Phanes
(Φάνης).
1. A mystic divinity in the system of the Orphics, is also called Eros, Ericapaeus, Metis, and Protogonus. He is said to have sprung from the mystic mundane egg, and to have been the father of all gods, and the creator of men. (Proc. in Plat. Crat. p. 36; Orph. Arg. 15; Lactant. Instit. 1.5.)
2. A Theban who is said to have introduced the worship of Dionysus Lysius from Thebes to Sicyon. (Paus. 2.7.6.) [L.S]
(Φάνης), a Greek of Halicarnassus, of sound judgment and military experience, in the service of Amasis, king of Egypt, fled from the latter and passed over to Cambyses, king of Persia. When Cambyses invaded Egypt, the Greek and Carian mercenaries in the service of the Egyptian monarch, put to death the sons of Phanes in the presence of their father, and drank of their blood. (Hdt. 3.4, 11.)
- his desertion from Amasis to Cambyses and its punishment: Hdt. 3.4, Hdt. 3.11
- brings image of Dionysus to Sicyon: Paus. 2.7.6