Basic Information
In Greek mythology the name Phoebe ("she who shines") typically referred to a titaness, a daughter of Ouranos and Gaia, commonly associated with the Moon and with the powers of prophesy and oracular wisdom.
(We say typically, because the name Phoebe was also sometimes attached to Artemis and Selene who were, perhaps not coincidentally, also associated with the moon. The only moon-associated Greek goddess not sometimes called Phoebe would seem to be Hecate, who is awarded the epithet phosphoros - "light giving" instead.)
Phoebe the titaness was the mother of the goddesses Leto and Asteria (by her brother the titan Coeus) and was the grandmother of Apollo, Artemis and Hecate.
As the female moon she also serves as mirror to her brother Hyperion - the male Sun.
What else she does, and any role she may have taken in the titanomachy, is not clear. Like many of the titans, surviving myth about her is sparse and fragmentary - whether or not this reflects her original prominence or just what has passed down through the ages may never be known.
Sources
Game and Story Use
- The handing on of the name may be coupled with the obscurity - perhaps a very large part of the titan's existence was lost with the passing of the mantle.