Chronos (; grc-gre, Χρόνος, , "time"), also spelled Khronos or Chronus, is a

personification Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their ...

of time in

pre-Socratic philosophy Pre-Socratic philosophy, also known as early Greek philosophy, is ancient Greek philosophy before Socrates. Pre-Socratic philosophers were mostly interested in cosmology, the beginning and the substance of the universe, but the inquiries of th ...

and later literature. Chronos is frequently confused with, or perhaps consciously identified with, the

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

Cronus In Ancient Greek religion and mythology, Cronus, Cronos, or Kronos ( or , from el, Κρόνος, ''Krónos'') was the leader and youngest of the first generation of Titans, the divine descendants of the primordial Gaia (Mother Earth) an ...

in antiquity due to the similarity in names. The identification became more widespread during the Renaissance, giving rise to the iconography of

Father Time Father Time is a personification of time. In recent centuries he is usually depicted as an elderly bearded man, sometimes with wings, dressed in a robe and carrying a scythe and an hourglass or other timekeeping device. As an image, "Father Ti ...

wielding the harvesting scythe. Greco-Roman mosaics depicted Chronos as a man turning the

zodiac wheel The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The paths ...

. He is comparable to the deity Aion as a symbol of cyclical time. He is usually portrayed as an old callous man with a thick grey beard, personifying the destructive and stifling aspects of time.

Name

During antiquity, Chronos was occasionally interpreted as

. According to

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

, the Greeks believed that Cronus was an allegorical name for Chronos.

Mythology

In the

Orphic Orphism (more rarely Orphicism; grc, Ὀρφικά, Orphiká) is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices originating in the ancient Greek and Hellenistic world, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orphe ...

tradition, the unaging Chronos was "engendered" by "earth and water", and produced Aether,

Chaos Chaos or CHAOS may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional elements * Chaos (''Kinnikuman'') * Chaos (''Sailor Moon'') * Chaos (''Sesame Park'') * Chaos (''Warhammer'') * Chaos, in ''Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy'' * Cha ...

, and an egg. The egg produced the hermaphroditic god

Phanes Phanes ( grc, Φάνης, Phánēs, genitive ) or Protogonus () was the mystic primeval deity of procreation and the generation of new life, who was introduced into Greek mythology by the Orphic tradition; other names for this Classical Gree ...

who gave birth to the first generation of gods and is the ultimate creator of the

cosmos The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...

Pherecydes of Syros Pherecydes of Syros (; grc-gre, Φερεκύδης ὁ Σύριος; fl. 6th century BCE) was an Ancient Greek mythographer and proto- philosopher from the island of Syros. Little is known about his life and death. Some ancient testimonies c ...

in his lost ("''The seven recesses"''), around 6th century BC, claimed that there were three eternal principles: ''Chronos'', ''Zas'' (

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek relig ...

) and ''Chthonie'' (the

chthonic The word chthonic (), or chthonian, is derived from the Ancient Greek word ''χθών, "khthon"'', meaning earth or soil. It translates more directly from χθόνιος or "in, under, or beneath the earth" which can be differentiated from Γῆ ...

). The semen of Chronos was placed in the recesses of the Earth and produced the first generation of gods.

In popular culture

Chronos will be the main antagonist of the upcoming video game ''Hades II''.

Notes

References

* Beekes, S. P., ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2009. * Delaere, Mark, ''Unfolding Time: Studies in Temporality in Twentieth-century Music'',

Leuven University Press Leuven University Press ( nl, Universitaire Pers Leuven) is a university press located in Leuven, Belgium. It was established in 1971 in association with KU Leuven KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research univ ...

, 2009. . * Kirk, G. S., J. E. Raven, M. Schofield. ''The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts''.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...

; 2 edition (February 24, 1984). . * Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott. ''

A Greek-English Lexicon A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

'', revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie,

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

Oxford, 1940
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Levi, Doro, "Aion," '' Hesperia'' 13.4 (1944). * Macey, Samuel L., ''Encyclopedia of Time'', Routledge. . *

, ''Moralia, Volume V: Isis and Osiris. The E at Delphi. The Oracles at Delphi No Longer Given in Verse. The Obsolescence of Oracles''. Translated by Frank Cole Babbitt.

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and ...

No. 306. Cambridge, MA:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

, 1936.
Online version at Harvard University Press
* West, M. L. (1983), ''The Orphic Poems'', Clarendon Press. . {{Authority control Greek gods Greek primordial deities Personifications in Greek mythology Personifications Time and fate gods Characters in Greek mythology