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Phoibe

Phoibe (443-429 BC) was an Athenian orphan who worked as a servant on the island of Cephalonia during the late 5th century BC. She was a protégé of the con man Markos of Kephallonia and the mercenary Kassandra, and she later became an employee of the Athenian hetaera Aspasia. From 430 to 429 BC, she served in Pericles and Aspasia's household, and she was murdered by the Cult of Kosmos at the Odeon of Pericles during the Plague of Athens in 429 BC.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Phoibe Cephalonia

Phoibe on Cephalonia, 431 BC

Phoibe was born in Athens, Attica in 443 BC, and she was orphaned as an infant. She ended up on the island of Cephalonia, with her only possession being a wooden eagle named Chara after her mother. By the age of nine, she begged on street corners in Sami, and it was there that she met the Spartan mercenary Kassandra. Kassandra took Phoibe under her wing and introduced her to the entrepreneur Markos of Kephallonia, and the three became close friends. In 431 BC, in retaliation for Markos owing him a large sum of drachmae, the Cyclops of Kephallonia had Phoibe abducted and held at Ktimene Beach by Antigoni Sarantou and Kyriakos Sallis. Kassandra rescued Phoibe after killing her captors, and Phoibe then warned Kassandra that Talos the Stone Fist had been hired to track her down. Later, she met with Elpenor's contact Krethos and told him of Kassandra, as Elpenor was seeking to use Kassandra as his pawn in killing her own parents; the young and innocent Phoibe was unaware that she was being used as a pawn. When Kassandra decided to leave Cephalonia and set out for Megaris to carry out Elpenor's hit contract on "The Wolf of Sparta" (unbeknownst to her, her own father), Phoibe sought to join her, but Kassandra told her that she was too young, and told her that she would come back someday. Phoibe was cheered up by this promise, and she gave Kassandra her wooden eagle as a token to remember her by. Markos them appeared to bid farewell to Kassandra, and he then told Phoibe that she could become his new apprentice.

Working for Aspasia[]

Kassandra Anthousa Phoibe

Kassandra walking with Anthousa and Phoibe

Knowing that Kassandra would not return to Cephalonia anymore, Phoibe decided to leave the island, stowing away on a ship to Athens and becoming the leader of a group of orphans. This youth gang tried to hustle Pericles' mistress Aspasia without knowing her identity, but Aspasia ultimately decided to hire them as servants. In 430 BC, Phoibe helped Kassandra during her investigation of the Cult of Kosmos' presence in Corinth, serving as an emissary for Anthousa and helping Kassandra with locating the Monger's sex andron at the Abron House. After the Monger's death, Phoibe returned to Athens to continue serving at Pericles and Aspasia's household.

Death[]

Phoibe dead

Phoibe's body

In 429 BC, the Plague of Athens broke out, and Pericles fell gravely ill. Aspasia sent Phoibe to Anastasios' house to inquire about a ferry out of the city, as she feared that the mob, egged on by Cleon, would seek to murder Pericles. When Kassandra came to visit Pericles, she discovered from Aspasia that Phoibe had yet to return from her errand, so she ran off to Anastasios' house to search for her. She found Anastasios' murdered body, and she then saw Cult of Kosmos guards chasing Phoibe into the Odeon of Pericles. Kassandra chased them and followed the sound of Phoibe's screams, and, while she killed all the guards in a fit of rage, she found Phoibe's body slumped against a pillar. A heartbroken Kassandra gave Phoibe her last rites before giving her back her wooden eagle, and she tasked Socrates and Hippocrates with giving Phoibe a proper funeral. Phoibe was later buried on Cemetery Road, and Kassandra and Socrates visited her tombstone in 422 BC.

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