Deimos (deity)

Deimos /ˈdmɒs/ (Ancient Greek: Δεῖμος, pronounced [dêːmos], meaning “dread”) is the personal god of dread and terror in Greek mythology. He was a son of Ares and Aphrodite, and the brother of Phobos. Deimos served to represent the feelings of dread and terror that befell those before a battle, while Phobos personified feelings of fear and panic in the midst of battle.

Deimos
Personification of terror
AbodeMount Olympus
Personal information
ParentsAres and Aphrodite
SiblingsErotes, Phobos, Phlegyas, Harmonia, Enyalios, Thrax, Oenomaus, and Amazons
Equivalents
Roman equivalentFormido or Metus

The god's Roman equivalent was Formido or Metus.

Mythology

Deimos was the son of Ares and Aphrodite.[1] He mainly appears in an assistant role to his father, who causes disorder in armies.[2] In the Iliad, he accompanied his father, Ares, into battle with the Goddess of Discord, Eris, and his brother Phobos (fear).[3] In Shield of Herakles, Phobos and Deimos accompany Ares into battle and remove him from the field once Herakles injures him.[4] In Nonnus' Dionysiaca, Zeus arms Phobos with lightning and Deimos with thunder to frighten Typhon.[5] Later in the work, Phobos and Deimos act as Ares' charioteers to battle Dionysus during his war against the Indians.[6]

Namesake

In 1877, the American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered the two satellites of the planet Mars. Hall named the two moons Phobos and Deimos. Deimos is the smaller of the two satellites.[7]

Notes

  1. Hesiod, Theogony, 933
  2. "DEIMOS & PHOBOS - Greek Gods of Fear, Panic & Terror (Roman Metus, Pavor)". www.theoi.com. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  3. Homer, Iliad, 4.436
  4. Hesiod, Shield of Heracles 460
  5. Nonnus, Dionysiaca, 2.414
  6. Nonnus, Dionysiaca, 29.364
  7. Hall, A (1878). "Names of the Satellites of Mars". Astronomische Nachrichten. 92 (3): 47–48. Bibcode:1878AN.....92...47H. doi:10.1002/asna.18780920304.

References

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