Aion Phanes Zurvan – 3D MODEL

In the rich tapestry of the Greek pantheon, Phanes emerges as the primordial God of creation and renewal, revered as the progenitor of life and the catalyst for reproduction in the early cosmos. For the Orphics, Phanes (Protogenos) was the primordial God born from the cosmos itself within the world-egg, a primordial mixture of elements divided into its constituent parts by Khronos (primordial deity and Time) and Ananke (Inevitability). Adorned with magnificent golden wings and surrounded by a serpent, Phanes embodies enlightenment and benevolence, with a helmet intricately adorned with this serpentine motif. His essential symbols include the egg, the serpent, and the celestial zodiac, while eight radiant sunbeams extend from each side of His head, magnifying His divine radiance. As the inaugural sovereign of the universe, Phanes passes the royal scepter to His daughter Nyx (Night), who then bestows it upon Her son Uranus (Heaven), and is subsequently claimed by the Titan Kronos (Cronos) and later by Zeus, the ultimate ruler of the cosmos. Zeus uses Phanes’s power to empower a new generation of Gods, the Olympians. Phanes embodies a complex fusion of ancient knowledge, echoing the elder Eros (Desire) of Hesiod’s Theogony and incorporating facets of other primordial entities like Thesis, Physis, and Ophion. His description as a beautiful hermaphroditic deity with golden wings, wrapped in the coils of a serpent, epitomizes His significance. Derived from Greek verbs meaning “to bring to light” or “to make appear,” Phanes’ name encapsulates His role as the illuminator of all existence. This nude figure, standing with both legs together, surrounded by the folds of a serpent, represents Mithraic Cronus, the personification of Infinite Time, the heir of the Persian “Zurvan Akarana.” The serpent coiling around his body alludes, as Macrobius wisely explains, to the sinuous course of the sun in the ecliptic. This Spanish image of deified Time is distinguished by a peculiarity found only in a single relief, preserved in Modena: the lion mask he wears on his chest. The Mithraic Cronus is usually leonine-headed: it is the more or less faithful reproduction of an ancient Asiatic type. However, Roman artists were reluctant to depict this exotic idol in all its ugliness; they tended to increasingly soften its monstrosity, sometimes even giving it a human head and at times settling for placing a lion at its feet, as in a relief from Strasbourg, or simply adorning its chest with a lion mask, as seen in Modena and Merida.

As you can observe, both in the statue replica and in the excerpt that has been extracted from it, we see a standing nude youth, holding a long staff with His left hand and a thunderbolt with His right. His hoof-shaped feet rest on an upturned half egg from which flames are pouring forth. Above His head, several rays are emanating, with a similar egg turned in the opposite direction and also aflame. Above this fire, the head of a serpent is visible, coiling around the figure in four spirals. Behind His shoulders, with the two wings, the horns of a crescent moon are visible. Meanwhile, on His chest, there is the mask of a lion’s head, while from his sides, the heads of a ram (right) and a goat (left) are budding forth.

The original figure (Gallerie Estensi Modena, Italy) stands in a kind of niche, bordered by an elliptical band divided into twelve parts. Each part contains a zodiac sign. Starting above the deity’s head  and moving counter-clockwise to the left, namely: Aries-Taurus-the Gemini embracing each other, one holding a lyre; Cancer-Leo and Virgo; Libra, carried by a standing nude youth-Scorpio-Sagittarius in the form of a Centaur, shooting a bow; Capricornus with a fish-tail; Aquarius, a standing nude youth, emptying an amphora over His left shoulder; Pisces. In the corners are the heads of the winds, two beardless youths and two shaggy and bearded: Zephyrus (top right)-Notus (top left)-Boreas (bottom left)-Eurus (bottom right). The relief bears an inscription: “P(ecunia) p(osuit) / Felix Pater.” The name of Euphrosyne has been erased. The youthful figure is identified with the God of Eternal Time, identified with Orphism Phanes. Of course, there is the possibility that the relief belonged to the Orphics before becoming the property of the followers of Mithras. The analogy between the God of Time and Phanes can be explained by remembering how time owes its existence. So, it could be a resemblance between father and son. Iconologically important, on the other hand, is also the Phanes-Pan identification, which here finds its expression in the hoof-shaped feet of the God, while moreover everything shows a close relationship with the representations of the rock birth of Mitrhas, the Persian God with whom Phanes had also been identified. Therefore, the relief of the original piece has a very syncretistic nature. Astrological, Orphic, Chaldean, and magical influences are interwoven in this relief. Aion is a deity associated with the concept of eternal time, and Phanes is a primordial mythical figure associated with birth and creation. In the context of the cult of Mithras, Aion- Phanes is often interpreted as a representation of the supreme Divinity or the God of time.