Greek Myths XS: Phobos, the Father of all Fears

In ancient Athens, the agora, or market square, was the center of social life, economic activity and political decision making. So you’d better not suffer from agoraphobia. In today’s stressful times, the list of scary things has grown longer and longer. Common fears include arachnophobia (for spiders), claustrophobia (for small spaces), arithmophobia (for numbers, or maths in general), and even decidophobia (when having to choose between two parking spaces). Now “phobia” is derived from the Greek god Phobos (Panic), son of war god Ares and love goddess Aphrodite. For the Greeks, masters in concretising abstract concepts, “panic” would indeed be the result of horrific warfare mixed with genuine feelings. In Phobos’ honour, we distinguish weird and wonderful conditions, like omphalophobia (for belly buttons), xanthophobia (for the colour yellow), globophobia (for balloons), and hippopotamonstroses-quippedaliophobia (for long words). And in case you wondered, phobophobia is also on the list.

Phobos, Ares, Nike, Mosaic, Villa Orbe Boscéaz, Switzerland

Phobos, Mosaic, British Museum, London, UK