Chronos

This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (March 2008)

In Greek mythology, Chronos (Ancient Greek: Χρόνος) in pre-Socratic philosophical works is said to be the personification of time. His name actually means "time," and is alternatively spelled Khronos (transliteration of the Greek) or Chronus (Latin version). Not to be confused with Cronus, a Titan.

Chronos was imagined as an incorporeal god, serpentine in form, with three heads--that of a man, a bull, and a lion. He and his consort, serpentine Ananke (Inevitability), circled the primal world-egg in their coils and split it apart to form the ordered universe of earth, sea and sky.

Chronos, sleeping on Wolff grave, god of time

He was depicted in Greco-Roman mosaics as a man turning the Zodiac Wheel. Often the figure is named Aeon (Eternal Time), a common alternate name for the god.

Chronos is usually portrayed through an old, wise man with a long, gray beard, such as "Father Time."

He has a number of equivalents in other polytheism faiths, such as Hinduism, in which he is known as Shani.

Some of the current English words whose etymological root is khronos/chronos include chronology, chronic, and chronicle.