Phonoi Explained

In Greek mythology, the Phonoi (grc|Φόνοι||Murders, Slaughterings, from the plural of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φόνος)^[1] are collectively the personification of murder. In Hesiod's Theogony, the Phonoi are listed among the children of Eris (Strife).^[2] The Phonoi are named in line 228 of the Theogony, which lists four personified plural abstractions, the Hysminai (Combats), the Machai (Battles), the Phonoi (Murders), and the Androktasiai (Slaughters), as being among the offspring of Eris (Strife):

Ὑσμίνας τε Μάχας τε Φόνους τ’ Ἀνδροκτασίας τε^[3]

The nearly identical line, listing the same four abstractions (without capitalizations, and with different case endings), in the same order, occurs in Homer's Odyssey, where Odysseus describes the decorations on Heracles' golden belt:

ὑσμῖναί τε μάχαι τε φόνοι τ᾿ ἀνδροκτασίαι τε.^[4]

Like all of the children of Eris given by Hesiod, the Phonoi are a personified abstraction, allegorizing the meaning of their name, and representing one of the many harmful things which might be thought to result from discord and strife, with no other identity.^[5]

Phonos

There are also a few examples, in ancient poetry, of Phonos (singular), as the personification of murder. The Hesiodic poem Shield of Heracles (lines 144 - 319) describes the many dozens of things depicted on Heracles' elaborately decorated shield. In one section of this long description, Phonos is mentioned along with other personifications associated with battle:

Phonos is mentioned in Aeschylus's tragedy Seven Against Thebes. As one of several insults that Amphiaraus casts at Tydeus, Amphiaraus calls him "high priest" of Phonos.^[6] Personified murder seems also to be referred to in a line from Aeschylus' tragedy Libation-Bearers: "may the ancient murder [phonos] breed no more in the house."^[7] In the Posthomerica of Quintus Smyrnaeus, "dreadful" Phonos (along with Kydoimos) "stalked" the battle field.^[8]

References

• Aeschylus, Libation Bearers, in Aeschylus: Oresteia: Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides, edited and translated by Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library No. 146. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2009. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes in Aeschylus: Persians. Seven against Thebes. Suppliants. Prometheus Bound. Edited and translated by Alan H. Sommerstein. Loeb Classical Library No. 145. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2009. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Caldwell, Richard, Hesiod's Theogony, Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987). . Internet Archive.
• Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2).
• Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, . Google Books.
• Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie, Clarendon Press Oxford, 1940. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Most, G.W. (2018a), Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia, Edited and translated by Glenn W. Most, Loeb Classical Library No. 57, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2018. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Most, G.W. (2018b), Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments, Loeb Classical Library, No. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2007, 2018. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica, edited and translated by Neil Hopkinson, Loeb Classical Library No. 19, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2018. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
• West, M. L. (1966), Hesiod: Theogony, Oxford University Press. .

Notes and References

1. 'Phonoi' is variously translated as 'Murders' (Most, p. 21; Hard, p. 31; Caldwell, p. 42 on 212–232), or 'Slaughterings' (Gantz, p. 10); LSJ s.v. φόνος.
2. [Hesiod]
3. [Hesiod]
4. West, p. 231 on 228; Homer, Odyssey 11.612.
5. Hard, p. 31; Gantz, p. 10.
6. [Aeschylus]
7. [Aeschylus]
8. [Quintus Smyrnaeus]