Phobos (mythology)

Phobos (Ancient Greek Φόβος "fear, panic fear", Latin Pavor, also Metus) is a daimon and god of Greek mythology.

Phobos usually appears together with Deimos, "terror". Already in Homer's Iliad both spread fear and terror among the fighters before Troy as an entourage of Ares. Together with Deimos he serves Ares, to whom they harness the horses in front of the battle chariot. They also rescue the god of war, wounded by Heracles, from the battlefield and take him in the chariot to Olympus. In Homer, Phobos is the beloved son of Ares, and presumably Deimos was also the son of Ares to Homer. For Hesiod they are together sons of Ares and Aphrodite, whom he calls Kythereia. In the Dionysiaka of Nonnos of Panopolis, both are sons of Enyalios, an epiklesis of Ares also worshipped as a separate deity. They appear here not only as chariot servants and companions of Ares in the battle against Dionysus, but also as assistants of Zeus, who has them compete in his second battle against Typhon, equipping Phobos with the thunderbolt, Deimos with the thunderbolt. The Suda, a Byzantine lexicon probably written in the 10th century, names Phobos and Deimos, together with Kydoimos, the daimon of melee, sons of Polemos, that is, of war, and companions of Ares. According to Suda, they suffered the same fate as Ares, who wanted to bring Hephaestus back to Olympus by force, so that he would free Hera from her bondage on the throne. Undeterred, Hephaistos chased the god of war away with fires.

The poet Antimachus of Colophon, active around 400 BC, counted Phobos as well as Deimos among the four fire-breathing horses of Ares, probably as a result of a misinterpretation of the chariot scene in Homer. Also in the Argonautika of Valerius Flaccus, Pavor and Terror, the Roman translations of Phobos and Deimos, are the horses of the Roman god of war Mars (Martis equi).

In the Iliad, Phobos was depicted with Deimos on the shield of Agamemnon, and the shield of Agamemnon depicted on the Ark of Kypselos in the Olympian Heraion also showed Phobos as the central motif, according to Pausanias with a lion-shaped head. An epigraph described him, "This is the Phobos of mortals, he who bears it is Agamemnon." The shield of Heracles showed both standing beside Ares on the chariot in the marginal scenes. In addition, the face of Phobos adorned the central panel of the shield. It was terrible to behold, looking backwards and with fiery glowing eyes. Its white teeth gleamed horribly and fearfully. Above its fierce brows hovered Eris ("strife"). Finally, in Quintus of Smyrna, Phobos and Deimos adorn Achilleus' shield alongside Enyo ("melee") and Eris. But also on the aegis of Athena Phobos was seen next to the head of Gorgo Medusa according to Homer. However, the authenticity of the passage is doubted and judged to be an afterthought.

In Sparta there was a sanctuary with a small temple of Phobos, which according to Plutarch was located near the Syssition of the Ephors. Plutarch gives as a reason for the worship of Phobos that the Spartans believed that the state was held together by fear, namely the fear of rebuke and humiliation. In essence, this Spartan Phobos is closely related to the Athenian Aidos, the "timidity, modesty," and is clearly distinct from the son of Ares and his purely warlike nature.

After the companions of Ares, to whom the god Mars corresponds in Roman mythology, the moons of the planet Mars were given the names Phobos for the larger and Deimos for the smaller of the satellites.