A peculiar deity found in an apparently mithrAistic context at Modena. The deity has been interpreted as: 1. a Roman rendering of the para-Zoroastrian deity zurvan akArana. 2. Orphic protogonic deity Phanes/ Protogonos; 4. Chronos. 3. Zeus who swallowed the latter. The chronic 
association of the deity -- thus identifying him with zurvan is seen in the form of the zodiac around him&the snake winding around him which represents the periodicity of time -- an element associated the Indo-Aryan chronic deity viShNu. However, the links to the protogonic deity
on the IndoAryan side are seen in the form of the two halves of the egg shells on which he is standing -- the hiraNyagarbha: e.g:
tad aNDam akarod dvaidhaM divaM bhuvam athApi cha |
tayoH shakalayor madhya AkAsham akarot prabhuH ||
We wonder if this iconography was directly
tad aNDam akarod dvaidhaM divaM bhuvam athApi cha |
tayoH shakalayor madhya AkAsham akarot prabhuH ||
We wonder if this iconography was directly
influenced by H contact. The H contact is also suggested for Platonic Chronos, the equvivalent of the Iranic Zurvan: 1 of the last Platonist before their destruction by the error of Nazareth, Damascius, states that Chronos is tricephalic with the heads of a lion, a bull & a god
We believe that this iconography was influenced by viShNu trayAtman, with the boar head being replaced by a bull head. This might have had some intersection with the depictions of a leontocephalic deity in syncretic Roman-Iranic mithrAistic contexts where the deity is depicted in
mithraeums with a single leonine head. The head of this deity might be compared with the central lion head on the torso of the Modena deity, where its flanked by a deer & ram heads. They also share the wings & the snake winding around them. Comparable leontocephalic deities have
been found at several mithraistic shrines though his identity remains unclear -- Zurvan, Chronos, Protogonos? In this context, we may also note that an Orphic fragment states that Phanes bulls as side heads & a mighty serpent appearing in the shapes of all kinds of animals upon
his head. We suspect this element of his iconography was again a transmission from a H source; probably vaiShNava.
Some snippets on the saMkarShana:
sahasra-shirasA vyaktaH svastikAmala-bhUShaNaH |
phaNA-maNi-sahasreNa yaH sa vidyotayan dishaH ||
Some snippets on the saMkarShana:
sahasra-shirasA vyaktaH svastikAmala-bhUShaNaH |
phaNA-maNi-sahasreNa yaH sa vidyotayan dishaH ||
... lA~NgalAsakta-hastAgro bibhran mushalam uttamam |
kalpAnte yasya vaktrebhyo viShAnala-shikhojjvalaH ||
saMkarShaNAtmako rudro niShkramyAtti jagat-trayam
sa bibhrachChikharI-bhUtam asheShaM kShiti-maNDalam ||
We posit, that the "Heliodoran" vaiShNava tradition was not a local
kalpAnte yasya vaktrebhyo viShAnala-shikhojjvalaH ||
saMkarShaNAtmako rudro niShkramyAtti jagat-trayam
sa bibhrachChikharI-bhUtam asheShaM kShiti-maNDalam ||
We posit, that the "Heliodoran" vaiShNava tradition was not a local
aberration but was transmitted further into the Greco-Iranian world & influenced the Orphic & the Platonic tradition dependent on it.
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