Phoebe
The Bright One
FEE-bee
Titaness of prophetic brightness who held Delphi before Apollo did, and handed it to him rather than lose it.
The Story
Phoebe is the third owner of the Delphic oracle in Aeschylus's succession: Gaia to Themis to Phoebe to Apollo. Uniquely in this mythology, the transfer is peaceful, she gives it to her grandson as a birthday present, and he takes the name Phoebus from her.
By Coeus she bore Leto and Asteria, which makes her grandmother to Apollo and Artemis on one side and to Hecate on the other. Her prophetic streak runs down the whole line.
Did You Know?
- Saturn's moon Phoebe orbits backwards relative to the planet's other moons, which is the giveaway that it was captured rather than formed alongside them.
- Apollo takes the epithet Phoebus directly from her, and poets return the favour by calling Artemis Phoebe, a grandmother's name used for both twins.
- Aeschylus's peaceful handover of Delphi is almost certainly a piece of political smoothing. The older story, that Apollo took the oracle by killing its guardian serpent, was still being told alongside it.