Phaon (fā´ōn).—A boatman at Mytilene, who, originally an ugly old man, was made young and handsome by Venus, whom he had carried across the sea without payment. Sappho (q.v.) thus fell in love with him, and, on her love not being returned, threw herself into the sea.
Philoctetes (fil-ok-tē´tēz).—A very famous archer, a friend of Hercules, who gave him at his death the poisoned arrows without which Troy could not be taken. In the tenth year of the Trojan war he was specially fetched from Lemnos, where he had been detained by a wound, by Ulysses and Diomedes. On arriving at Troy, Æsculapius or his sons cured his wound. He slew Paris and other Trojans.
Phlegethon (fleg´e-thon)—lit. “the blazing” (Gr.).—A river in the lower world, which ran with fire instead of water.
Phœbe (fē´bē).—A feminine form of Phœbus (lit. “the bright one”); applied to Diana, the sister of Apollo, as the goddess of the moon.
Phœbus (fē´bus)—lit. “the bright one” (Gr.).—An epithet applied to Apollo as the god of the sun. See “[Apollo].”
Phœnix (fē´nix).—(i) A fabulous bird described as being as large as an eagle; its head finely crested with a beautiful plumage, its neck covered with gold-colored feathers, its tail white, and its body purple or crimson. (ii) Son of Amyntor, the teacher of Achilles, and his companion during the Trojan war.
Phorcys (for´sis), or Phorcus (for´kus).—A sea-god, father of the Gorgons and of the Grææ.
Phrixus (frix´us).—Son of Athamas and Nephele. Athamas having neglected Nephele (nef´el-ë), and married Ino, the latter persuaded him to sacrifice Nephele’s son Phrixus to Jupiter. Nephele, however, enabled her two children, Phrixus and Helle, to escape by means of a ram with golden fleece, the gift of Mercury, which carried them through the air. Helle fell into the sea (see “[Helle]”), but Phrixus arrived safely in Colchis, the kingdom of [Æëtes] (q.v.). Here he sacrificed the ram to Jupiter, and gave its golden fleece to Æëtes, who suspended it to an oak tree in the grove of Mars. To fetch this golden fleece the famous expedition of the Argonauts (see “[Argonautæ]”) was undertaken.
Picus (pī´kus).—Son of Saturn and father of Faunus. He was changed by Circe into a woodpecker, because he did not requite her love. The Romans regarded the woodpecker as a prophetic bird, sacred to Mars.