Phanes

In Orphic cosmogony Phanes (, genitive ) or Protogonos () is a primeval deity who was born from the cosmic egg at the beginning of creation. He is referred by various names, including Erikepaios "Power" () and Metis "Thought".

Mythology

In Orphic cosmogony, Phanes is often equated with Eros or Mithras and has been depicted as a deity emerging from a cosmic egg entwined with a serpent: the Orphic egg. He had a helmet and had broad, golden wings. The Orphic cosmogony is quite unlike the creation sagas offered by Homer and Hesiod. Scholars have suggested that Orphism is "un-Greek", even "Asiatic", in conception because of its inherent dualism.

Chronos is said to have created the silver egg of the universe out of which burst the first-born deity Phanes, or Phanes-Dionysus. Phanes was a male god; in an original ''Orphic Hymn'' he is named as "Lord Priapos", although others consider him androgynous.

Phanes was a deity of light and goodness, whose name meant "to bring light" or "to shine"; a first-born deity, he emerged from the abyss and gave birth to the universe. Nyx (Night) is variously said to be Phanes' daughter or older wife; she is the counterpart of Phanes and is considered by Aristophanes the first deity. According to Aristophanes, in a play where Phanes is called "Eros", Phanes was born from an egg created by Nyx and placed in the boundless lap of Erebus, after which he mates with Chaos and creates the flying creatures. The passage is quoted in the play as an attempt by "the birds" to demonstrate that flying creatures are well-known to be senior to all other living creatures – older, even, than many of the gods.

In Orphic literature, Phanes was believed to have been hatched from the world egg of Chronos and Ananke "Necessity, Fate" or Nyx in the form of a black bird and wind. His older wife Nyx called him ''Protogenos''. As she created nighttime, Phanes created daytime and the method of creation by mingling. He was made the ruler of the deities. This new Orphic tradition states that Phanes passed the sceptre to Nyx; Nyx later gave the sceptre to her son Ouranos; Cronus seized the sceptre from his father Ouranos; and finally, the sceptre held by Cronus was seized by Zeus, who holds it at present. Some Orphic myths suggest that Zeus intends to pass the sceptre to Dionysus.

According to the Athenian scholiast Damascius, Phanes was the first god "expressible and acceptable to human ears" (""). Another ''Orphic Hymn'' states:

The Derveni papyrus refers to Phanes:

In the ''Orphic Hymns'', Phanes-Protogonus is identified with Dionysus, who is referred to under the names of Protogonus and Eubuleus several times in the collection.Otlewska-Jung, pp. 91–2.

See also

* Cosmic Man
* Mithraism in comparison with Phanes
* Lucifer

Notes

References

* Otlewska-Jung, Marta, "Orpheus and Orphic Hymns in the Dionysiaca", in ''Nonnus of Panopolis in Context: Poetry and Cultural Milieu in Late Antiquity with a Section on Nonnus and the Modern World'', pp. 77–96, edited by Konstantinos Spanoudakis, De Gruyter, 2014.
Online version at De Gruyter

Further reading

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External links

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Greek deities
Greek gods
Creator deities
Creator gods
Ancient Greek religion
Androgynous and hermaphroditic deities
Intersex topics in religion and mythology
Greek primordial deities
Snakes in religion
Eros