of Boreas, their mother's brothers, or by Asclepius.
Cleopatra's brothers, the wing-footed Boreads Calais and Zetes, sailed with the Argonauts. When the expedition reached Phineus, he was being tormented by the Harpies, and he revealed that his brothers-in-law, the Boreads, were fated to deliver him from them. Calais and Zetes pursued the Harpies until Iris stopped them, swearing an oath that the creatures would cease their persecution of Phineus, who then helped the Argonauts on their voyage.
III.Name
Cleopatra (Ancient Greek: Κλεοπάτρα, romanized Kleopátra) means "glory of the father." The name was shared by several figures of Greek mythology, among them a daughter of Danaus, a daughter of King Tros of Troy, the wife of Meleager (also called Alcyone), and the wife of King Deucalion of Crete; the daughter of Boreas is distinguished from these by her parentage and her marriage to Phineus.