FAMA, in classical mythology, the personification of Rumour (Gr. 447jst , "Oaaa).The Homeric equivalent Ossa (Iliad, ii. 93) is represented as the messenger of Zeus, who spreads reports with the rapidity of a conflagration. Homer does not personify Pheme, which is merely a presage drawn from human utterances, whereas Ossa (until later times) is associated with the idea of divine origin. A more definite character is given to Pheme by Hesiod (Works and Days, 764), who calls her a goddess; in Sophocles (Oed. Tyr., 158) she is the daughter of Hope. According to Aeschines the ora tor (c. Timarch., 128, de falsa leg. 145) and Pausanias (i. 17. I) there was a temple of Pheme at Athens, but apart from this, she is a figure of mythical and poetical imagination rather than cult.
In Rome, Fama is purely a poetical figure (e.g., Virgil, Aen., IV., 173). The (13?7µri Kai Kxf&c;v of Plutarch (Camillus, 3o, de fert. Roman., 319 A) is simply Aius Locutius, misunderstood, cp. Livy, V., 5o, 5.