For the element named after this celestial object, seePhosphorus.
Look up Phosphorus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
The morning star personified. Engraving by G.H. Frezza, 1704
Phosphorus (Ancient Greek:Φωσφόρος,romanized: Phōsphoros) is the god of the planetVenus in its appearance as the Morning Star. Another Greek name for the Morning Star is "Eosphorus" (Ancient Greek:Ἑωσφόρος,romanized: Heōsphoros), which means "dawn-bringer". The term "eosphorus" is sometimes met in English. As an adjective, the word "phosphorus" is applied in the sense of "light-bringing" (for instance, the dawn, the godDionysus, pine torches and the day) and "torch-bearing" as an epithet of several gods and goddesses, especially ofHecate but also ofArtemis/Diana andHephaestus.[1] Seasonally, Venus is the "light bringer" in the northern hemisphere, appearing most brightly in December (an optical illusion due to shorter days), signalling the "rebirth" of longer days as winter wanes.
The morning star is an appearance of the planet Venus, aninferior planet, meaning that itsorbit lies between theEarth and theSun. Depending on the orbital locations of both Venus and Earth, it can be seen in the eastern morning sky for an hour or so before the Sun rises and dims it, or (as the evening star) in the western evening sky for an hour or so after the Sun sets, when Venus itself then sets. Venus is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon, outshining the planetsJupiter andSaturn but, while these rise high in the sky, Venus never does. This may lie behind myths about deities associated with the morning star proudly striving for the highest place among the gods and being cast down.[2]
The Latin poetOvid, speaking of Phosphorus andHesperus (the Evening Star, the evening appearance of the planet Venus) as identical, makes him the father ofDaedalion.[5] Ovid also makes him the father ofCeyx,[6][7] while the Latin grammarianServius makes him the father of theHesperides or of Hesperis.[4]
While at an early stage the Morning Star (called Phosphorus and other names) and the Evening Star (referred to by names such as Hesperus) were thought of as two celestial objects, the Greeks accepted that the two were the same, but they seem to have continued to treat the two mythological entities as distinct. Halbertal and Margalit interpret this as indicating that they did not identify the star with the god or gods of mythology "embodied" in the star.[8]
In thephilosophy of language, "Hesperus is Phosphorus" is a famous sentence in relation to thesemantics ofproper names.Gottlob Frege used the terms "the evening star" (der Abendstern) and "the morning star" (der Morgenstern) to illustrate his distinction betweensense and reference, and subsequent philosophers changed the example to "Hesperus is Phosphorus" so that it utilized proper names.Saul Kripke used the sentence to posit that the knowledge of something necessary — in this case the identity of Hesperus and Phosphorus — could be discoverable rather than knowna priori.
The Latin word corresponding to Greek "Phosphorus" is "Lucifer". It is used in its astronomical sense both in prose[9] and poetry.[10] Poets sometimespersonify the star, placing it in a mythological context.[11]
^Halbertal, Moshe; Margalit, Avishai.Idolatry (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992.ISBN0-674-44312-8)pp. 141-142
^Cicero wrote:Stella Veneris, quae Φωσφόρος Graece, Latine dicitur Lucifer, cum antegreditur solem, cum subsequitur autem Hesperos; The star of Venus, called Φωσφόρος inGreek and Lucifer in Latin when it precedes, Hesperos when it follows the sun –De Natura Deorum 2, 20, 53. Pliny the Elder:Sidus appellate Veneris … ante matutinal exoriens Luciferi nomen accipit … contra ab occasu refulgens nuncupatur Vesper (The star called Venus … when it rises in the morning is given the name Lucifer … but when it shines at sunset it is called Vesper)Natural History 2, 36
^Virgil wrote: Luciferi primo cum sidere frigida rura carpamus, dum mane novum, dum gramina canent (Let us hasten, when first the Morning Star appears, to the cool pastures, while the day is new, while the grass is dewy)Georgics 3:324–325. AndLucan: Lucifer a Casia prospexit rupe diemque misit in Aegypton primo quoque sole calentem (The morning-star looked forth from Mount Casius and sent the daylight over Egypt, where even sunrise is hot)Lucan,Pharsalia, 10:434–435;English translation by J.D.Duff (Loeb Classical Library)
^Ovid wrote: … vigil nitido patefecit ab ortu purpureas Aurora fores et plena rosarum atria: diffugiunt stellae, quarum agmina cogit Lucifer et caeli statione novissimus exit Aurora, awake in the glowing east, opens wide her bright doors, and her rose-filled courts. The stars, whose ranks are shepherded by Lucifer the morning star, vanish, and he, last of all, leaves his station in the sky –Metamorphoses 2.114–115;A. S. Kline's Version AndStatius: Et iam Mygdoniis elata cubilibus alto impulerat caelo gelidas Aurora tenebras, rorantes excussa comas multumque sequenti sole rubens; illi roseus per nubila seras aduertit flammas alienumque aethera tardo Lucifer exit equo, donec pater igneus orbem impleat atque ipsi radios uetet esse sorori (And nowAurora rising from herMygdonian couch had driven the cold darkness on from high in the heavens, shaking out her dewy hair, her face blushing red at the pursuing sun – from him roseate Lucifer averts his fires lingering in the clouds and with reluctant horse leaves the heavens no longer his, untilthe blazing father make full his orb and forbid evenhis sister her beams)Statius,Thebaid 2, 134–150;Translated by A. L. Ritchie and J. B. Hall in collaboration with M. J. EdwardsArchived 2011-07-23 at theWayback Machine
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