The Harpies and Furies were also responsible agents in disaster. The former were vultures with female heads and breasts, living in an atmosphere of filth and stench and contaminating everything they came near. Their names Ocypeta (rapid), Celeno (blackness), and Aello (storm) indicate that they were the personification of tumult and whirlwind. Equally arbitrary were the reputed acts of the Furies, of whom there were likewise three, their names being Tisiphone (avenger of blood), Alectro (implacable), and Megæra (disputatious). _Propitiation and Sacrifice_ Propitiation and sacrifice, to avoid such visitation would be the natural outcome, and the various traditions are probably records of actual occurrences, embroidered by poetic imagery and miraculous conditions. In later tradition, cause or justification is indicated as in the story of Iphigenia, daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. The latter having offended Artemis by killing her favourite stag, vowed to sacrifice the most beautiful thing that came into his possession during the next twelve months. This was an infant daughter, but the sacrifice was deferred till she reached womanhood, when the combined Greek fleet arrived at Aulis on its way to Troy. Calchas declared this would be wind-bound as long as the vow remained unfulfilled, but Artemis interposed at the last moment by spiriting Iphigenia away from the altar and leaving a hind to suffer in her stead. A similar story is that of Andromeda, rescued by Perseus from the sea monster sent by Poseidon to devastate the land. The reputed cause was Cassiopeia, mother of Andromeda, boasting of her daughter’s beauty, and on appeal to the oracle the sacrifice was declared necessary to save the country and to appease the offended deity. Similar instances in Bible history are the vows of sacrifice made by Abraham and Jephthah. The latter has a parallel in the Greek tradition of Idomeneus, King of Crete, who vowed to sacrifice the first being he encountered if the gods granted him a safe return after the burning of Troy. The first person met on landing was his son, who was sacrificed, and in consequence Idomeneus was banished as a murderer. _Early Burial Customs_ The ancient burial customs are evidence of an early belief in future existence, and that not only human beings but inanimate objects have souls. It was considered necessary that the departed should be accompanied not only by his weapons and personal belongings, but also by attendants or slaves, who were immolated so that they could continue their ministrations in the future life. _Taboo_ The reverence with which burial places were regarded gave rise to the belief in the spirits of the dead as guardians, and this survives at the present day in the mysterious custom of “Taboo,” a Polynesian term which means “consecrated” or “set apart.”