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| Primordial deities |
InOrphic cosmogonyPhanes/ˈfeɪˌniːz/ (Ancient Greek:Φάνης,romanized: Phánēs, genitiveΦάνητος) orProtogonos/proʊˈtɒɡənəs/ (Ancient Greek:Πρωτογόνος,romanized: Prōtogónos,lit. 'Firstborn') is aprimeval deity who was born from thecosmic egg at the beginning of creation. He is referred by various names, includingErikepaios "Power"/ˌɛrɪkəˈpiːəs/ (Ancient Greek:Ἠρικαπαῖος/Ἠρικεπαῖος,romanized: Ērikapaîos/Ērikepaîos) andMetis "Thought".[1]
In Orphic cosmogony, Phanes is often equated with Eros orMithras and has been depicted as a deity emerging from a cosmic eggentwined with a serpent: theOrphic egg.[2] He had a helmet and had broad, golden wings. The Orphic cosmogony is quite unlike the creation sagas offered byHomer andHesiod. Scholars have suggested that Orphism is "un-Greek", even "Asiatic", in conception because of its inherentdualism.[3]
Chronos is said to have created the silver egg of the universe out of which burst the first-born deity Phanes, or Phanes-Dionysus.[4] Phanes was a male god; in an originalOrphic Hymn he is named as "LordPriapos",[5] although others consider himandrogynous.[1]
Phanes was a deity of light and goodness, whose name meant "to bring light" or "to shine";[6][7] a first-born deity, he emerged from theabyss and gave birth to the universe.[7]Nyx (Night) is variously said to be Phanes' daughter[4] or older wife; she is the counterpart of Phanes and is considered byAristophanes the first deity. According to Aristophanes,[8] in a play where Phanes is called "Eros", Phanes was born from an egg created by Nyx and placed in the boundless lap ofErebus, after which he mates withChaos and creates theflying creatures.[8]
In Orphic literature, Phanes was believed to have been hatched from the world egg of Chronos andAnanke "Necessity, Fate" or Nyx in the form of a black bird and wind. His older wife Nyx called himProtogenos. 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 thesceptre to Nyx; Nyx later gave the sceptre to her sonOuranos;Cronus seized the sceptre from his father Ouranos; and finally, the sceptre held by Cronus was seized byZeus, who holds it at present. Some Orphic myths suggest that Zeus intends to pass the sceptre toDionysus.
According to theAthenian scholiastDamascius, Phanes was the first god "expressible and acceptable to human ears" ("πρώτης ητόν τι ἐχούσης καὶ σύμμετρον πρὸς ἀνθρώπων ἀκοάς").[9] AnotherOrphic Hymn states:
You scattered the dark mist that lay before your eyes and, flapping your wings, you whirled about, and throughout this world you brought pure light. For this I call you Phanes, I call you Lord Priapos, I call you sparkling[10] with bright eyes.[11]
TheDerveni papyrus refers to Phanes:
Of the First-born king, the reverend one; and upon him all the immortals grew, blessed gods and goddesses and rivers and lovely springs and everything else that had then been born; and he himself became the sole one.[12]
In theOrphic Hymns, Phanes-Protogonus is identified withDionysus, who is referred to under the names of Protogonus and Eubuleus several times in the collection.[13]
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