Chronos is frequently confused with, or perhaps consciously identified with, theTitanCronus in antiquity, due to the similarity in names.[2] The identification became more widespread during the Renaissance, giving rise to the iconography ofFather Time wielding the harvesting scythe.[3]
Greco-Roman mosaics depicted Chronos as a man turning thezodiac wheel.[4] He is comparable to thedeity Aion as a symbol of cyclical time.[5] He is usually portrayed as an old callous man with a thick grey beard, personifying the destructive and stifling aspects of time.[6]
During antiquity, Chronos was occasionally interpreted asCronus.[7] According toPlutarch, the Greeks believed that Cronus was an allegorical name for Chronos.[8]
In theOrphic tradition, the unaging Chronos was "engendered" by "earth and water", and producedAether,Chaos, and an egg.[9] The egg produced the hermaphroditic godPhanes who gave birth to the first generation of gods and is the ultimate creator of thecosmos.
Pherecydes of Syros in his lostHeptamychos ("The seven recesses"), around 6th century BC, claimed that there were three eternal principles:Chronos,Zas (Zeus) andChthonie (thechthonic). The semen of Chronos was placed in the recesses of the Earth and produced the first generation of gods.[10]
Kirk, G. S., J. E. Raven, M. Schofield.The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts.Cambridge University Press; 2 edition (February 24, 1984).ISBN0521274559.
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