Phene (mythology)

The ancient Greek noun {{lang|grc|φήνη}} means vulture, at least a kind of vulture. According to Celoria, the elements pha- and phe- in the names of Periphas and Phene can both be traced to the ancient Greek verb {{lang|grc|φαίνω}} (phaino), meaning 'to appear'.{{sfn|Celoria|1992|pages=55-57}} According to Beekes it has no clear etymology, and its alternative spelling {{lang|grc|φίνις}} (phínis), points to a pre-Greek origin, which according to him is the most likely possibility anyway.{{sfn|Beekes|2010|page=1567}}

Phene was married to Periphas, a king of Attica. Periphas was a pious and just man, beloved by his subjects, who then began to worship him as a god. They erected temples to him and worshipped him using Zeus's cult titles such as Soter (the saviour) and Epopsios ("overlooker of all"). This angered Zeus, who planned on striking Periphas with one of his thunderbolts. But Apollo intervened and convinced his father to spare Periphas because he (Apollo) had been greatly honoured by the king. So he then came to Phene and Periphas's house, and found them conversing together. He turned Periphas into an eagle immediately. Phene, not wanting to be separated from her husband, asked to be changed into a bird as well. Her wish was fulfilled and she was transformed into a phene ({{lang|grc|φήνη}}), a kind of vulture (perhaps lammergeier). By decree of Zeus, that vulture became a good omen for mankind.{{sfn|Celoria|1992|pages=55-57}}Antoninus Liberalis, [https://topostext.org/work/216#6 6]Smith, s.v [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Dperiphas-bio-5 Periphas 5]

Antoninus Liberalis, who recorded the tale, did not mention Phene's name, only the bird she transformed into, and simply referred to her as Periphas's wife. Her name comes from an earlier Roman writer, Ovid, who only mentions her in passing along with Periphas. Ovid calls her 'most just Phene'.Ovid, Metamorphoses [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL042.371.xml 7.398-401]

{{portal|Mythology|Ancient Greece}}

• Orpheus
• Dido
• Laodamia of Phylace

{{reflist}}

• Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). [https://topostext.org/work/216 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
• {{cite book | author-link = Robert S. P. Beekes | last = Beekes | first = Robert S. P. | title = Etymological Dictionary of Greek | location = Leiden, the Netherlands | publisher = Brill Publications | date = 2010 | volume = ΙΙ | isbn = 978-90-04-17419-1 | series = Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series | editor = Lucien van Beek}}
• {{cite book | last = Celoria | first = Francis | title = The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis: A Translation with Commentary | publisher = Routledge | date = 1992 | isbn = 9780415068963 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cHt0DwAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book | first1 = Henry George | last1 = Liddell | first2 = Robert | last2 = Scott | title = A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie | location = Oxford | publisher = Clarendon Press | date = 1940 | author1-link = Henry Liddell | author2-link = Robert Scott (philologist)}} [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057 Online version at Perseus.tufts project.]
• {{cite book | author = Ovid | author-link = Ovid | title = Metamorphoses | volume = I: Books 1-8 | translator = Frank Justus Miller, revised by G. P. Goold | series = Loeb Classical Library 42 | location = Cambridge, MA | publisher = Harvard University Press | date = 1916}}
• {{cite book | author-link = William Smith (lexicographer) | first = William |last = Smith | title = A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology | location = London | publisher = John Murray, printed by Spottiswoode and Co., New-Street Square and Parliament Street | date = 1873}}

{{Metamorphoses in Greco-Roman mythology}}

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Category:Queens in Greek mythology

Category:Mythological people from Attica

Category:Deeds of Zeus

Category:Deeds of Apollo

Category:Metamorphoses characters

Category:Metamorphoses into birds in Greek mythology