Chronus

Chronos
"Chronos" by Franz Ignaz Günther (c. 1765-1770). Carved from limewood. Currently located in the Bayerisches National museum, Munich, Germany.
Primordial God of Time and Eternity
General Information
Species	God (Protogenos)
Gender identity	Male
Aliases	Aeon Cronus Porus
Relationships
Parents	As Porus, he emerged out of Thetis (Creation) In Orphism, he emerged out of Hydros and Gaia (The Primordial Mud) According to the poet Nonnus of Panopolis, he was self-begotten
Siblings	Protogenoi
Spouses	Ananke
Children	Aether, Khaos, Horae, Moirae
Equivalents
Greek equivalent	Cronus
Roman equivalent	Saturn, Aeternitas

This article is about the primeval Greek god of time. For the leader of the Titans and father of the Olympians, see Cronus.

Chronus (Ancient Greek: Χρονος, romanized: Khronos, Latin: Chronos) was the Primordial god of time according to Orphism, which was an ancient belief system that existed in the ancient Greek and the broader Hellenic world. Orphism was a mystery religion which had exclusive membership and who's beliefs often differed from the state-sanctioned Hellenic religion. As such, it appears that Chronus as a distinct god may have been unique to Orphic religion, while in most other cases he was identical to the titan Cronus.

Chronos is frequently confused with, or perhaps consciously identified with, the Titan, Cronus, in antiquity, due to the similarity in names. The identification became more widespread during the Renaissance, giving rise to the iconography of Father Time wielding the harvesting scythe.

Greco-Roman mosaics depicted Chronos as a man turning the zodiac wheel. He is comparable to the deity Aion as a symbol of cyclical time. He is usually portrayed as an old callous man with a thick grey beard, personifying the destructive and stifling aspects of time.

Name

During antiquity, Chronos was occasionally interpreted as Cronus. According to Plutarch, the Greeks believed that Cronus was an allegorical name for Chronos.

Mythology

According to the Orphic mysteries, Chronus, as time itself, was typically thought of as bodiless, though he was also thought of as a three headed serpent, with one head being that of a human, one being that of a bull, and the third that of a lion. His consort was Anance (Necessity or Inevitability), who was also often thought of as a primordial serpent.

As being identified with Cronus, Chronus was depicted as "Father Time," a bearded humanoid figure often shown holding the scythe used to castrate Uranus. Being seen as identical with Cronus in popular Greek religion, Chronus was also equated with the Roman god Saturn.

According to the Alcman, the Spartan poet from the 7th century BCE, in his cosmogony (which differs from the cosmogony of Hesiod), Chronus is synonymous with Porus, the daemon of expedience and contrivance.

Additionally, Chronus was often referred to as "Aeon," meaning an "age," as in a long period of time, or "eternity."

In the Orphic tradition, the unaging Chronos was "engendered" by "earth and water", and produced Aether, Chaos, and an egg. The egg produced the hermaphroditic god Phanes who gave birth to the first generation of gods and is the ultimate creator of the cosmos.

Pherecydes of Syros in his lost Heptamychos ("The seven recesses"), around 6th century BC, claimed that there were three eternal principles: Chronos, Zas (Zeus) and Chthonie (the chthonic). The semen of Chronos was placed in the recesses of the Earth and produced the first generation of gods.

Gallery

Chronos sleeping on Georg Wolff's grave. Sculpted by Hans Latt, around 1904

Chronos, portrayed by Jason Dohring in Supernatural (2012)

Chronos in SMITE

Chronos in Gods of Rome (Gods of Rome conflates him with the Titan Cronus)

Chronos in Krapopolis

Chronos in Dragalia Lost

Chronos in Dragalia Lost in his small form

Chronos in Hades II (Hades II conflates him with the Titan Cronus)