ancient Greek religion Religious practices in ancient Greece encompassed a collection of beliefs, rituals, and mythology, in the form of both popular public religion and cult practices. The application of the modern concept of "religion" to ancient cultures has been ...

and

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...

, Phoebe ( ; grc, Φοίβη, Phoíbē, associated with ''phoîbos'', "shining") was one of the first generation of

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Gai ...

, who were one set of sons and daughters of

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus ( Caelus), who, according to Greek mythology, was the great-grandfather of Ares (Mars), grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter) and father of Cro ...

and

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; from Ancient Greek , a poetical form of , 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea , is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parth ...

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...

, ''

Theogony The ''Theogony'' (, , , i.e. "the genealogy or birth of the gods") is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains ...

'
116-138
She was the grandmother of the

sun god A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. Th ...

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

, the

moon goddess A lunar deity or moon deity is a deity who represents the Moon, or an aspect of it. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be found ...

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified with Sel ...

, and the witchcraft goddess

Hecate Hecate or Hekate, , ; grc-dor, Ἑκάτᾱ, Hekátā, ; la, Hecatē or . is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, snakes, or accompanied by dogs, and in later periods depicte ...

. According to myth, she was the original owner of the

Oracle of Delphi Pythia (; grc, Πυθία ) was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as the Pythoness ...

before gifting it to her grandson Apollo. Her name, meaning "bright", was also given to a number of lunar goddesses like Artemis and later the Roman goddesses

Luna Luna commonly refers to: * Earth's Moon, named "Luna" in Latin * Luna (goddess), the ancient Roman personification of the Moon Luna may also refer to: Places Philippines * Luna, Apayao * Luna, Isabela * Luna, La Union * Luna, San Jose Romania ...

and Diana, but Phoebe herself was not actively treated as a moon goddess on her own right in ancient mythology.

Etymology

Greek , feminine form of ' means "pure, bright".''

A Greek-English Lexicon A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' s.v
φοῖβοςs.v. φοίβη
/ref> Another meaning is "prophet", a reference to her role in myth. Used for water and fire both, it can thus be explained as generally meaning "pure", "clear", or "bright".

Family

Phoebe is a Titaness, one of the twelve (or thirteen) divine children born to

(

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

) and

(

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...

). Phoebe's consort was her brother Coeus, with whom she had two daughters, first

Leto In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Leto (; grc-gre, Λητώ , ''Lētṓ'', or , ''Lātṓ'' in Doric Greek) is a goddess and the mother of Apollo, the god of music, and Artemis, the goddess of the hunt.Hesiod, ''Theogony'404–409/ref ...

, who bore

and

, and then Asteria, a star goddess who bore an only daughter,

in the ''

'' describes Phoebe as "" (''khrysostéphanos'', meaning "golden-crowned").

Mythology

Through Leto, Phoebe was the grandmother of Apollo and Artemis. The names ''Phoebe'' and ''Phoebus'' (masculine) came to be applied as synonyms for Artemis/ Diana and Apollo respectively, as well as for

and Sol, the lunar goddess and the solar god, by the Roman poets; the late-antiquity grammarian

Servius Servius is the name of: * Servius (praenomen), the personal name * Maurus Servius Honoratus Servius was a late fourth-century and early fifth-century grammarian. He earned a contemporary reputation as the most learned man of his generation in ...

writes that "Phoebe is Luna, like Phoebus is Sol." Phoebe was, like Artemis, identified by Roman poets with the Roman moon goddess Diana. Phoebe means "bright" but is functionally only a name; in mythology, the role of moon goddess is fulfilled by other deities as her grandchildren inherit her name. Altar Pérgamo Asteria 01

According to a speech that

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

puts into the mouth of the Delphic priestess herself in ''

The Eumenides The ''Oresteia'' ( grc, Ὀρέστεια) is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BCE, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of t ...

'', Phoebe received control of the Oracle at Delphi from her sister

Themis In Greek mythology and religion, Themis (; grc, Θέμις, Themis, justice, law, custom) is one of the twelve Titan children of Gaia and Uranus, and the second wife of Zeus. She is the goddess and personification of justice, divine order, f ...

, who herself had received it from their mother Gaia, and then passed it on Apollo, her grandson, as a gift for his birthday: D. S. Robertson noted "Phoebe in this succession seems to be his private invention," reasoning that in the three great allotments of oracular powers at Delphi, corresponding to the three generations of the gods, "Ouranos, as was fitting, gave the oracle to his wife Gaia and Kronos appropriately allotted it to his sister Themis." Robertson also speculates that in Zeus' turn to make the gift, Aeschylus could not report that the oracle was given directly to Apollo, who had not yet been born, and thus Phoebe was interposed. These supposed male delegations of the powers at Delphi as expressed by Aeschylus are not borne out by the usual modern reconstruction of the sacred site's pre-Olympian history. Phoebe's name appears on the southeast corner of the

Pergamon Altar The Pergamon Altar () was a monumental construction built during the reign of the Ancient Greek King Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BC on one of the terraces of the acropolis of Pergamon in Asia Minor. The structure was 35.64 ...

which depicts the

Gigantomachy In Greek and Roman mythology, the Giants, also called Gigantes (Greek: Γίγαντες, ''Gígantes'', Γίγας, ''Gígas''), were a race of great strength and aggression, though not necessarily of great size. They were known for the Giganto ...

, fighting against a

Giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

with animal features, similar to the one her daughter Leto is fighting. Phoebe, wearing a diadem and a very creased dress, is seen wielding a flaming torch and fighting next to her other daughter Asteria.'' LIMC'
617 (Phoebe 1)
Honan, p
21
/ref>

Legacy

Phoebe, one of the

moons A natural satellite is, in the most common usage, an astronomical body that orbits a planet, dwarf planet, or small Solar System body (or sometimes another natural satellite). Natural satellites are often colloquially referred to as ''moons'' ...

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

is named after this goddess, as sister of

Cronus In Ancient Greek religion and mythology, Cronus, Cronos, or Kronos ( or , from el, Κρόνος, ''Krónos'') was the leader and youngest of the first generation of Titans, the divine descendants of the primordial Gaia (Mother Earth) an ...

's Greek equivalent. Phoebe (also spelled Phebe) is also a popular feminine given name in the English-speaking world.

Genealogy

Notes

References

, '' Eumenides'' in ''Aeschylus, with an English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D. in two volumes''. 2. Eumenides. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926. *

, ''Persians. Seven against Thebes. Suppliants. Prometheus Bound.'' Edited and translated by Alan H. Sommerstein. Loeb Classical Library No. 145. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2009.
Online version at Harvard University Press
* Athanassakis, Apostolos N., and Benjamin M. Wolkow, ''The Orphic Hymns'', Johns Hopkins University Press; owlerirst Printing edition (May 29, 2013).
Google Books
* Apollodorus, ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Boyle, A. J. (editor), ''Seneca: Medea: Edited with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary'', OUP Oxford, 2014. . * Caldwell, Richard, ''Hesiod's Theogony'', Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987). . *

, ''

'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* ''Homeric Hymn to Hermes (4)'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Honan, Mary McMahon, ''Guide to the Pergamon Museum'', De Gruyter, 1904.
Online version at De Gruyter
* Maurus Servius Honoratus, ''In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen''. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881
Online version at the Topos Text
* Picón, Carlos A.; Hemingway, Seán, ''Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World'',

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universit ...

, 2016, . * Ridgway, Brunilde Sismondo, ''Hellenistic Sculpture II: The Styles of ca. 200–100 B.C.'',

The University of Wisconsin Press The University of Wisconsin Press (sometimes abbreviated as UW Press) is a non-profit university press publishing peer-reviewed books and journals. It publishes work by scholars from the global academic community; works of fiction, memoir and po ...

, 2000. * Robertson, D.S., "The Delphian Succession in the Opening of the Eumenides" ''The Classical Review'' 55.2 (September 1941, pp. 69–70). .

External links

PHOEBE from The Theoi Project

Phoebe from Mythopedia

Phoebe from greekmythology.com
{{Authority control Greek goddesses Titans (mythology) Children of Gaia Light goddesses Lunar goddesses Oracular goddesses Women in Greek mythology Characters in Greek mythology Apollo Ancient Delphi Classical oracles Artemis Diana (mythology) Luna (goddess)