View source for Phobos (mythology)

{{Short description|God of fear and panic in Greek mythology}}
{{distinguish|text=Phoebus, an epithet of the Greek god [[Apollo]]}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Phobos
| parents = [[Ares]] and [[Aphrodite]]
| abodes = [[Mount Olympus]]
| image = Gigantomachy Staatliche Antikensammlungen 1553.jpg
| caption = Possibly Phobos and Ares in Ares's chariot (510-530 BCE).
| siblings = [[Erotes]], [[Deimos (deity)|Deimos]], [[Phlegyas]], [[Harmonia]], [[Enyalius|Enyalios]], [[Thrax (mythology)|Thrax]], [[Oenomaus]], and [[Amazons]]
| deity_of = Personification of fear
}}
{{Greek mythology sidebar}}
{{Greek deities (personifications)}}

'''Phobos''' ({{langx|grc|Φόβος||flight, fright}},<ref>Beekes, s.v. φέβομαι, p. 1559.</ref> {{IPA|el|pʰóbos|pron}}, [[Latin]]: ''Phobus'') is the [[Deity|god]] and [[personification]] of [[fear]] and [[panic]] in [[Greek mythology]]. Phobos was the son of [[Ares]] and [[Aphrodite]], and the brother of [[Deimos (deity)|Deimos]]. He does not have a major role in mythology outside of being his father's attendant.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D901 933].</ref>

In Classical Greek mythology, Phobos exists as both the god of and personification of the fear brought by war.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Webster |first=T. B. L. |date=1954-01-01 |title=Personification as a Mode of Greek Thought |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/750130 |journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes |volume=17 |issue=1–2 |pages=10–21 |doi=10.2307/750130 |jstor=750130 |s2cid=195042211 |issn=0075-4390|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Mythology==
In [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'', Phobos is the son of [[Ares]] and [[Aphrodite]], and the sibling of [[Deimos (deity)|Deimos]] and [[Harmonia]].<ref>Gantz, p. 80; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D901 933].</ref> He mainly appears in an assistant role to his father and causes disorder in battle.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} In the ''[[Iliad]]'', he accompanied his father into battle along with the goddess [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]] (discord) and his brother [[Deimos (deity)|Deimos]] (Dread). In Hesiod's ''[[Shield of Heracles|Shield of Herakles]]'', Phobos and Deimos accompany Ares into battle and remove him from the field once he is injured by [[Heracles|Herakles]].<ref>Hesiod, ''[[Shield of Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0128%3Acard%3D443 460]</ref> In [[Nonnus]]'s ''[[Dionysiaca]]'', [[Zeus]] arms Phobos with lightning and Deimos with thunder to frighten [[Typhon]].<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' 2.414</ref> Later in the work, Phobos and Deimos act as Ares's charioteers to battle the god [[Dionysus]] during his war against the [[India]]ns.<ref>Nonnus, ''Dionysiaca'', 29.364</ref>

In the ''[[Seven Against Thebes]]'' by [[Aeschylus]], the seven warriors slaughter a bull over a black shield and then "...touching the bull's gore with their hands they swore an oath by Ares, by [[Enyo]], and by Rout [Phobos]".<ref>[[Aeschylus]], ''[[Seven Against Thebes (play)|Seven Against Thebes]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0014%3Acard%3D39 41]</ref> According to [[Stesichorus]], Ares's son, Kyknos, "...beheaded strangers who came along in order to build a temple to Phobos (fear) from the skulls."<ref>Stesichorus, Fragment 207</ref>

==Depictions==

Hesiod depicts Phobos on the shield of Heracles as "…staring backwards with eyes that glowed with fire. His mouth was full of teeth in a white row, fearful and daunting…"<ref>Hesiod, ''Shield of Heracles'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0128 139]</ref>

Phobos often is depicted as having a lion's or lion-like head. This may be seen in ''Description of Greece'' by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], "On the shield of Agamemnon is Phobos (Fear), who[se] head is a lion's…".<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D19%3Asection%3D4 5.19.4]</ref>

==Worship==
[[Plutarch]] makes reference to a shrine to Phobos at [[Sparta]], in addition to shrines dedicated to Death ([[Thanatos]]) and Laughter ([[Gelos (mythology)|Gelos]]), and he claimed that the Spartans honoured fear as a positive force that held the state together.<ref name=":1">Stafford, E. J. (1994). ''Greek cults of deified abstractions'' (Doctoral dissertation, University of London).</ref> [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], writing during [[Roman Empire|Imperial Rome]], noted that the temple dedicated to Phobos was located outside of the city.<ref name=":1" />

== The ''Iliad'' ==
There are many places within the ''[[Iliad]]'', where [[Homer]] mentions the presence of Phobos and Deimos. Some references are:

Homer, ''Iliad'' 11. 36 ff:"[The shield of Agamemnon:] And he took up the man-enclosing elaborate stark shield, a thing of splendour. There were ten circles of bronze upon it, and set about it were twenty knobs of tin, pale-shining, and in the very centre another knob of dark cobalt. And circled in the midst of all was the blank-eyed face of the Gorgo (Gorgon) with her stare of horror, and Deimos (Dread) was inscribed upon it, and Phobos (Fear).

Homer, ''Iliad'' 15. 119 ff:"So he [Ares] spoke, and ordered Deimos (Dread) and Phobos (Fear) to harness his horses, and himself got into his shining armour."

==Historical reference==

According to [[Plutarch]], [[Alexander the Great]] offered sacrifices to Phobos on the eve of the [[Battle of Gaugamela]] (in all probability asking for Darius to be filled with fear). This was believed by [[Mary Renault]] to be part of Alexander's psychological warfare campaign against [[Darius III of Persia|Darius III]]. Darius fled from the field of Gaugamela, making Alexander's praying to Phobos seem successful as a tactic.

Phobos was depicted on the chest of Cypselus on the shield of [[Agamemnon]].<ref>Chase, George H. "The Shield Devices of the Greeks." Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. Vol. 13. Cambridge: Harvard U, 1902. 65. Print.</ref>

==Astronomy==

In 1877, the American [[astronomer]] [[Asaph Hall]] discovered the two satellites of the planet [[Mars]]. Hall named the two moons [[Phobos (moon)|Phobos]] and [[Deimos (moon)|Deimos]]. Phobos is the larger of the two satellites.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hall|first=A|date=1878|title=Names of the Satellites of Mars|journal=Astronomische Nachrichten|volume=92|issue=3|pages=47–48|doi=10.1002/asna.18780920304|bibcode=1878AN.....92...47H|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1424709}}</ref>

==Psychology==

The word "[[phobia]]" derives from ''[[wikt:phobos|phobos]]'', ([[wikt:Φόβος|Φόβος]]), meaning irrational [[wikt:fear|fear]].

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
* [[Aeschylus]], translated in two volumes. 1. ''Seven Against Thebes'' by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0014 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0013 Greek text available from the same website].
* [[Timothy Gantz|Gantz, Timothy]], ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5360-9}} (Vol. 1), {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5362-3}} (Vol. 2).
*[[Hesiod]], ''Shield of Heracles'' from ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica'' with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0128 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0127 Greek text available from the same website].
*[[Hesiod]], ''Theogony'' from ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica'' with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0129 Greek text available from the same website].
*[[Nonnus|Nonnus of Panopolis]], ''Dionysiaca'' translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940.  [https://topostext.org/work/529 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
*Nonnus of Panopolis, ''Dionysiaca. 3 Vols.'' W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940-1942. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0485 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. {{ISBN|0-674-99328-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
*Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.  [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].

{{Greek religion}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phobos (Mythology)}}
[[Category:Greek gods]]
[[Category:Personifications in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Children of Aphrodite]]
[[Category:Children of Ares]]
[[Category:Fear]]
[[Category:War gods]]
[[Category:Greek war deities]]
[[Category:Lion gods]]