Pheme: Greek Goddess of Fame and Rumor

The Story of Pheme

Pheme was the goddess of fame, rumor and gossip. Her family is told in different ways, but the Roman poet Virgil calls her the last child of Earth, a sister of the Giants. Her name means report or what people say, and she spread news of every kind without caring whether it was true.

Virgil gives the most vivid picture of her in the Aeneid. She starts out small and timid, but she grows as she travels until her feet are on the ground and her head is hidden in the clouds, with an eye, a tongue and an ear under every feather. When Dido and Aeneas became lovers, she flew through the cities of Africa spreading the story until it reached the jealous king Iarbas. Ovid later described her home as a palace of bronze on a mountaintop, full of openings where every word spoken in the world echoes and grows.

Hesiod warned that rumor is a goddess too, because once many people repeat a story, it never fully dies. The Athenians even set up an altar to Pheme in their city. The Romans called her Fama, and from that name come our words fame and famous.