The Hieronyman Theogony
This chapter is focused on the only two substantial sources for the Hieronyman theogony, the Christian apologist Athenagoras and the Neoplatonist philosopher Damascius. As shown in the first section, studying their approaches to the Hieronyman theogony is useful for introducing the problems that are encountered in chapters 5 and 6: namely, how apologists and Neoplatonists used Orphic theogonies, and how this affects one’s own interpretations. The second section reconstructs the Hieronyman theogony based on these two sources and questions their presentation in Alberto Bernabé’s collection of the Orphic Fragments. The third section looks at the narrative itself, questioning the influence of philosophy and eastern parallels for the time-god Chronos and the cosmic egg from which Phanes is born. The fourth section focuses on the birth of Dionysus, which appears in Athenagoras but not Damascius, and leads to the suggestion that this episode could have come from a separate poem.