Phobetor

Phobetor

Phobetor

A dream god

For other uses, see Phobetor (disambiguation).

In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Phobetor (Ancient Greek: Φοβήτωρ;[1] 'Frightener' from Ancient Greek: φόβος, phobos, 'fear' 'panic'),[2] so called by men, or Icelos (Ancient Greek: Ἴκελος; 'Like'),[3] so called by the gods, is one of the thousand sons of Somnus (Sleep). He appeared in dreams "in the form of beast or bird or the long serpent".[4]

According to Ovid, two of his brothers were Morpheus, who appeared in dreams in human form, and Phantasos ('Fantasy'), who appears in dreams in the form of inanimate objects.[5] The three brothers‘ names are found nowhere earlier than Ovid, and are perhaps Ovidian inventions.[6] Tripp calls these three figures "literary, not mythical concepts".[7] However, Griffin suggests that this division of dream forms between Phobetor and his brothers, possibly including their names, may have been of Hellenistic origin.[8]

See also

Notes

  1. [1]
    Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Phobetor
  2. [2]
    φόβος. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
  3. [3]
    Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, Icelos
  4. [4]
    Griffin, p. 249; Tripp, s.v. Somnus, p. 534; Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.638–641.
  5. [5]
    Griffin, p. 249; Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.635–643.
  6. [6]
    Griffin, p. 249.
  7. [7]
    Tripp, s.v. Somnus, p. 534.
  8. [8]
    Griffin, pp. 179, 249.

References

  • Griffin, A. H. F. (1997), A Commentary on Ovid, Metamorphoses XI, Hermathena, vol. 162/163, Dublin, JSTOR 23041237{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
  • Ovid. Metamorphoses, Volume II: Books 9-15. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Revised by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library No. 43. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1916. Online version at Harvard University Press.
  • Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). ISBN 069022608X.
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