In Orphic cosmogony, Phanes  is a primeval deity who was born from the cosmic egg at the beginning of creation. He is referred to by various names, including Erikepaios "Power" and Metis "Thought".
 
In Orphic cosmogony, Phanes is often equated with Eros or Mithras and has been depicted as a deity emerging from a cosmic egg entwined with a serpent: the Orphic egg. He had a helmet and had broad, golden wings. The Orphic cosmogony is quite unlike the creation sagas offered by Homer and Hesiod. Scholars have suggested that Orphism is "un-Greek", even "Asiatic", in conception because of its inherent dualism.[4]
Chronos is said to have created the silver egg of the universe out of which burst the first-born deity Phanes, or Phanes-Dionysus.  Phanes was an androgynous god, with both a penis and vagina.