Chronos

For other uses, see Chronos (disambiguation)}}}.

In Greek mythology, Chronos (χρονος in Greek) in pre-Socratic philosophical works is said to be the personification of time. He emerged from the primordial Chaos. He is often mythologically confused with the Titan Cronus (κρονος in Greek).

He is often depicted as an elderly, gray-haired man with a long beard. His name actually means "Time" , and is alternatively spelled Khronos, Chronos, Chronus (Latin version). Some of the current English words which show a tie to khronos/chronos and the attachment to time are chronology, chronic, and chronicle.

In astronomy, the planet we now call Saturn because of Roman influence was called Khronos by the Greeks. It was the outermost planet god/deity, and was considered the seventh of the seven heavenly objects that are visible with the naked eye. Given that it had the longest observable repeatable period in the sky, which is currently around 30 years, it was thought to be the keeper of time, or Father Time, since no other objects had been seen or recorded to have a longer period. That is why it is often depicted as an elderly man with a long gray beard, as mentioned above.

Chronos vs. Cronus

In Greek myth whereas Chronos was the god of time, borne from the primordial Chaos; Cronus was the ruler of the Titans, borne from Uranus, the Latinized form of Ouranos, and Gaia, and father of Zeus. The two deities were possibly conflated under Roman myth into the god Saturn who itself was based on older Latin and Indo-European traditions. The planet Saturn was, therefore, named after the Roman god or the equivalent of Cronus. This confusion is echoed in academic works and in many encyclopedias which conflate the two figures, or completely ignore the existence of Chronos, the embodiment of time. The Britannica 11th Edition notes that Chronos means "time", and is oft confused with Cronos, but never says that Chronos was a deity.[link] In fact, it seems likely that there has been a confusion of myths (possibly in the adoption of Greek figures by the Roman tradition, leading to a conflation of multiple gods, or the division of one god into multiple parts).#redirect

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