Phanes — Primordial Light, First-Born

Phanes — also called Protogonos ('First-Born') and Erikepaios — is the primordial deity of the Orphic Rhapsodic Theogony, the radiant bisexual being who bursts forth from the Cosmic Egg fashioned by Chronos and Ananke. According to the Derveni Papyrus and the fragments collected by Damascius, Phanes contains within himself the seeds (spermata) of all gods and all living things. He illuminates the cosmos with light that emanates from his own body, establishing the first differentiation between darkness and visibility. Zeus later swallows Phanes whole, absorbing all of creation back into divine unity before re-emanating the world anew.