Phorbas

The child Œdipus brought back to life by the shepherd Phorbas, who took him off the tree. Sculpture by Charles Dupaty.

In Greek mythology, Phorbas (Greek: Φόρβας, gen. Φόρβαντος) or Phorbaceus may refer to:

• Phorbas, a prince of the Thessalian Phlegyes who emigrated to Elis in the Peloponnesos. Phorbas was the son of Lapithes and Orsinome, and a brother of Periphas. He assisted Alector, king of Elis, in the war against Pelops, and shared the kingdom with him.^[1] He married Hyrmine, sister of Alector, and gave his daughter Diogeneia in marriage to Alector. His sons with Hyrmine were Augeas (perhaps he of the Augean Stables) and Actor, the Argonauts.^[2][3][4] Other less well-supported traditions have Phorbas as a bold boxer who attacked travelers on the road and was eventually defeated by Apollo.^[5][6]
• Phorbas, son of Triopas and Hiscilla (daughter of Myrmidon), a hero of the island of Rhodes, was sometimes confounded with the Phlegyan Phorbas.^[7] When the people of the island of Rhodes fell victim to a plague of masses of serpents (may have been dragons or simply snakes), an oracle directed them to call on a man named Phorbas. Phorbas cleansed the island of the snakes and in gratitude the Rhodians venerated him as a hero. For his achievement he won a place among the stars as the constellation Serpentarius or Ophiuchus.^[8] Phorbas, son of Triopas, was also said to have been the father of Pellen, eponym of the city of Pellene, Achaea.^[9]
• Phorbas, father of a different Triopas, the king of Argos, with Euboea. His own parents were either Argus and Evadne^[10] or Criasus and Melantho; in the latter case, he was brother of Ereuthalion and Cleoboea and father of another son, Arestor.^[11] According to Tatiānus, he may have been a king of Argos himself. According to Eusebius, he reigned for thirty five years as the king of Argos, and was succeeded by his son Megacles.^[12]
• Phorbas, a shepherd of King Laius, finds the infant Oedipus on the hillside and ensures his survival to fulfill his destiny.^[13] A number of sculptures, ranging from the 14th to the 19th century, memorialize Phorbas' rescue of Oedipus. He might be the same as Phorbas, attendant of Antigone.^[14]
• Phorbas, listed as a king or archon of Athens.^[15]
• Phorbas of Lesbos, father of Diomede.^[16][17]
• Phorbas of Troy, who was favored and made rich by Hermes. He had a son Ilioneus, who was killed by Peneleos.^[18][19]
• Phorbas, son of Metion of Syene, who fought on Phineus' side against Perseus.^[20]
• Phorbas of Acarnania, son of Poseidon, who went to Eleusis together with Eumolpus to fight against Erechtheus, and was killed by the opponent.^{[21][22][23][24]}
• Phorbas, one of the twelve younger Panes.^[25]
• Phorbas, son of Helios and father of Ambracia (eponym of the city of Ambracia). She could also have been daughter of Augeas, granddaughter of Phorbas of Thessaly.^[26]
• Phorbas, who is called father of Tiresias by the Cretans.^[27]
• Phorbas, charioteer of Theseus.^[28]
• Phorbas, father of Dexithea who, according to one version, was the mother of Romulus and Remus by Aeneas.^[29]

The name Phorbas is not to be confused with Phorbus (Φόρβος), which refers to the father of Pronoe (wife of Aetolus)^[30]

See also

• Ophiuchus

References

1. Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4. 69. 2
2. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 5. 1. 11
3. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 5. 5
4. Eustathius on Homer, p. 303
5. Scholia on Homer, Iliad, 23. 660
6. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 9. 414 & 12. 322
7. Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 5. 58. 5
8. Hyginus, Poetical Astronomy, 2. 14
9. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 7. 26. 12
10. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2. 16. 1
11. Scholia on Euripides, Phoenician Women, 1116: on Orestes, 932
12. Eusebius, Chronicle, 1. p. 187
13. Seneca the Younger, Oedipus, 840 ff
14. Statius, Thebaid, 7. 253
15. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 6. 19. 13
16. Homer, Iliad, 9. 665
17. Dictys Cretensis, 2. 16
18. Homer, Iliad, 14. 489 ff
19. Virgil, Aeneid, 5. 842
20. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 5. 74
21. Suda s. v. Phorbanteion
22. Eustathius on Homer, p. 1156
23. Scholia on Homer, Iliad, 18. 483 ff
24. Scholia on Euripides, Phoenician Women, 854
25. Nonnus, Dionysiaca, 14. 94 ff
26. Stephanus of Byzantium, s. vv. Ambrakia, Dexamenai
27. Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History, 1
28. Hesychius of Alexandria s. v. Phorbas
29. Plutarch, Romulus, 2. 2
30. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 7. 7

External links

• Imago Mundi: Phorbas (French)
• Phorbas bringing Oedipus back to life, Louvre, Paris, France (French)
• Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. 1870.