PHEBUS. Phoebus, another name for Apollo, is an epithet from his maternal grandmother, Phoibe, "the bright one." Isidore says that Phoebus is Apollo as a youth and that the sun is painted as a youth because it rises daily and is born with new light. As early as the fifth century B.C., Apollo was equated with Helios, the Sun god, and this assimilation prevailed into Hellenistic, Roman, and medieval times. Isidore combines the three aspects of the god, seer, and physician (Etym VIII.xi.53-54).

Aurelius prays to Phebus, FranklT 1036-1061. The Manciple's Tale is the story of Phebus and the Crow (Met II.531-632). Phebus, also called Apollo Delphicus, tells Calcas that Troy will be destroyed, Tr I.64-70. Troilus reminds Phebus of his love for Daphne and asks the god's help in his love, Tr III.726-728. Calcas recalls that Phebus and Neptune built the walls of Troy and that Lameadoun defrauded them of their wages, Tr IV.120-126. Eneas mistakes Venus for Phebus's sister, Diana, LGW 986.

When Phebus rises, Arcita prepares to celebrate May, KnT 1491-1500. Phebus is 45 degrees in the sky when the shadow of the tree is the same length as the tree, and Bailly proclaims that it is ten o'clock, MLI 7-15. Phebus is in Gemini, not far from Cancer, his declination, that is, his maximum northern latitude, obtained when he enters Cancer at the summer solstice, MerchT 2220-2224. Phebus is near his exaltation in Aries, also called the night house of Mars, SqT 48-51, on Cambyuskan's birthday. Phebus has left the meridian angle, and gentle Leo with his Aldiran, one of the stars in his forepaws, is ascending, SqT 263-267, when Cambyuskan rises from his birthday feast. It is then very much past noon. Phebus grows old and takes on a dull hue, for he is now in Capricorn in the south when the magician arrives from Orleans to make the rocks disappear from the coast, FranklT 1245-1248. Phebus dyed Virginia's hair like the streams of his burned heat, PhysT 37-38; she is therefore a blond. Cresus dreams that Phebus brings him a fair towel to dry him, MkT 2745-2746; this means that the sun will dry the body of the hanged Cresus, MkT 2753-2756. Phebus is called Apollo Delphicus, Tr I.70.

In his translation of De consolatione philosophiae, Chaucer follows Boethius in using Phebus as a synonym for the sun.

Phebus spreads his bright beams in the white bull on the third of May, Tr II.50-63; the sun is in Taurus on this day, a bad-luck day in the medieval calendar. Criseyde swears that Phebus will fall from his sphere before she forgets Troilus, Tr III.1495. Troilus knows that dawn has come because Pirois and three swift steeds pull the sun's chariot across the sky, Tr III.1702-1708. The other horses of Helios's chariot are Eous, Aethon, and Phlegon (Met II.153-154). Phebus is in the breast of Hercules's lion when Hector decides to fight the Greeks, Tr IV.29-35; the time is either the latter part of July or the early part of August. Criseyde promises to return before Lucina, Phebus's sister, passes out of Aries beyond Leo, Tr IV.1590-1593. Phebus has three times melted the snow since Troilus first loved Criseyde, Tr V.8-14. Phebus begins to rise with his rosy cart, Tr V.278-280. Venus follows Phebus as he sets (the moon leaving Leo), Tr V.1016-1017.

Phebus the sun appears in the astrological allegory The Complaint of Mars. The bird's song tells how Mars departed from Venus in the morning, when Phebus, with fiery red torches, chases away lovers, Mars 22-28. Lying in Venus's room, Mars feels dread when Phebus comes within the palace gates, Mars 78-84. In her room painted with white bulls, Venus sees the light and knows that Phebus has come to burn her with his heat, Mars 85-88 (Mars and Venus are in her night house Taurus). Mars bids Venus flee lest Phebus see her, Mars 104-105, and for fear of Phebus's light, Venus flees to Cilenios's tower, Mars 113-114 (Venus is now in 2 degrees of Gemini, the night house of Mercury). Mars blames Phebus for the pain of separation from Venus, Mars 134-140. [Aldiran: Apollo: Aries: Cilenios: Dane: Diane: Latona: Leo: Mars]

Phebus, the ME and OF variant of Greek and Latin Phoebus, occurs six times initially, MerchT 2220; SqT 48, 263; FranklT 1245; MancT 249; Tr I.659; forty-three times in medial positions, KnT 1493; MLI 11; FranklT 1036, 1041, 1055, 1065, 1078; PhysT 37; MkT 2745, 2753; MancT 105, 125, 130, 139, 156, 196, 200, 203, 238, 242, 244, 249, 262; MarsT 27, 81, 105, 114, 140; Tr I.70; Tr II.54, 726; Tr III.1495, 1755; Tr IV.31, 120, 1591; Tr V.8, 278, 1017, 1107; LGW 773, 986, 1206. The name never appears in final rhyming position.