thumb|alt=Winged figure holding a staff, with a snake coiled around his body|A figure who has been identified as Protogonos, on a relief from [[Modena, 2nd century AD]]
In Orphic cosmogony, Phanes () or Protogonos ( ) is a primeval deity who was born from the cosmic egg at the beginning of creation. He is referred to by various names, including Erikepaios "Power" () and Metis "Thought". 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 an androgynous god, with both a penis and vagina.
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. 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.
See also
- Cosmic Man
- Mithraism in comparison with Phanes
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.