Phoebe (Ancient Greek: Φοίβη lit. 'bright') was a Titaness of brightness and prophecy. She was the original holder of the oracle at Delphi. With her husband and brother Coeus, she had two daughters; Leto, who would go on to have two children of her own by Zeus (Apollo and Artemis), and Asteria, who was wed to Perses the Titan, and mother to Hecate. She later gave her grandson Apollo the Delphic oracle.
Her name, meaning "bright", was also given to a number of lunar goddesses like Selene and Artemis and later the Roman goddesses Luna and Diana, but Phoebe herself was not actively seen as a moon goddess in her own right in ancient religion or mythology.
Etymology[]
The Greek name Φοῖβη (Phoíbē), is the feminine form of Φοῖβος (Phoîbos) meaning "pure, bright". He name generally means "pure", "clear", or "bright". Her name and it's masculine version became epithets for her grandchildren Artemis and Apollo. Apollo famously being called Phoebus by the Greeks and Romans.
Family[]
Phoebe is a daughter of Gaia[1] and Uranus.[2][3] With her brother and husband Coeus, she bore two daughters, Leto, and Asteria.[4][3] Her grandchildren are Artemis, Apollo, and Hecate.
Attributes[]
Through Leto, Phoebe was the grandmother of Apollo and Artemis. The names Phoebe and Phoebus (masculine) came to be applied as synonyms for Artemis and Apollo respectively, as well as for Luna/Diana and Sol, the lunar goddess and the solar god, by the Roman poets; the late-antiquity grammarian Servius writes that "Phoebe is Luna, like Phoebus is Sol."[5]
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. Because of this Apollo is sometimes known as "Phoebeus Apollo". Phoebe being associated with brightness is continued on in the philosophical work, Greek Theology by Lucius Annaeus Cornutus, where he said that "‘Phoebe’ of something’s being pure and bright.".[6]
Hesiod in the Theogony describes Phoebe as "χρυσοστέφανος" (khrysostéphanos, meaning "golden-crowned").[7]
Mythology[]
According to a speech that Aeschylus puts into the mouth of the Delphic priestess herself in The Eumenides, Phoebe received control of the Oracle at Delphi from her sister Themis, who herself had received it from their mother Gaia, and then passed it on Apollo, her grandson, as a gift for his birthday.[1]
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.[8]
Iconography[]
Phoebe fighting a giant with her daughter Asteria. On the Pergamon Altar. (2nd century BC)
Due to her minimal presence in both mythology and religion, Phoebe was traditionally not depicted in ancient Greek or Roman art, so she has no distinct iconography.
Nevertheless, Phoebe appears on the southeast corner of the Pergamon Altar which depicts the Gigantomachy,[9] fighting against a Giant with animal features, similar to the one her daughter Leto is fighting.[10] Phoebe, wearing a diadem and a very creased dress, is seen wielding a flaming torch and fighting next to her other daughter Asteria.[11]
Phoebe also appears on a bronze tablet for use in the kind of private ritual usually known as "magic". The style of Greek letters on the tablet, which was discovered at Pergamon, dates it to the first half of the 3rd century AD. The use of bronze was probably intended to drive away malevolent spirits and to protect the practitioner. The construction of the tablet suggests that it was used for divination. It is triangular in shape, with a hole in the center, presumably for suspending it over a surface.
The content of the triangular tablet reiterates triplicity. It depicts three crowned goddesses, each with her head pointing at an angle and her feet pointing toward the center. The name of the goddess appears above her head: Dione (ΔΙⲰΝΗ), Phoebe (ΦΟΙΒΙΗ), and the obscure Nyche (ΝΥΧΙΗ). Amibousa, a word referring to the phases of the moon, is written under each goddess's feet. Densely inscribed spells frame each goddess: the inscriptions around Dione and Nyche are voces magicae, incantatory syllables ("magic words") that are mostly untranslatable.
Melinoë appears in a triple invocation that is part of the inscription around Phoebe: O Persephone, O Melinoë, O Leucophryne. Esoteric symbols are inscribed on the edges of the triangle.[12]
Gallery[]
.png "Phoebe (God is Dead).png (481 KB)")
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Aeschylus, Eumenides 1
- ↑ Hesiod, Theogony 133; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.1.3; Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 5.66.3; Clement of Alexandria, Recognitions 31.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Tzetzes, Ad Lycophronem 1175
- ↑ Hesiod, Theogony 404-452 ff; Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.2.2, Diodorus Siculus, 5.67.2, Hyginus, Fabulae Preface 9
- ↑ Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 10.216
- ↑ L. Annaeus Cornutus, Greek Theology, 31
- ↑ Hesiod, Theogony 116-138
- ↑ Robertson, D.S., "The Delphian Succession in the Opening of the Eumenides" The Classical Review 55.2 (September 1941, pp. 69–70).
- ↑ Picón, Carlos A.; Hemingway, Seán, Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World, Yale University Press, (2016, p. 47)
- ↑ Ridgway, Brunilde Sismondo, Hellenistic Sculpture II: The Styles of ca. 200–100 B.C., The University of Wisconsin Press, (2000, p. 57)
- ↑ LIMC 617 (Phoebe 1); Honan, p. 21
- ↑ Morand, Anne-France (2001). Études sur les Hymnes Orphiques Brill (in French). p. 185ff.
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| Titans | |
|---|---|
| Parents | Ouranós • Gaîa |
| Elder Titans | Coeus • Crius • Cronus • Hyperion • Iapetus • Oceanus |
| Elder Titanesses | Phoebe • Mnemosyne • Rhea • Theia • Themis • Tethys |
| Coeonides | Asteria • Leto |
| Crionides | Astraeus • Pallas • Perses |
| Hyperionides | Eos • Hḗlios • Selene |
| Iapetonides | Atlas • Epimetheus • Menoetius • Prometheus |
| Oceanides | Oceanids (Clymene • Metis • Styx • Rhode) • Potamoi |
| Third Generation | Hecate • Astraea • Anemoi • Astra Planeta • Kratos • Nike • Bia • Zelus |
| Miscellaneous Titans | Dione • Anytos • Ophion • Eurynome (wife of Ophion) • Lelantos • Melisseus • Titan (brother of Helios) • Olymbros • Syceus • Titanic Muses |
| Topics | Overthrowing of Ouranós • Titanomachy |