Phocus (/ˈfoʊkəs/;
Ancient Greek: Φῶκος means "seal"[1]) was the name of the
eponymous hero of
Phocis in
Greek mythology.[2] Ancient sources relate of more than one figure of this name, and of these at least two are explicitly said to have had Phocis named after them.
Phocus, father of Manthea(seems to be a variation of the
Callisto story) who consorted with
Zeus(who was in the form of a bear) and became the mother of Arctos(seems to be variation of the character of
Arcas) by the god according to
clementine literature,Recognitions.The figure is mentioned by the literature to criticize the evils of polytheism in the views of christianity, specifically focusing on adulteries of Zeus.[7]
Phocus the builder, son of
Danaus, is mentioned by Hyginus among the
Achaeans against
Troy, but is otherwise unknown.[9]Epeius, builder of the
Trojan Horse, was a grandson of Phocus the son of Aeacus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
R. Scott Smith, Stephen Trzaskoma. Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabulae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub., 2007. 64–65. Print.
Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling.
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
This article includes a list of Greek mythological figures with the same or similar names. If an
internal link for a specific Greek mythology article referred you to this page, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended Greek mythology article, if one exists.