Phocus

Overview

Phocus is a son of Aeacus and the Nereid Psamathe. His death at the hands of his half-brothers Peleus and Telamon leads to their exile from Aegina.

Generation

Heroic Age

Symbols

Discus, Aegina

Notes

Phocus is a son of Aeacus and belongs to the wider heroic dynasty known as the Aeacids.

In an important tradition, his mother is Psamathe, one of the Nereids.

Phocus is therefore a half-brother of Peleus and Telamon.

Ancient accounts describe Phocus as exceptionally skilled in athletic contests.

Jealousy or rivalry develops between the brothers, and Peleus and Telamon plot against him.

During an athletic contest Phocus is struck and killed by a discus or quoit. Ancient sources vary over which brother delivers the fatal blow and the precise division of responsibility.

Aeacus discovers the killing and drives Peleus and Telamon into exile from Aegina.

That exile becomes important for the later heroic world. Peleus eventually becomes king in Phthia and father of Achilles, while Telamon becomes associated with Salamis and father of Ajax the Great.

Phocus therefore occupies a crucial point in the genealogy of the Aeacids: his death helps explain why the descendants of Aeacus become established in several different parts of the Greek heroic world.

Later traditions also connect descendants of Phocus with Phocis and with figures such as Panopeus and Crisus.